So we woke to find the best view so far and made the short trip down to Esch-sur-sure where we found a delightful ruined castle overlooking the river Sure. Surrounding the castles was the now familiar lush green of the Ardennes and it made for a lovely picture (sorry for the blemish in the foreground!).
From there we headed on to Bourscheid which boasted another castle, this time restored to a large degree. We had a look around the castle and then headed further west to Vianden to see, you guessed it, yet another castle. Luxembourg is spoiled with romatic ruins and castles, in fact in the Ardennes area (nothern Luxembourg) alone there are dozens of historical sites dotted around the country. More than enough for a second visit sometime!
The castle at Vianden is particularly nice and the town as a whole is very pretty. We had a little lunch in the town and then a roam around the castle grounds. There is also a 450m chair lift, but we decided Nailz wouldn't like it so stayed on terra firma.
That reminds me, we mentioned a zip line in the Ardennes area of France that we wanted to have a go on. We did try to find it and when we asked at the tourist info office at Charleville-Mezieres, we were told that it had been torn down during a "tempest"! When we travelled through Belgium the first time, we saw evidence of trees being plucked from their roots and snapped in two and apparently the storm had hit only the week before. If we had left a week earlier it seems our beloved van would have been in the path of destruction!
Leaving Vianden, we headed toward Luxembourg city along the beginning of the "Valley des sept Chateaux" or valley of seven castles. We found a nice one at Hollenfels and decided to park up for the night nearby. We were just cooking dinner when a car pulled up next to us and it's occupants, in a midlands accent, said "you're a long way from home!". This is how we met Keith and his wife Vilma, who now live here in Luxembourg and Vilma's sister, Teresa who was visiting them. After dinner we met them at the local restaurant for a drink and quickly got chatting about all manner of subjects (notable football scores - they were keen Wolves supporters) and our travel plans. They invited us to another town to a bar to meet some further friends of theirs, including Steve and Steve (that made remembering names easier!). We had a great night chatting away to them and the other locals, most notably Pete (a master trumpeter, who loves "The sons of the Pioneers") and Sergie (another football and rugby fan).
In the hope that they get to see this blog, we want to say a big thank you for a wonderful night! Unfortunately being slightly inebriated, I managed to leave the card with Steve's details in the bar but please drop me a message through google messages on this site!
Here is the route so far!
From there we headed on to Bourscheid which boasted another castle, this time restored to a large degree. We had a look around the castle and then headed further west to Vianden to see, you guessed it, yet another castle. Luxembourg is spoiled with romatic ruins and castles, in fact in the Ardennes area (nothern Luxembourg) alone there are dozens of historical sites dotted around the country. More than enough for a second visit sometime!
The castle at Vianden is particularly nice and the town as a whole is very pretty. We had a little lunch in the town and then a roam around the castle grounds. There is also a 450m chair lift, but we decided Nailz wouldn't like it so stayed on terra firma.
That reminds me, we mentioned a zip line in the Ardennes area of France that we wanted to have a go on. We did try to find it and when we asked at the tourist info office at Charleville-Mezieres, we were told that it had been torn down during a "tempest"! When we travelled through Belgium the first time, we saw evidence of trees being plucked from their roots and snapped in two and apparently the storm had hit only the week before. If we had left a week earlier it seems our beloved van would have been in the path of destruction!
Leaving Vianden, we headed toward Luxembourg city along the beginning of the "Valley des sept Chateaux" or valley of seven castles. We found a nice one at Hollenfels and decided to park up for the night nearby. We were just cooking dinner when a car pulled up next to us and it's occupants, in a midlands accent, said "you're a long way from home!". This is how we met Keith and his wife Vilma, who now live here in Luxembourg and Vilma's sister, Teresa who was visiting them. After dinner we met them at the local restaurant for a drink and quickly got chatting about all manner of subjects (notable football scores - they were keen Wolves supporters) and our travel plans. They invited us to another town to a bar to meet some further friends of theirs, including Steve and Steve (that made remembering names easier!). We had a great night chatting away to them and the other locals, most notably Pete (a master trumpeter, who loves "The sons of the Pioneers") and Sergie (another football and rugby fan).
In the hope that they get to see this blog, we want to say a big thank you for a wonderful night! Unfortunately being slightly inebriated, I managed to leave the card with Steve's details in the bar but please drop me a message through google messages on this site!
Here is the route so far!
Mange tout, mange tout. Any chance of bringing me back some stinky cheese buddy! Keep up the training, need to see a photo of you and a football!
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