Vianden, Ettelbruck, Diekirch - Into the Lux countryside (9 Jun 08)

Transport within Luxembourg is really easy. And it's small such that the surrounding towns are within an hour's drive from the capital. Yet with the trusty Luxembourg card, I realised I was practically zipping through the countryside for free on its trains. (Ok the card costs 17 euros for 3 days, plus loads of free entries, free bus rides, free train services...damn worth it. And I cheated by using it on the 4th day to get my bus ride back to the train station....shhhhh :p)

First stop: To Vianden, with its restored medieval castle hidden away in verdant forests and one of the most visited places in the Lux.

A 30 min train ride and stopover at Ettelbruck and 30min bus ride to Vianden




Vianden, a town with a population of 1500

Victor Hugo, a famous French author who lived in Vianden and promoted its beauty and fairytale-like setting through his works

Vianden Castle


Situated deep in the Our valley, the telesiege / chairlift can be viewed from here




Chairlifts



Time to head up the chairlift. The Lux card includes one free 2-way trip!

Waiting for my turn to get scooped up onto the chairlift


And from then on I got bo liao and took some shots of my dangling feet out...Weee!!!!



Reaching the top...oh no....smiling tourist traps


But I succumbed anw and bought a photo from them...lol

Shots from the top





And this was when I thought it would be easy to trek to the castle, but I realised just how high up and far I was from the castle. The trek ahead looked heavily forested plus I had no map in hand and I swear I heard weird animal sounds. So not wanting to die alone in the middle of the Lux forest, I decided to go down the way I came from and head to the castle via the town...

Which led to another round of foot itchiness and wu-liaoness :p

I kick.....

And I kiap......


Even my finger is getting itchy too




Interiors of the castle




And next a short stopover at the town of Diekirch, in the search for Diekirch beer!


The donkey is the mascot of the town, with the aptly named donkey fountain with its barrel of Diekirch beer


And at Ettelbruck too, a small town that kinda reminds me of sleepy Loughborough

For more photos, go here