Luxembourg

We sit in Luxembourg City, having our first day off the bike for 2 weeks, hence the lack of contact. Tonight will be our 4th night in Luxembourg, not bad considering its only 80km long. Its a great country for cycling, with cycle paths all over, quiet backroads, and of course everything is just so close together.

The first night we spent in Vianden, a little village on a river, with a castle above on forrested slopes. Our jealousy for Euros that speak multiple languages hit a high when we asked our English speaking camp owner what the main language is here. They have their own national language, but offical forms etc are in French, while German is widely spoken as a second language. Language hogs.

After that we biked to Ettelbrück and dumped our panniers for a day of exploring the hilly north. First was a massive 1000 year old castle that has been under restoration for the last 30. An hour and a half was spent wandering the ruins and not so ruined, while admiring the stunning views of a twisting river valley on three sides below. A ride through a wind farm, which was conspicuously quiet compared to our own, took us to Esch-sur-Sure. This village was described in our guidebook as one of the prettiest in Europe so we had high expectations. Unfortunately it was not quite so, and we were left wondering if this was another instance of the author not visiting the country concerned (see Columbian Lonely Planet story from earlier this year in papers). No excuses if so, as you could whip around this country in a quick day.

First glimpses of the capital look promising, so off to discover that and report back soon.

Much love
C&D