September, 2022
After a few days of hiking, it is time to soak up some culture in the cities. In Luxembourg, public transport is free and easy. From Lenningen we get to the nearest terminus and hop on the train to the capital. The central station is on walking distance from the centre of town. Today will be very hot and perfect to visit one of the many museums. It will be nice to have some air conditioning! Around the station many renovations are taking place and we didn’t expect to see all these beggars!
The town is divided in high and low. It is not really a place for old people, although there is an elevator to go from down town to high town.
There are a couple of museums with a similar name and it makes things rather complicated! We walk all the way down in the heat to discover, that we arrive at the National Museum of Natural and History. Wrong one! Our goal is Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art, which is in the upper city. It means we have to climb all the way up again (in the heat). Supposingly, there is also a City History Museum, to make it even more complicated!
Our museum has a permanent collection about the town’s development, on the 5 lower levels. The temporary exhibits are on the higher levels. The entrance for the permanent exhibit is free. There is so much to see, that we will go back later in the week for the current exhibition: ‘Iran between times’, ‘Luxembourg’s colonial past’ and ‘The Rape of Europe’ (on Putin’s Russia), from artist Maxim Kantor.
The lower levels are underground and the combination of modern and old flows together in this very interesting museum!
Echternach is the second and oldest city we are visiting during our stay. It is situated in the famous Mullerthal region or ‘Little Switzerland’. In summer the town is probably overloaded with arriving and departing tourist buses, but now in september it is quiet again. We take our time to explore and admire the many medieval buildings. In the Romanesque Basilica, the tomb of Saint Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg, is visible in the crypt.
The Musée de L’Abbaye is situated in the vaulted basement of the former Benedictine monastery. It offers a very interesting facsimiles collection of many impressive manuscripts, created in the scriptorium. Furthermore, there are various artifacts in relation to Saint Willibrord (founder of the Abbey in the 7th century) and the history of Luxembourg. All displayed in a stunning decor!
We stroll through the park and discover the bridge over the river Sauer, which connects Luxembourg with Germany. The old customs (zoll) house reminds of former times, when crossing the borders was more complicated!
Later in the afternoon, we walk to one of the quaint squares, for a glass of wine (or two) and some delicious ‘flammkuchen’.
