Flexibility is the key to traveling. After an unsuccessful bought with our GPS (no signal, so no directions…), we decided not to attempt driving into the countryside of Luxembourg without a map, and opted instead to tour the Old City. When we returned, finding a space to park near our flat became challenging, but that’s another story – Parking in Europe.
The Old City of Luxembourg was demarcated by a conglomeration of castles connected by a wall surrounding 180 hectares (445 acres). Underground tunnels extended to even more castles. Old City became established in the year 963. Over the years, it was constantly being fortified by its occupying countries, Italy, Belgium, France, Austria, and the Netherlands. Ultimately it was known throughout Europe as one of the most powerful in the 16th century. Not surprisingly, it’s a world reknowned UNESCO site. Even today it is one of Europe’s capitals and an international banking location. Check out these maps of what Luxembourg looked like in 1683.
You can purchase map #3 a 1581 rendering of Luxembourg from Old Maps and Vintage Prints.
The City Tour
We walked into the tourist office and purchased the City Promenade Tour ( 2-hours, guided, walking) for 14 euro each (approx. $31 total). We met our tour guide in front of the Luxembourg City Tourist Office. Anyone taking the tour will be walking a couple miles along with up and down stairs. We would easily classify this as an Urban Hike, similar to The Freedom Trail – Boston, or the DC Cherry Blossom Festival.
Our tour started in the square Place Guillaume II. There was a lot of construction in the square, so staging pictures was challenging.
From there we learned about the Luxembourg City Hall and the Grand Duke William II statue of Place Guilluame.
The Cathedral Notre-Dame
The first stop on the tour after the Place Guilluame II was the Cathedral Notre-Dame. We were treated to the history of the church the original section completed in 1621, A major addition that pushed the alter back around 60 feet was constructed in the 1900s.
It was during this process, they added another pipe organ.
A banner hangs in the new(ish) alter area honoring the children in American decending the immigrants from Luxembourg.
We were taken into the crypt below.
City Historical Highlights
After that we were taken through the east side of the city where there are numerous historical buildings, monuments, and the remains of the once heavily fortified city.
The Luxembourg National Library (Bibliothèque Nationale du Luxembourg), right next to the Cathedral Notre-Dame), currently houses the country’s library and national records. Luxembourg is in the process of construction a new facility. Once completed, the building is intended to be converted into offices.
“Gëlle Fra” (golden lady) monument at the Place de la Constitution, honoring those veterans who died in World War I. The original was torn down by the Nazis in 1940, but was restored in 1984.
Statue in background
The Grand Ducal Palace is the residence of the Grand Duke. In order of ruling heirarchy, it is Emporer, Grand Duke, Duke, King, and finally Prince. While small, Luxembourg maintains the name of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
We happened to be there for the changing of the guards!
We saw the Monument of Grand-Duchess Charlotte located in the Place de Clairefontaine.
Touted as the oldest pub in Luxembourg – Steiler is a three floor pub located on Rue de la Loge, just behind Grand Ducal Palace. We ended up going back for a snack, read about it here.
The St. Michael’s Church is set on the oldest religious site in Luxembourg City and house to the clock tower. Near the entrance is clockworks exhibit. In the clock tower there’s still a cannon ball.
Fortification Remains
Most of the north and west side of the fortress were destroyed over the years. What fortification remains can be viewed on the south and east side of Luxembourg City. This is probably a result of the flat topography on the northwest, making it easier to rebuild on top of ruins. In that area a lot of the remains are required for structural integrity. In the pictures below, you can see some of the added fortifications that rise up the hill, providing a wall between some of the peripheral castles.
Neimënster Church can be seen at the distance in the valley.
Also can be seen is the river crossing from the tunnels to the other side (see tunnels section below for more pictures and information).
From the Place Guilluame II, it was noticable that our tour had been going downhill. At the end, rather than have us climb back up the hill or take stairs for the equivalent of 6 stories, we were able to use the elevator in the National Museum of History and Art as part of the tour. Although we weren’t touring the museum, Luxembourg owned the museum and hosted the tour they let us use the elevator, that saved us a lot of climbing!
Our guide was quite personable and offered a significant amount of information at each of the locations. He even pointed out the Prime Minister Xavier Bettel scurrying off to his next meeting!
The Underground Tunnels
The Tunnel self-guided tour of the Casemates du Bock was 7 euro each. You have to walk underneath the road to get started. It took us a while to get through the entire “exhibit”. It starts with the typical boards with historical explanations of the tunnels. You can see the bridge entrance to the tunnels under the flags in the first picture.
The tour takes you through the history of the tunnels and through a small section of the tunnel system. Even though you don’t get to see the entire tunnel system, there is still a lot to explore. Beyond fascinating. There are a myriad of staircases and tunnels.
And we went through only a small section of one of probably over a dozen tunnels that were built throughout the city. We finished up on It empties out on the side of the cliff, and they provide a walkway to the road on the opposite side from where the entrance is.
