Day 3 (July 2. 2025): Luxembourg City

Were we ever exhausted from our overnight flight from Halifax, the London bustle, and the flight to Luxembourg late yesterday.  We slept like rocks and, despite the five-hour time change, woke at 7:30AM feeling rested and ready to go. After a buffet breakfast at the hotel, we set out just after 9:30AM in the scorching heat to explore Luxembourg City. the government sent heat warning messages to all cellphones, indicating the temperature would be between 35-38 degrees.  And sure enough, the mercury when right up there. We spent a lotta Euros on cold drinks to survive the day, but we did survive intact, making it back to the hotel just after 5PM. We had lasagna at a nearby restaurant for dinner and just made it back to the hotel in time for the sky to turn black, lightening to flash, and rain to start pouring.

This is one incredible place, and we absolutely love it! Hopefully the pics below will explain its appeal.

The Moxy Luxembourg Airport, where we are staying, is just a few meters from the Luxembourg International Airport. It opened last year, so it still has that “new car smell”, so to speak!  An excellent hotel, with numerous free buses and trams to the city right outside the door.

And more impressive than that “new car smell” in the hotel is the view from our room!  For a plane nut like me, I cannot stop looking out the window at the activity!  By the way, see the giant 747 in the far left of the photo? That is a one of the many 747s of CargoLux, a huge international air cargo company based right here in Luxembourg. Wherever you go on Planet Earth, you will see CargoLux’s 747s — Tokyo, Sydney, Johannesburg, New York, you name it.

Everything seems to work well here, and everything is impeccably clean and beautifully organized. All the public transit vehicles, for example, have USB charging ports at the seats.

Jan Pallach Square, in the area of Place d’Armes, is a central square in the Old Town. The square originally served as a parade ground for the troops defending the city.  Today, it is a spot for cafes, gathering, and people-watching.

This monument in Jan Pallach Square is in commemoration to Dicks and Lentz, two national poets of Luxembourg.

Place Guillaume II is Luxembourg’s largest and most important square. It features a statue commemorating Guillaume II, unveiled in 1804 by Napolean. Place Guillaume II is named after the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg and hosts numerous markets, open-air concerts, and festivals. The Town Hall is also located here.


This is the Town Hall for Luxembourg City.

Luxembourg is a Grand Duchy. This is a photo of the current Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria, which we saw in a shop window today.

This is the Grand Ducal Palace, which is the official residence of the Grand Duke.

The preceding view of the palace is where the Grand Duke’s balcony is found.  But the actual “front door” is shown above.  We thought that, having come all the way from Canada — and given that the Grand Duchess sought refuge in Canada during the Nazi occupation — we would have been invited in for tea.  But, alas, we were not.

Ornate hedging at the Grand Palace.


This is the statue to Grand Duchess Charlotte, unveiled in 1990. She reigned from 1919-1964.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame of Luxembourg.  The foundation stone was laid in 1613. It was originally a Jesuit Church and is built in the late Gothic style.

Place de la Constitution has an obelisk commemorating those who died in the two world wars and in Korea. Gelle Fra is the name of the golden statue at the top. 

The beautifully manicured gardens and observation point at the Place of the Nations.

The Adolphe Bridge is a double-arched bridge spanning more than 85 metres over the Petrusse Valley, at a height of 42 metres. One of Luxembourg’s snazzy new trams is passing over in the photo above. To the right in the photo is the flag of Luxembourg.

The Luxembourg City History Museum illustrates the 1000 years of the city’s history.  The city was started in 963, so it is actually 1062 years old!  That’s pretty old. The museum features what has to be one of the largest elevators in existence — as shown above.  


This is the throne of the Grand Duke, from the early 20th century, on display at the City History Museum.

The CIty History Museum talked a great deal about the changes that have taken place in Luxembourg. And nothing speaks to those changes more than the stats above: 62,000 residents in 1947, compared to 115,000 in 2016. In 1947, only 1/4 of residents were foreigners. In 2016, 3/4 were foreigners!


Lanterns over narrow Rue St. Esprit.

Walking down Chemin de al Corniche is the most popular street in Luxembourg. It leads down to the neighbourhood known as the Grund, in the valley below the center of Luxembourg City, on the banks of the Alzette River.

What makes Luxembourg so unique are the massive fortifications which surround it, much of which took advantage of the natural cliffs. The natural formations were augmented by walls, which provided the city with incredible fortifications.


Another view along the Corniche, closer to the bottom of the valley.

The gentle Alzette River, flowing through the Grund Quarter.

The Grund.

The Bock Casemates are a series of tunnels which the Austrians started to build in 1754 within the cliffs fortifying the city. The Casemates were registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 and are definitely one of Luxembourg’s highlights.  During World War II, 35,000 people were sheltered in these tunnels during the bombings of Luxembourg.

The Pfaffenthal-Kirchberg Funicular connects the upper town to the Pfaffenthal Quarter of the city. The funicular is 71 meters high and was opened in 2016.  As with all public transportation in Luxembourg, the funicular is free to use.

The Pfaffenthal Quarter.

Going down in the Funicular, we saw this odd, but very intriguing, structure down below. We still don’t know what it is, but we felt it merited a spot in this blog! 

The Alzette River, this time, flowing through Pfaffenthal.

A view of the Funicular from down in the Pfaffenthal Quarter.

The Kinnekswiss Park is a huge park in Luxembourg City’s “haute ville” (high town).  The city itself is loaded with public art installations, and the park is no exception.  There’s Pam, goofing around in one of them. And two more are shown below.

On the edge of the Kinnekswiss Park, we saw this stunningly perfect building, with three puffy clouds above. It was just begging us to explore it. So we went up to the front door, only to be told that it is… A SENIOR CITIZEN’S HOME!

A tiny Orthodox Church in Luxembourg City.


We ended the day with a ride back to the airport (where our hotel is located) in the spiffy LUXTram, Luxembourg’s shiny new tram system. How it is all free to use is just beyond me. But we won’t complain!