The Grund

This is The Grund, which probably means "The Ground," but might mean anything. It is a sliver of Luxembourg City that is at the bottom of the ravine along the Alzette river. The view from the Old Town, at the top of the ramparts, is really terrific.

Our bus route into town followed the bottom of The Grund, right along the main street, but it took us a while to descend down from the main, higher part of the city into the neighborhood.

This view is from further along the ramparts. The city used to be (and still is, to an extent) immensely fortified, especially at its strategic peak in the eighteenth century, and the walls and cliffs below the main part of town are still difficult to navigate. The road down has a lot of switchbacks. On our last day, by chance, we found a handy elevator that ran between the high and low sections of town.

On our first visit to The Grund, there was an art fair going on. The art wasn't spectacular, but the fall day was beautiful and there were a lot of people sitting around, drinking. There are a number of great restaurants and bars down in this area, and it feels more like a neighborhood than the higher part of town - which is dominated by high end retailers and the Grand Ducal palace.

There were some great views from the river of the Old Town, and we came back here on a quieter day during the week to sit and spend some time having a coffee. Luxembourg City really is an amazing place - we're surprised at how few tourists there are. It is certainly one of the more dramatically situated cities I've ever seen, and it has such a wealth of cool eateries and cultural experiences that it seems strange that more people don't visit. In the few days since we've left, I've actually started to miss it a little.