We have two nights in the Vianden Castle Campsite. We’re finding that unless it’s a really limited amount of stuff we want to do in an area then it’s best to stay two nights in a place. That way we have time to do whatever the area has to offer and we can chill without having to rush anything.
So this morning after Sue’s run into the town…
we headed off from the campsite on our bikes to explore Vianden and the castle.
It was flat until the bridge in the town and then a bit of a slog up hill for 5 minutes. The electric bikes made a breeze of it though.
The castle dates back to the end of the Roman period, with the first settlement on the site in around 400 CE. The castle was then mostly habited until the 19th century but then fell into disrepair. In 1977 the Duke of Luxembourg gave the castle to the state who decided it should be renovated in the 14th century architectural style.
Here’s a few pictures…
Whilst walking around the castle we spotted that somebody had had a bad day…!
Near the end of the tour, Sue button holed a lovely couple from the Black Forest who were displaying copper etching prints. Sue must have spent about 20 minutes with them and also got a bunch of suggestions for where to go next and what roads to take. Thanks Michelle and Norman!
An interesting tit-bit in one of the room displays was about hand writing books in the 13th century. A 93 page book was described as taking two and a half years to create by hand and would cost €123,000 in today’s money!
There were lots of 3D displays and drone/lidar imagery in various displays around the castle. Showing the different stages of castle build and disrepair over the centuries.
After sitting through the very good 3D historical tour in the visitor centre, we headed back into town on our bikes and then out to the dam that sits on the river Our (after some guy had emptied a bottle of coke over me – it was actually quite refreshing, until it started to get sticky about an hour later!)
The dam is part of a larger 1.3GW hydro-electric system up in the hills. But even this offshoot dam was pretty impressive.
There’d been an art competition in 2023 to design something that could be shown on the face of the dam… the mural is created by power washing off the moss to reveal a picture… must have been very mossy!
And then we cycled up the path to the side of the dam and had look down the valley and back to the lake at the back of the dam.
Then it was back to the campsite for a dip in the river.
We’re off to Echternach tomorrow for one night.
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