PICTURE POSTCARD

Vianden - a small medieval town embedded in the splendid landscape of the Ardennes 

Having read about Vianden I felt a tingle of excitement at the promise of what it may hold and I was not disappointed - If I thought we'd found wonderful places up to that point, this was an even greater enchantment!  The campsite was situated alongside the River Our.  The imposing castle of Vianden,  a living witness of the medieval past of the country, sat imposingly above the town, clearly visible from our campsite.  From the footpath at the end of the site sat this picture postcard view:

The castle in all its moods:

The photos of this charming town, which delighted the famous French poet, Victor Hugo, and all its visitors over the years as much as it did us, hopefully speak for themselves:

 

 

The short stroll into the town took us past houses where again we couldn't help remarking on the neatness of their houses and gardens and the amazing proliferation of window boxes, colourful pots and hanging baskets and garden ornaments - those garden ornaments!!  So much so that I asked a shopkeeper why so many ornaments in everyone's gardens to which she explained they've filled their houses with so many ornaments they're now decorating their gardens!!  To be believed or not?  Either way, it was fun just checking out all the gardens!  The other startling observation was the houseplant orchids which appear in just about every window in every house!

We took the 440 metres chairlift ride - a wonderful excursion leading to splendid views across the entire area. We walked down to the castle and on down to the town - only to take a return trip on the chairlift late afternoon since I wanted the fun of going down in the chairlift as well as up!!

View from the top (spot our motorhome!)

and a different perspective on the castle!

 



































On the Sunday there was a lunchtime open air concert and 'open house' of all art studios where we saw an eclectic mix of ceramics, wood carvings, caricatures, abstracts using various paint mediums and materials - amazing how much art happens in such a small area!  Sadly the rain set in after the first half of the concert and we retreated back to our Chausson.  But it had been a very interesting and eye-opening morning.

Having been on the site for 4 nights we had thought to move on but woke on the Monday morning after torrential rain all night and no sign of a let up. We noticed how many folks were leaving and I remarked jokingly to Michael that perhaps they knew something we didn't - maybe the river was about to break its banks?  Shortly after there was a knock on our door - the site manager had come to tell us she had received an alert from the Water Authorities to move everyone well away from the water's edge.  

 

If we didn't wish to leave the site we could move up to the rear of the site and park on the gravel access tracks on higher ground. It certainly wasn't a day to travel so we opted to move  which found us along with a small cluster of other motor homers sitting in a line along the tarmac access road at the back of the site sitting out the rough weather and keeping an eagle eye on the water level!  The water rose 1.25 metres during the day and was set to rise a further 1 metre that night - and shame on us, we didn't have our inflatable motor homing wings.       

As soon as there was a let up in the rain, we decided on  a walk into town only to find the exit path from the site under 2 foot of water! 

The river broke its banks each end of the site but thankfully didn't flood the site.  Contrary to the site we'd left in Diekirch - they had 4 metres of flooding, so high it was sweeping over the tops of the caravans that had been abandoned !  And we thought we'd come away for some decent weather? I think we've had worse than back home! Once the rain finally stopped we enjoyed a couple of further days, albeit it very grey and cold (my winter duvet coat was back out of the cupboard!

We enjoyed a superb walk along the remains of the old city wall which included somewhat of a detour!  At one point we found ourselves high up on a steep and thickly wooded  hillside (actually because Michael wanted a bird's eye view of the dam!) and rather than returning the way we'd come, trying to pick our way back down this steep hillside which was becoming more and more tricky by the step.  It had become so slippery after the deluge of rain I finally said "no more!".  However, Michael was confident we could make it - until he began slipping and sliding so much he was spending more time on his bottom than on his feet - I simply refused to go any further!   I really didn't reckon much on finding myself wrapped around a tree half way down the hillside.  So, it was back the way we'd come after all.

  

 

View across to the castle, chairlift station at the summit

So it was, finally a week from our arrival that we pulled ourselves reluctantly away from Vianden - the beauty of which I shall never forget.

We headed into the heart of the Mullerthal area, known as 'Little Switzerland' owing to its hilly landscape reminiscent of Switzerland with its rock formations - as beguiling as they are surprising.

Beaufort - 400 metres above sea level, so hopefully left those overflowing rivers behind!

Couldn't resist this fun example of an imaginative garden ornament

We explored the castle ruins and discovered the grimmest prison cell and even worse the grisly torture chamber housing the original torture devices - all very gruesome - I could almost hear the screams and I'm sure I felt the presence of those ghosts!   

Ruins of 12th Century Medieval castle

It's tempting !!

Castle and 17th Century Renaissance Manor

Since leaving Diekirch, the weather hadn't been very kind and this day was no exception. However, by afternoon the earlier rain cleared allowing us one of our best and most  challenging walks on part of the famous Mullerthal trail.   Alongside a babbling stream, interrupted with little tumbling waterfalls, the proudly tall conifers allowing shafts of sunlight to glance between their elegant trunks, the brilliant green of the beech trees catching the sun, huge rocks towering over us - it was a challenging walk up hill and down over rough terrain - my legs were aching by the time we got back to our start point - who needs a run!!!!
         

 

We've just decided our talents lie more in selecting the best pastries and cakes since we treated ourselves to a little bottle of the local strawberry liqueur - it smells just like cough mixture and frankly, doesn't taste must different either!!!

 
And so onward into Germany - for good wines and beer! ............