Luxembourg and Germany- the Mosel region and Magdeburg

We had an afternoon of driving in order to get to Luxembourg city and arrived at the campsite on the outskirts about dinner time.  The next day we caught the bus into the city and had a pleasant few hours wandering the streets.  Luxembourg has changed hands many times over the course of history so there is now a mixture of old fortifications.

The city is extremely pretty and picturesque and we went crazy taking lots of photos.  It was a change of pace compared to the frantic nature of Paris.

The Bon Accueil campsite that we were staying at was one of our favourites of the trip so far.  It had good clean facilities, was good value for money and the showers were fantastic.

Luxembourg is a pretty small country so we made one other stop before heading over the border into Germany.  It was a town called Echternach which was right on the border.  On approach to the town a Police car came up behind us with flashing lights.  Assuming they wanted to pass we moved over to the right, but they passed us and indicated with their hand that we should pull over.  We weren't concerned as we knew we weren't doing anything wrong.  The officers were friendly enough and checked Dale's license and registration papers.  They said that had had problems with Romanians in GB registered vehicles committing thefts in Luxembourg.  We were soon on our way and had a wander around Echternach before hitting the road again.

Echternach

Our first stop in Germany was a town called Trier.  It is alongside the Mosel river, which goes through Luxembourg too, but this was our first look at it.  The town has some great Roman building remains, a very nice Dom (Cathedral) and a pretty shopping precinct.

We spent the next couple of hours following the Mosel river, which was very beautiful.  It is a major wine growing region (especially whites such as rieslings) and the vines are grown on steep hills where they can get the most sun.

Two highlights of the Mosel were the towns of Bernkastel and Cochem, both beautiful places.  We bought a lovely bottle of wine grown locally from Cochem as a present for Antje and David who we will see soon.

Bernkastel

Cochem

Our visit to the Mosel was a quick one as we had to reach Magdeburg by the 10th to see Dale's brother Mark and his wife Dana.  It gave us the opportunity to do some much needed cleaning and washing.  On the weekend we visited Halle, a town with lovely churches and buildings and where we climbed the Marktkirche St Marien tower for views.

We also had an afternoon hiking in the Harz mountain region.

We are to spend our final days in Europe with a couple of nights at Antje and David's in Luneburg, Germany, and then drive to catch the ferry leaving from just outside Rotterdam in the Netherlands.  We don't want our trip to end- but I think that is probably a good sign that we have had a great holiday.