TILED TURRETS and castle walls emerged from the treetops high above the old town. Early-morning sun caught the Grand Duke of Luxembourg’s standard, flying proudly in an autumn breeze as a sleepy Sunday morning came to life with a few wisps of smoke from the cottage chimneys and the smell of freshly baked bread.
The winding stroll up through the streets of Vianden from the River Our to the castle was one that the French poet and novelist Victor Hugo would have taken many times. The author of Les Misérables loved the Ardennes town and he wrote in 1871 after being expelled from Belgium:
“Vianden, embedded in a splendid landscape, will be visited one day by tourists from the whole of Europe, attracted both by its sinister but magnificent ruin and by its cheerful and happy people.”
Hugo wouldn’t recognise the castle now. No longer a ruin after being superbly restored from rubble following its transfer into State ownership by the Grand Ducal family in 1977, it is now fairytale rather than sinister. The people 1871 Hugo, approaching his 70th birthday, helped organise the townspeople when fire broke out in the thatched roofs of a dozen houses close to the bridge. With the mayor out of town, his quick thinking in setting up a fire bucket chain from the river and then assisting at the blaze demonstrated his love of the community. Hugo first discovered the town in 1862 during a trip through Luxembourg and the Ardennes. He had further stays during the 1860s, extolling the virtues of the medieval cobbled streets and the surrounding scenery of the Ardennes forest. “Your town is not well-known enough; it is not known as it should be, I shall do all I possibly can to make it better known and to are still cheerful and happy, though, if Bart and Wil Peverelli, owners of the Grand Hotel de Vianden, are anything to go by.
After serving an excellent evening meal for our coach party Bart held court in the bar armed with a guitar and an endless repertoire of pop, rock and blues songs to get everyone singing along.
So a spot of fresh air and a walk up to the castle was just what we needed the following morning.
The Grand Hotel is in lower Vianden near the riverside promenade. The castle is over the bridge that links the two parts of town.
On the corner next to the bridge is the house where Hugo stayed, now a museum of his life in the town. On the bridge is Rodin’s famous bust of the author, a present of the French Senate.
However, Hugo boarded his wife and household in the inn opposite, the Hotel Koch, leaving him free to entertain his mistresses, including an 18-year-old. Shortly after his arrival from Belgium in 1871 Hugo, approaching his 70th birthday, helped organise the townspeople when fire broke out in the thatched roofs of a dozen houses close to the bridge. With the mayor out of town, his quick thinking in setting up a fire bucket chain from the river and then assisting at the blaze demonstrated his love of the community. Hugo first discovered the town in 1862 during a trip through Luxembourg and the Ardennes. He had further stays during the 1860s, extolling the virtues of the medieval cobbled streets and the surrounding scenery of the Ardennes forest.