Our first day trip out of Luxembourg was on Friday September 12, 2014 to Echternach, a commune with city-status in the Eastern part of Luxembourg. Since hiking was the only thing on our agenda that day we slept in a bit and headed out in the afternoon. 

Dating back to the 7th century, Echternach is the oldest city in Luxembourg and one of Europe's first centers of Christianity and civilization. Currently, it boasts about 5,000 inhabitants, and is a very cute and picturesque small town. Situated near the Ardennes Forest, which stretches into Germany and France, Echternach serves as a great jump-off point for many hiking trails. It is the perfect place for a day trip, with many people driving here on weekends for a quick escape from city-life and to take in some nature.

Unfortunately Dasha was unable to join us for this trip, while Ilya took a day off so we went as a trio. The drive was only about 40 minutes long, and we enjoyed every minute of it as we got to see the beautiful countryside of Luxembourg. We were amazed to see so many free roaming cows, horses and even donkeys! After arriving in Echternach, we found parking, grabbed our maps and headed out to hike the trail we agreed on earlier. The directions were vague, our maps were small, and as we were excitedly chatting along the way, we realized we had missed an entrance! Fortunately, we were able to get our bearings and get back on the trail to find our way to the end before it got dark. 

All in all, our miscalculation of the trail worked out in our favor, as doing the whole hike would have been too long for us to make it out before dark. Not surprisngly, we kept stopping to take multiple photos (me), examine all the mushrooms in the forest (Ilya), participate in "leaf racing down the stream" tournaments (all of us), and gather hazelnuts (team activity!). Towards the end of the hike, we took a quick detour to cross into Germany, which was just across the river. Because of the Schengen Agreement, there are no passport checks at the borders of 26 participating European countries. This means that you can walk from Luxembourg to Germany at any time you please. Similarly, when we were in Poland in July, we drove to Slovakia for a quick visit to a local store without being stopped or checked by anyone. This agreement makes traveling across Europe extremely easy. 

After completing the hike we got returned to the town of Echternach for a quick meal and headed back to our "home" in Luxembourg City. We would highly recommend visiting Echternach and the Ardennes Forest if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods, or are looking for a quick day trip out of a neighboring city. 

Drive from Luxembourg City to Echternach Our drive was fairly quick. 

Vlad driving stick shift Driving duties fell upon Vlad as he was the best at driving a stick shift.  Men at work - studying the trail map.  Group shot at the begining of the hike.  Why so serious Ilushka?  Vlad & Ilya hiking.   Recreating a photo from my childhood. Looks like my hobbies didn't change much. Nor my stance.   Beautiful brook we came across.     Ilya, the model.    Ilya, the photographer.   Memsmerized by this brook, we could not leave it. During our hike we found many mushrooms. As tempting as it was we decided not to pick any of them. It would be pretty embarrasing to die of mushroom poisoning in a foreign country. One of Ilya's shots. Not too shabby. There were many red slugs in the forest.  Towards the end of our hike we found some hazelnunt trees and gathered some nuts to eat at home. Most were lying on the ground waiting to be picked up. They were delicious. 

Group selife at the end of the hike. Ilya finally cracked a tiny smile. What a treat.   After the hike we stopped by for some snack and beer in Echternach town. This was the view from our restaurant seats.  Service at the restaurant was very slow and by the time we finished our soups and sandwiches it got dark. This was our ride for the weekend. The boys loved it.