Sampling a Luxembourg Spring

The world’s only grand duchy, 51 miles long and 37 miles wide when it inhales, is sample-size Europe with prices to match.

It has feudal castles, medieval market squares, historic military monuments, a health spa within walking distance of a gambling casino, hiking trails (you could cover the entire country in a week at a walk), two-lane roads winding through green velvet patchwork countryside, and a little white riverboat that floats through the Moselle wine country with an escort of swans.

It also has excellent beers, wondrous dry white wines and 12 Michelin-starred restaurants, which adds up to more fine dining per capita than any other country in the world.

Luxembourg has some of the lowest prices for food and lodging in Europe, largely because it has lower taxes. The values are greatest beyond Luxembourg City limits--and in a country of this size, nothing is further away than a half-day’s drive.

Prime time to visit is Whitsun Week, the seventh week after Easter, when the emerald hills are covered with a golden shrub called broom, the first wine from the previous grape harvest is passed around for sampling, and white asparagus is star of the menu, sometimes in every course. It’s the ideal time to attend rituals that have taken place for centuries, then hide out in a romantic country inn that might have inspired Victor Hugo.

Bordered by Belgium on the west, France on the south and Germany on the north and east, the grand duchy reflects the influence of each while still living up to its motto: “We want to remain what we are.”

That translates in unexpected ways. Yes, all those Michelin-star restaurants make a culinary Milky Way for international business and political leaders who travel to Luxembourg City for Council of the European Communities conferences several months each year. Yet the national dish is hard-to-digest pork butt and fava beans and a favorite snack, kach keis , is bland, soft-cooked cheese on squishy bread akin to the stuff American kids demand with their peanut butter.

Those disappointments aside, the taste appeal of other local delights is beyond doubt. Luxembourg chocolate is as fine as the famed Belgian variety, and the Ardennes ham is as prized as German Westphalian. Seven dry white wines from Luxembourg’s Moselle Valley are extraordinary, and the sparkling wines from the caves of Bernard-Masson challenge the top French champagne for best of the bubblies at a price within reason.

And then there’s the beer. Some brews are so local they aren’t available an hour away, but they’re so good that most of the supply is bought up by Belgium, which makes 99 beers of its own. No wonder the locals say, “If you don’t see a Luxembourger in the street, it means he’s off somewhere eating good food.”

During Whitsun Week you’ll see more foreign than local license plates in the traffic leading out of the capital city. Great numbers of Europeans cross the border to attend two very different events on two consecutive days in late spring. (In 1991, it’s May 20-21.)

The Broom Festival, May 20 in Wiltz, is where the good times roll in a parade that goes on for hours as float after float celebrates the blooming of broom, the shrub that blankets the hills with shimmering gold. Neighboring countries participate in the parade and the partying that follows.

Best-behavior dignity presides at a post-parade reception for officials at Town Hall. (Handsome thirtysomething Prince Henri, his Cuban-born princess and their three sons might be there--they often attend small-town celebrations.)

Afterward, locals and visitors cut loose at the open market, where you can scoff down fluffy waffles covered with luscious strawberries and great globs of whipped cream, messy but marvelous finger food. Move on to grilled sausage with a chunk of grainy bread, then sample the Meewan, the first liquid gold from the previous grape harvest. One glass, fine. Two glasses, giggle juice.

The Dancing Procession, May 21 in Echternach, is a religious pilgrimage that dates back to the 8th Century. Literally thousands participate in a hop-skip-and-side-step ritual over cobblestone streets that twist through the town, across the medieval market square, to the basilica where St. Willibrord is buried.

An ancient refrain, played by at least 40 marching bands, is so mesmerizing that spectators find themselves joining the procession. Warning: You’ll risk twisting an ankle. Better to rent a room with a view or reserve a table on the terrace at the Petit Marquise Hotel and watch the action while sipping rich, thick coffee and munching the local specialty--macaroons with hazelnuts.

The Hotel Hatz, a rustic inn in deep forest near Kautenbach, provided our introduction two springs ago to Ardennes ham--at least half a pound of it, smoked, lightly smoked or just cooked--on a serving plate. Bowls of butter lettuce mixed with mache and dressed with a tart vinaigrette and some of the best French-fried potatoes in existence were passed family-style. For dessert: green rhubarb pie with whipped cream plus ice cream. (Caloric disaster but worth it.)

At the more sophisticated Saint-Nicolas Hotel in Remich, upriver from the Bernard-Masson champagne caves at Grevenmacher, we were served delicately flavored trout garnished with feather-light pastry and potato puffs. Tender crisp vegetables were fresh from a nearby garden. Dessert? A picture-perfect plate of exotic fruits and--ah, yes!-- more of that memorable local wine.

For sheer beauty in the landscape, don’t miss Vianden, high in the northeastern Ardennes, where the view from the feudal castle courtyard is surpassed only by the panorama from the still-higher modest restaurant at the top of the chair lift.

The Hotel Heintz, which has the aura that Vianden had when poet Victor Hugo was a resident, is a bargain both for its rooms with garden views and its restaurant serving regional dishes. If you’re lucky, they might have suckling pig, wild boar or hare on the menu. If not, try the Au Site Unique in Bigelbach, a hamlet perhaps an hour’s drive south. Superb food is never very far away in Luxembourg.

On your way back to Luxembourg City, it’s worth a stop on the outskirts of town at the Villeroy & Boch factory, where you can pick up seconds and discontinued pieces of the prestigious porcelain at deep discount. It will look impressive on your table when you serve up a taste of Luxembourg to friends at home.

GUIDEBOOK

Luxembourg Sampler

Getting there: Luxembourg City Airport is the European gateway for Icelandair, a budget-oriented airline that offers attractive hotel and transportation packages. Round-trip fare from Los Angeles to Luxembourg on Icelandair is $758. Luxembourg Airport is also home of LUXAIR, which serves Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Paris and Rome.

Where to stay: Accommodations in Luxembourg can be expensive. A standard double at the five-star Le Royal runs about $235 a night, including breakfast (12 Boulevard Royal, Luxembourg 2449; call locally 4-16-16). The real values are sprinkled throughout the countryside: the small Hotel Heintz in Vianden ($56-$90 for a double with private bath, 55 Grand-Rue, Vianden 9410; call 8-41-55); A La Petite Marquise in Echternach ($66-$73, 18 Place du Marche, Echternach B.P. 41 (6401); call 7-23-82); Saint Nicolas Hotel in Remich ($83, 31 Esplanade, Remich 5533; call 69-88-88); Au Site Unique in Bigelbach ($54, 23 Rue du Bois, Bigelbach 6340; call 8-62-27), and Hotel Hatz ($56-$90, Maison 24, Kautenbach 9663; call 95-85-61).

For more information: Contact the Luxembourg Tourist Office, 801 2nd Ave., New York 10017, (212) 370-9850.