Luxembourg (Vianden)

Blogger friends Léia and Cezar kindly brought me to the northeast of Luxembourg - actually a drive of only some 50 km (30 miles) in this modestly sized country - to the little city and the castle of Vianden.
  

Built on the site of a Roman castellum, later a Carolingian refuge, the castle has 10^th century origins and later got some gothic and renaissance transformations. The Counts of Vianden were ancestors to the House of Orange-Nassau, meaning linked to most of the European royal families, more especially to the Dutch and Luxembourgish ones. More or less abandoned, the castle was in 1820 sold to be dismantled, but it was soon bought back and partly saved, finally donated to the State in 1977 and since then completely restored.

The castle stands high over the charming little village, actually officially a city, and the river Our.

Close to a bridge you may be surprised to find the bust of Victor Hugo, by Rodin. The reason is that Victor Hugo made several tourist visits to the place and actually spent several months here in 1871, during his totally more than 20 years’ exile. He worked, wrote and even made several drawings and paintings, including the below one of the castle, then in ruins. You can visit the house where he lived, now a museum.