Luxembourg is a tiny territory that’s big on charm

Since Luxembourg is the capital of a country only the size of Munster, lots can be packed into a weekend, as Louise O’Neill discovered.

YOU have got to be kidding me, I thought to myself when I saw the tiny aeroplane on the tarmac, evoking memories of white knuckle flights to the Aran Islands as a child. I was almost ready to turn back and go home. After all, what was so great about Luxembourg? Wasn’t it all just investment banks and MEPs? I was probably going to hate it.

I could not have been more mistaken. From the moment I stepped on to the plane, and was handed a sucky sweet and a (free!) sandwich by the smiling air-hostess, Luxembourg surprised me with its charm and hospitality. Some of the clichés are true, of course — Luxembourg holds one of the three seats of the European Union’s main institutions and 45% of its population are foreigners, attracted to the city by its thriving business culture. Yet there is so much more to the city, and the country, than that.