Aula Palatina and City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
257 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 48
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 257 km round trip from Trier - roughly 3 h 48 in the saddle. It goes by way of City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F, La place forte de Longwy, back through La place forte de Longwy and back through City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F. It crosses Germany, Luxembourg and France - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Scenic road chapters
Luxembourg Mullerthal Route
For about 49 km this is Luxembourg Mullerthal Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
Length
49 km
Named road
Luxembourg Mullerthal Route
Luxembourg Mullerthal Route
This part of the ride is 39 km of Luxembourg Mullerthal Route.
Chapter facts
Length
39 km
Named road
Luxembourg Mullerthal Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Aula Palatina
Constantine built big. The Aula Palatina, which the Romans called the basilica, was the throne hall of the emperor's palace in Trier in the early fourth century, and it is still the largest single-room space to survive from antiquity. It is a plain brick box nearly seventy metres long, about twenty-seven wide and thirty-three high, with a huge apse at the end and tall windows set in two rows, and when it was finished it must have been dazzling, with marble on the walls, mosaics on the floor and heating under the floor. An emperor sitting at one end would have appeared tiny to petitioners entering from the far end, which was the idea.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Aula Palatina is where the day begins. Next is City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F.
2. City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F
Luxembourg City is built on a rocky plateau above the deep, green valleys of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers, and for centuries it was one of the most powerful fortresses in Europe, nicknamed the Gibraltar of the North. Spanish, French, Austrian and Prussian armies all held it, and each added to its walls, bastions and tunnels. In 1867, after an international treaty, most of the fortifications were dismantled, but enough remains to make the old quarters and fortifications a UNESCO World Heritage site, inscribed in 1994.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is La place forte de Longwy.
3. La place forte de Longwy
In 1678, after Louis XIV won Longwy from the Spanish Netherlands in the Treaty of Nijmegen, he sent his great military engineer Vauban to make sure nobody took it back. Vauban did not just fortify the old town; he built a new one, Longwy-Haut, on the plateau, designing a star-shaped stronghold with bastions, ditches and a geometric grid of streets around a central square with a well and church. It is one of the twelve sites grouped as the Fortifications of Vauban on the World Heritage list, and walking the ramparts you can still read the logic of seventeenth-century siege warfare in the earth and stone.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Aula Palatina closes the day.
Leg by leg
Aula Palatina to City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F
Aula Palatina → City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F to La place forte de Longwy
City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F → La place forte de Longwy is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La place forte de Longwy to City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F
La place forte de Longwy → City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F to back through La place forte de Longwy
City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F → back through La place forte de Longwy is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through La place forte de Longwy to back through City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F
back through La place forte de Longwy → back through City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F to Aula Palatina
back through City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and F → Aula Palatina is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.