Category: Gigs Abroad

Gigs from Abroad Part 28 – Luxembourg

In March 2025 we headed off on the lad’s trip version XVII with the chosen destination this time being Luxembourg. It is the seventh smallest country in Europe, measuring only 50 miles at its longest point (population approx. 700k) but is a rich and reasonably influential country with its own Luxembougish (Germanic) language and the Court of Justice of the European Union being located there.

It has had several rulers after initially being established in the 11th century before gaining ongoing independence from 1867. We lodged in the historical capital Luxembourg city which was declared a UNESCO World heritage site status in 1994. In 2020, they set an unusual precedent of becoming the first country in the world to provide free public transport nationally, a generous and welcome scenario that we took full advantage of!  

Luxembourg city. Image Credit statrip.blogspot.com

The city has the accolade of being the only place to be named European Capital of Culture twice and they have won the Eurovision Song Contest five times. They also have the second highest total of Michelin-starred restaurants per capita, behind Japan.

Famous residents include the EC President Jean-Claude Juncker, champion skier Marc Girardelli and the cycling Schleck brothers. Also of Luxembourg descent was the Academy Award winning actress Loretta Young.

Additionally, there was Radio Luxembourg which was one of the very earliest commercial stations which ran from 1933 to 1992, and like many of my generation I used to listen to the scratchy long wave 208 frequency broadcast, under the covers late at night on my transistor radio!  Long wave was subsequently used by Atlantic 252 and RTE Radio 1 before the mast was finally demolished in July 2023.   

Radio Luxembourg flyer. Image Credit nostalgiacentral.com

We landed on the Friday and jumped on the free bus to commute to our hotel which was positioned above street level and only accessible via a lift. That evening we headed into the city on a bar crawl and grabbed some tea in the old town.

Luxembourg is landlocked and bordered by three separate countries and the one we chose not to visit on this trip was Belgium. On the Saturday morning, we mulched down to the main train station and as we were undertaking a border crossing there were some lengthy shenanigans when purchasing our tickets.  

Our destination was the Northeastern French city of Metz, nicknamed the green city due to a plethora of open areas and public gardens. The gothic Saint Stephen Cathedral was a spectacular sight and the finest house of worship I have encountered thus far, even Jason was enthralled by it! It apparently contains the largest expanse of stained glass windows in the world.

We found a lively square in the sunshine where we ensconced for a couple of hours and witnessed a large protest traversing by whilst munching on our pizzas. We then encountered a stroppy bar owner which encouraged us to return to our base camp.

In advance of our trip we had scoured for any gigs thereby discovering Skunk Anansie were playing in the city but unfortunately, we then discovered it was already completely sold out. As an alternate we headed to a local bar to watch Luxembourg unexpectedly defeat Sweden 1-0 in a friendly international football match. Afterwards, we played some woeful darts as Luke Littler we were not!

Nearby in the Gare area we visited Luxembourg Crossfire Nordic Bar, which was a homely little sports bar with craft beers and has a loft for hire for private parties. Whilst in residence there was a local act called Blue-ish performing. Next door to there was a strange establishment that our general consensus after departing was that it was potentially a ‘knocking shop’!

The Crossfire Bar. Image Credit tripadvisor.com

After a group breakfast on Sunday, we headed out to the bonny city of Trier, which is the oldest German city after being founded by the Romans back in the 1st century BC. General Charles de Gaulle was stationed in the city during the French occupation of Rhineland, and the philosopher Karl Marx was born there in 1918 when it was under Prussian rule.  

We visited the hugely impressive Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate), a large Roman city gate built in the 2nd century AD. In the centre we found a busy civilised Kolsch beer bar before Schnitzel munchies kicked in and a local restaurant was visited.   

Later in the evening we returned to Luxembourg and jumped on a bus to head to a couple of bars in the lower area of the old town. Thus, at closing time we were potentially stranded at the bottom of a steep hill which was our route home, this presented difficulties to some members of our group who either had mobility issues or were plain idle!  

A taxi seemed an absurd approach considering the free transport, but the last bus had already departed. We asked in the bar and in a throwaway final comment the bar maid said, ‘you could always go up in the lift’, which was music to our ears. Directions led us into a tunnel and there was indeed an elevator complete with adjoining lavatories, it would appear the Luxembourgers think of every scenario!

Gigs From Abroad Part 27 Greece – Part 3

Continuing the tale from last week where we had decided to undertake some island hopping and in advance research it suggested there would be daily ferries available heading from Zante to our next destination of Kefalonia. However, we subsequently discovered there was only transport every two days and that didn’t match up with our schedule. It is a nine-mile crossing, and we were beginning to embrace our inner Steve Redgrave or Michael Phelps before we thankfully discovered a Plan B.

This involved a 30-mile taxi to the other ferry port at the northern fishing village of Agios Nikolaos Skinari. The friendly taxi driver dropped us at his favourite bar, and we bedded in for a while as we had landed there 3-4 hours before our departure. We then shuffled down to the rather sparse ferry point before departing on the 7pm sunset crossing to Pessada.  

The Sunset Ferry. Image Credit Jimmy Crossthwaite

Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian batch of islands and was the location of the siege of Argostoli between the Italians and Germans in 1943 during World War II. After the German’s victory their brutal reprisals including the execution of five thousand Italian soldiers. The subsequent English author Louis de Bernieres book and film ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ is based on this event.

There is also an unproven synopsis that the island is the actual setting in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. Musically they have a long history with a Philharmonic Orchestra being in play since 1836. Additionally, Richard Wright who was the keyboard player in Pink Floyd for ten years was born there.  

We were there for six days and stayed in Argostoli and hopped on the ferry over to the fishing harbour of Lixouri for day trip. Taking a route over a steep hill from the town centre brought you to the resort of Lassi, where one night we attended a restaurant with the owner having a striking resemblance to Ian Dury.  Across the road we saw a chap called Gary performing in the Lassi Kefalos Restaurant and Bar.  

Ian Dury. Image Credit listal.com

Our previous remaining visit to Greece was in 2010 to the small island of Skiathos which only has 27 miles of coastline but has 60 individual beaches. In the 19th century it had a profitable period where it was a shipbuilding hub which utilised the profusion of pine trees naturally at their disposal. The international airport is located very close to the lovely capital of Skiathos town and is a plane spotters paradise. There were some dangerous cakes and fabulous restaurants where you could dine on the Catch of the Day and imbibe the local ice cold dry white wine. 

The core bus route runs regularly along the length of the island and has numbered bus stops, 1 being the capital and 26 being the last drop at Banana Beach, and during our stay, we travelled to every stop to fully view the island. One of the previous residents of Skiathos was the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip who was born there in 1921. Additionally, the island and its neighbour Skopelos were utilised as locations for the Mamma Mia film.

We made our trip at the tail end of the season in September and the weather as a result was a tad erratic. On the Saturday we were endeavouring to head out to a local bar to watch the Burnley v PNE match and also grab some tea but outside there had developed the most cataclysmic electrical storm I have ever witnessed. The field opposite was completely swamped, so much so the water was threatening to enter our accommodation.

Finally, there was a marginal easing in the monsoon, so we grabbed the opportunity to scamper down the soggy track to the bar. Immediately after our windswept and sodden bodies bumbled through the door, a lady in the corner piped up with a ‘Deliverance’ style voice asking, ‘Are you the entertainment?’ to which I replied instantly ‘I can be if you want me to be’ which thankfully resulted in her craning her neck back in. It got worse before it got better as PNE proceeded to improbably throw away a 3-1 lead in the last 10 minutes and lose 4-3.

Deliverance Duelling Banjos scene. Image Credit americancinematheque.com

Thankfully the friendly accommodating bar owner fed and watered us superbly despite the constraints of the inclemency, which resulted in him scampering to the supermarket next door to top up his dwindling larder supplies.

Our next planned Greece trip was going to be to the picturesque location of Santorini with the bonus of grabbing a couple of days in the capital Athens before heading home. It was all booked but then the pandemic struck and everything was cancelled. We have never yet had the chance to rebook and slay that particular ghost, though I believe it is now hugely oversubscribed with tourism numbers.