ROUTE 93.

BRUSSELS TO BALE, BY LUXEMBURG AND METZ.

the wonderful Grottes de Han, he must alight at Jemelle, where he will find an omnibus for Rochefort, which will also conduct him to the village of Han, from which the grottoes may be reached on foot, in about half an hour. These

the

EAVING Brussels by the Great Luxemburg Railway station, in Quartier Leopold, we reach OTTIGNIES (13 miles), the junction of the lines from Louvain, Charleroi, and Mons. Passing several other stations of no note, we enter several deep cuttings as we near Namur, then, proceeding across the fine valley of the Sambre, reach NAMUR (35 miles), described in Route 74. [From Namur a railway branches off by Dinant and Givet (French frontier) to Mezieres-Charleville and SEDAN (see Route 76). Distance from Namur to Sedan about 65 miles. DINANT (14 miles from Namur) is situated on the Meuse, in the midst of extremely pic turesque scenery. The church of Notre Dame is a richly decorated Gothic structure. The Town Hall was once the palace of the princes of Liege. GIVET is a French fortress of the firstclass. The town is situated on both banks of the Meuse.]

From Namur we pass on through a succession of charming views to

CINEY (53 miles), formerly a Roman station, in the neighbourhood of which many of the most interesting objects in the Namur Museum have been found.

We shortly afterwards reach JEMELLE (71 miles), where a cave is to be seen called the Grotte de la Wamme.

[If the tourist desires to visit

country people, are the greatest natural curiosities in the country, and consist of a series of caverns, through which the Lesse runs for a considerable distance. The effects of the torch-light upon the stalactites is very striking. The time occupied in passing through these caverns is usually about an hour and a half, the distance being about a mile.]

The next place of interest is ARLON (118 miles), (Hotel: du Nord). This is the chief town of Belgian Luxemburg, entirely destroyed by the French under the Duke of Guise, in 1558, sacked by the Dutch in 1604, and again by the French in 1651, and dismantled of its fortifications 20 years later, it has no features of interest. The number of inscriptions, medals, and other remains found here attest its ancient importance as a Roman town. There is a very extensive view from the terrace of the old Capuchin convent.

In the neighbourhood of Arlon are the ruins of the Abbey of Orval, one of the most extensive and wealthy establishments in Belgium, destroyed by the French in the last century.

LUXEMBURG (138 miles), (Hotels: see "HOTEL LIST"), is the capital of the Grand Duchy which gives its title to the King of Holland. From Arlon to Luxemburg German is the language of the country. The principal celebrity of this place is derived from its strength as a fortress; and the negotiations, which led to its partial dismantlement, when some idea was entertained by its sove

reign of transferring it to France, a few years since, will be fresh in the mind of the reader. Situated upon an almost inaccessible rock, it was naturally occupied as a defensive position in very early times, and is said to have been so under the Emperor Gallienus in 260. Three-fourths of its garrison were Prussian and the remainder Dutch.

The church of Notre Dame is of the seventeenth century, and contains an "Ascension,' by Abraham Gilson, an "Adoration of the Magi," attributed to Otto Venius, and the tomb of Jean l'Aveugle, King of Bohemia.

Tourists going to Treves leave our route here and proceed by another line to Treves, distant about 30 miles.

TREVES (Hotels: see "HOTEL LIST.") This ancient and interesting town, the capital of Trier, in Rhenish Prussia, is situated on the river Moselle. It was formerly the capital of the Treviri, a powerful people mentioned by Caesar, and the occasional residence of several Roman emperors. In the middle ages it became an archbishopric, the archbishop being arch-chancellor of the empire, and second in rank as an elector, giving the first vote. The archbishopric and electorate were abolished by the treaty of Luneville in 1801.

The CATHEDRAL, built about 550, unites in its architecture several different styles. The present building measures, without the treasury, 378 feet in length, 136 in width, and 91 in height. It has three naves and two choirs. The original church formed a square of 118 feet on each side, in the middle of which is a space also square measuring 52 feet, surrounded with arcades, and supported by four strong granite columns. Some changes were made to it in the 17th and

18th centuries, in the style of those times, but they have since been done away with as much as possible. Amongst the monuments erected in the interior of the cathedral to the archbishops of Treves, the finest is that of the Elector John III. (who died in 1540), next to the wall of the northern nave. Close to the cathedral, to which it is united by beautiful cloisters, is the church of NOTRE DAME, built from 1227 to 1243 in the pure Gothic style. Its entrance is richly ornamented with symbolical figures from the Old and New Testaments. The roof is supported by twelve elegant columns, on each of which an apostle is painted. The church also contains numerous tombs of ecclesiastics.

Close to these two churches is the market, also the Red House Hotel, which was the ancient HOTEL-DE-VILLE, a Gothic edifice of the 15th century, bearing the inscription :-"Ante Romam Treviris stetit Annis MCCC." A street in the north of the town, the Simeonstrasse, is terminated by the old Roman gateway, the PORTA NIGRA, also named the Porta Martis, the most important of the ancient monuments of Treves, dating probably from the first century of our era. It measures 117 feet in length, 52 in depth in the central part, and 94 in height. It was converted into a church, dedicated to St Simeon, in 1035. The constructions which disfigured it have been removed. In a hall at the east side of the building is a museum of the Roman antiquities found at Treves. The porter at the baths has the key.

In the south-west quarter of the town are other remains of the Roman period. The BASILICA, built in the beginning of the 4th century, constructed to

from 1190. We now pass by, on the left bank, Pisport, known for its wines, and, on the right bank, L'Ohligsberg; then beyond Dusemond, on the left, the Brauneberg, two spots famed for their wines. On the right is MULHEIM (Hotel Karsch), near which are the ruins of the castle of Veldenz. We now reach BERNCASTEL (Hotel: Gassen), on the right bank, a small town with a castle. It also contains the ruins of a castle of Landshut. On the left bank we see Cues, the birthplace of the Cardinal Nicolas du Cusa (who died 1464), and, on the right bank, Graach and Zeltingen, also famed for their wines. We next come to TRARBACH (Hotel: Grofinburg), a small town, but the most industrious and flourishing on the banks of the Moselle, above which stand the ruins of the castle of Grofinburg, erected by the Countess Laurette of Starkenburg towards the middle of the 14th century. The French entirely destroyed it in 1734. At the side of a mountain covered with vineyards, on the opposite bank, we see TRABEN (Hotel: Claus). On the height are the ruins of the fortress of Mont Royal, built by Louis XIV. in 1686. It was destroyed in 1697. We then reach PUNDERICH (Hotel: Schneiders), on the right bank. A steep path, on the left bank, leads across vineyards, in half-an-hour, to the ruins of an ancient castle or convent named MARIENBURG. The view from them is one of the finest on the Moselle. Close to the ruins is a little inn. We then come to ZELL (Hotel: Fier), on the right bank, a small and ancient town, with a tower and the ruins of fortifications. On the left bank is ALF (Hotel: Theisen), situated at the entrance of the picturesque valley of the Alf. The railway station for Alf is Bullay, oppo

site.

[Here there is a good road, which, skirting the ruins of the castle of Arras, in the bottom of the valley of the Alf, in the midst of mountains, leads to the baths of BERTRICH (Hotels: Klering, Werling). These waters are efficacious in gout, rheumatism, and nervous maladies. The number of visitors to these baths does not exceed 1000 yearly. Time from Alf, one hour in a carriage, fare, 5 marks.] We next reach STUBEN, on the right bank, where are the ruins of a convent, abandoned by its inmates in 1793. Here is a railway bridge over the Moselle, and, near by, the longest railway tunnel in Germany (13,000 feet). On the left bank is ELLER, where are many old houses built in the middle ages. The banks of the Moselle are especially beautiful at this point. We now pass EDIGER, a village surrounded with ancient fortifications. Above the town are the ruins of the Kreuzkapelle. On the right bank is BEILSTEIN, a small town overlooked by the castle of the same name. We next reach COCHEM (Hotels: Union, Kehrer), where we see an ancient castle, restored by the archbishops of Treves. (Cochem is a station on the Moselle Valley Railway.) In a side valley, on a height, are the ruins of the castle of Minneburg, the ancient family seat of the princes of Metternich. We soon pass, on the left bank, CLOTTEN, with an ancient castle and a fine church, and, on the right bank, TREIS, which has also a pretty modern church.

On the left bank is CARDEN, where, in the 12th century, was erected, in honour of St Castor, a fine collegiate church, with three towers. Still on the left bank is MOSELKERN (railway station) (Hotel: Deiss), at the junction of the Moselle and the Eltz. In the valley of the Eltz river

(an hour and a half's walk from Moselkern) stands the old CASTLE OF ELTZ; it is well preserved and very picturesquely situated. It is the property of Count Eltz, who resides at Eltville on the Rhine. The castle may be seen in the absence of the family. Below Moselkern is seen, on the left, on the side of the mountain, a high round tower, which forms part of the ruins of the Castle of Bischofstein, built in the 13th century. We soon reach BRODENBACH, on the right bank (Hotel: Probst). At a distance of three quarters of an hour, in a valley, are the remains of the Castle of Ehrenburg. These ruins are the finest on the banks of the Moselle. Still farther on the right bank is ALKEN, an ancient town, joined by walls and towers to the Castle of Thurant, built in 1197. On the

left bank, GONDORF, with an ancient fortress, which has been restored. We soon reach COBERN (railway station) (Hotel: Simonis), on the left bank. Here a steep path leads, across vineyards, to the Castle of Niederburg. That of Oberburg or Altenburg, higher up, was built at an earlier period. In the interior of its ruins is the chapel of St Mathias, of hexagonal shape, in the style of the church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was built by a crusader in the first half of the 13th century. It has since been entirely restored. Farther on, on the left bank, are WINNINGEN (railway station), from which town_come the best wines of the Lower Moselle, and GULS, with a new church in the midst of a forest of fruit trees. On the right bank is COBLENZ.