Details:
Like in the "Wild West" of North America and the Pony Express that was started in the 1860s, Europe experienced a similar evolution of messaging around five hundred years ago with the Thurn & Taxis family setting up rider and horse changing stations (postal relays) along a fixed courier route between Brussels and Rome to transport the Imperial Habsburg courier mail.
This important line of communication also ran through the Éislek in the 16th and 17th centuries: the village of Asselborn in the municipality of Wincrange was the only postal relay station in present-day Luxembourg for 150 years from around 1520... Here the Kleffer postmaster family managed the fortunes until the route was relocated to the south around 1680.
Under the motto "Cultural history you can touch" (Kulturgeschichte zum Anfassen), the Our Nature Park, in cooperation with the "Office Régional de Tourisme Éislek", is offering guided walking tours along the old postal route around Asselborn, the so-called "History-T'Ouren". In historical scenes, the hikers experience captivating, exciting and also comical moments from the everyday life of the daring post riders and their contemporaries from 500 years ago: What is the cloth merchant Martin Tissus doing on the dangerous postal route? Will the energetic Asselborn postmaster Franz Kleffer really be convicted? What roles do the experienced post rider Postfränz and other "contemporaries" play around the relay in Asselborn?
Details on the guided walking tours 2023:
Dates: Sundays 6, 13 & 20 August at 15:00; also Special night hike on 13 August from 18:00 to 21:30.
Hike: 5 km, approx. 3 hours, easy to navigate, sturdy shoes recommended
Language: Luxembourgish
Start: Auberge du Relais Postal, Posteck 5 Asselborn
Destination: around 18:00, Domaine du Moulin d'Asselborn, then return to the Relais Postal (approx. 1 km) by own means.
Option: self-guided visit to the “Musée des Ecritoires” in the Relais Postal before the hike.
Price: adults €12, children: 7-14 years old: €6, free up to 6 years old
Participation only with ticket! Available via www.visit-eislek.lu
Venue: Asselborn - see above
Organiser: Our Nature Park, in cooperation with the "Office Régional de Tourisme Éislek"
Price: n/a
Reservations: See above
