Blogs from Switzerland, Europe - page 11

Mt. Pilatus, 6,982 feet (2,128 m) overlooks Lucerne. Our objective today was to travel to the peak. Yvette mapped out the route for us, a combination of boat, cog railway, aerial tramway and bus! What an adventure! Boats plying Lake Lucerne depart from the quay across from the railway station at 0:38 past every hour. We arrived in time for the 9:38 boat, the first of the day. The Lake Lucerne boats are both sightseeing craft as well as providing transportation from Lucerne to nearby communities, including Hergiswil and Stansstad. In between is a breathtaking scenic panorama. The rain of the previous day had abated and the morning was sunny, providing a clear view of the Swiss landscape and numerous villas with boathouses. Mt. Pilatus itself continuously unfolds in differing aspects as the boat rounds the ... read more

22 September 2019 In the middle of Lake Biel is St Peter’s island which is connected to the mainland by a 3k long promontory. We had a pleasant cycle ride from the campsite along the promontory and around the island. At the landward end of the promontory is the village of Erlach. It happened to be their harvest parade and on our return trip we had an enjoyable couple of hours joining the locals watching the bands and floats go by and getting samples of the local produce.... read more

20 September 2019 In returning clear weather we had a long, tiring but interesting day on the Swiss Rhine. The morning was spent exploring Medieval Schaffhausen with its many buildings decorated with frescoes and intricate oriel windows. After lunch we boarded a cruiser for a two hour ride along the river past forest covered hills, vineyards and attractive villages to Stein am Rhein with its spectacular Rathausplatz. We returned by train, a first trip by Swiss Rail on this trip.... read more

18 September 2019 The weather turned dull today and we walked from the campsite up to the local summit, Brandhöchi at an altitude of 1127m. As we had almost finished our descent, Wendy slipped on some gravel and grazed her knee. A local couple who had just finished walking their dog saw the bleeding and kindly drove us back to the campsite.... read more

16 September 2019 We had intended to spend a couple of days at Brunnen on the other end of Lake Lucerne. The journey around the lake was attractive with at times the road cut into cliff faces, but when we got to Brunnen we were not enamoured with either the town or its campsite. So, after consultation with our guidebooks, we moved another 25k to Unterägri on Ägrisee. It turned out to be a beautiful location with the small lake dotted with attractive waterside villages and surrounded by forest covered hills.... read more