Annecy
So far, the only words we can use are spectacular, superb, beautiful, etc etc. Annecy’s old city was typically French medieval with lovely stone buildings (no half timbered “Tudor” style here) on the river literally – in places it was more like Venice than France. Annecy also sits by a lake which is surrounded by snow capped mountains, emerald green fields below and villages and the odd chateau dotted along the water’s edge. Finding our hotel was interesting, especially as we arrived at dusk and the tourist office was shut - so no map and the centre of town where our hotel was located was pedestrians only, so how to find a way in?? Well, we basically drove towards the area we knew our hotel was in, and after two circuits of the same park, decided to ask some locals. No wonder we could not find the hotel! It was in a laneway off one of the pedestrian streets. To access it by car, you go round the back, enter into a public carpark, take the ticket from the machine and drive straight out the other entrance, where you come face to face with the little laneway and the hotel entrance!!! By exiting the carpark immediately after entering, you don't have to pay (fortunately) but who would think to enter via a public carpark?????
Next morning we took a wander around the town, striking the Sunday market almost blocking the old streets with typical french stalls selling bread, cheese, saussicon, clothes, fruit and all sorts of other things. It was very colourful and crowded, but fortunately packed up about 1.00pm allowing us room to stroll the old streets at leisure. We also followed one of the marked walking tracks along the river from the new housing developments at the edge of town all the way down to the lake. The old town had some beautiful buildings with interesting decorations and the usual excellent shop signs.
We had perfect weather, so decided to take a cruise on the lake - it was lovely. The snow capped mountains gleamed in the sun, swans, yachts and even water skiers took advantage of the conditions, despite the October (autumn) chill. After the cruise, we wandered back up the town to the top of the hill to inspect the church - as you know by now we have a thing for church architecture! That evening we found a lovely restaurant to try some typical Alpine food and wandered past the river and old buildings all lit up. It really was one of the prettiest towns we have been to.
The 2nd day we went to ALbertville & Chamonix - see further down.
Pictures:
- Walking along the river - note the huge new dovecote and the views of the mountains
- The Market
- A drinking fountain in town
- Scenes along the river including the weir, & the old prison - built to look like the bow of a ship
- Old buildings in town, incl. a fountain with tortoises as support!
- The rivers where they enter the lake & the ferries & row boats all moor up
- The building opposite our hotel. The inside mural / painting looked fabulous, esp when lit up at night
- The church and views from the hill
- The cruise on the lake.
Albertville
On our 2nd day we drove from Annecy to Albertville, the host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics, about 30 minutes away. Albertville was small but quite pretty. The new office buildings and tourist complex was quite impressive and there were a number of very good tromp l'oiels throughout the town. The other thing of note was the huge information board on randonees (walks) available in the region. there were heaps of them from easy to hard and all the information - routes, maps, distance, level of difficulty, sights of interest etc were all listed. This was my introduction to Alpine walking and I have learnt that in summer walking is as popular or even more popular than skiing is in winter.
The Olympic village was actually quite disappointing with very little to look at, so on we went to Chamonix, one of the famous French ski resorts right at the foot of Mont Blanc. The drive there was quite spectacular scenery wise. The main road is actually very good, but they were doing road works so we were diverted on to a very minor back road where the passenger (me) has fantastic views and the poor driver (Alan) can’t take their eyes off the road due to the bends and the narrowness of the road! It only reinforced Alan’s somewhat prejudiced anti-ski philosophy (ie it’s not worth driving like that to see a bunch of mountains with snow on top – the postcard is far easier and more pleasant!) Obviously I disagree!!
Chamonix
This was my first visit to a French Alpine resort and although different to what I was expecting, the town being so much larger and more of a proper town, it was still exciting, inspiring and the scenery very dramatic. For those who don't know, Chamonix is right at the base of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe. Chamonix is the French ski resort and is linked by the Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy and Courmayeur, the Italian ski resort on the other side of the mountain. I saw my first glacier (outside of New Zealand) as the Bossons Glacier comes almost directly into the town of Chamonix. The town itself had some fantastically decorated buildings and a few excellent tromp l'oeils. Many of the alpine flowers were still blossoming in the city's floral decorations and the town looked very attractive. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day, which meant it was difficult to see the peak of Mont Blanc, but the mountain peaks overall were still very spectacular. Having now been there in the depths of winter, I can tell you it looks different, but still pretty! I think I just love Alpine environments.
Pictures: The road into town, the Bossons Glacier, and scenes around town.
Geneva (Geneve)
From Annecy we drove to Geneva, a fabulous modern city on Lac Leman (or Lake Geneva) – it depends whether you live on the French side of the lake or the Swiss side! Geneva is a very easy 30 – 40 minute drive from Annecy and the border control was non existent! No-one stopped us and no-one asked for our passports. It was quite difficult to tell when we actually crossed the border! Geneva has an old city and some fabulous old buildings, but it’s pride and joy is the lake, the gardens, the international associations and the many museums and organisations that you can visit. We visited 3 museums, all spectacular in their own way. We couldn’t get into the United Nations, because that was only open to group tours and we like to go under our own steam, so we went to the front gates of the building but found plenty of other places to visit. We first went to the museum of the International Red Cross & Red Crescent. I wanted to go there because I always donate to the Red Cross and I thought it would be interesting. It was more than interesting. We spent over 3 hours there and there was still more to look at and see, but my poor little head could not absorb any more. The layout of the museum, the content and the audio / graphics are 1st class. Alan also found it fabulous and he had no preconceptions or expectations. We can highly recommend this museum if you are ever in Geneva. The 2nd museum was the Phillippe Patek collection on Horology (watchmaking) and this also got 11 out of 10! (no mistake with the numbers) I wanted to go to this museum because of the long association Switzerland has with watchmaking and also because my dad was a qualified watchmaker, even though he did not do it as a profession. Phillippe Patek company has been making watches since 1839, but the collection includes their own watches but also watches from the start of the industry in the 16th century. The watches, and their decoration were amazing, showcasing the unbelievable talents of master jewellers, enamellers, painters, gold and silversmiths, etc. There were miniscule jewelled watches that were breathtaking. There was even a watch that had a waterfall in the case when it chimed the hour. Alan asked how much the total collection was worth and they said they don’t put a price on it. I could believe it – it was priceless. Along with admiring all this beauty and craftsmanship, you absorbed a lot of the history and technicality of watchmaking in Switzerland. They also had sample work benches set up of all the different stages of watchmaking. Once again we had expected to spend about 1 hour, but ended up spending spending 2 hours there and only left because they were closing. The 3rd museum was the History of the Reformation in Geneva. This was also a brilliant collection and for those of you who love old manuscripts and archives, allow half a day here, but for us it was a fraction disappointing because there was very little English translation and although it gave enormous amounts of information on the history of Calvin, the Reformation in Switzerland, and the Religious Wars in France, it did not develop or show the links between Calvin, Martin Luther, John Knox (Protestantism in Scotland) and the other founding fathers of the Protestant Religion, which is what I had hoped for. But for Geneva, Calvin is the founding father of the Reformation of the Christian church and that was the focus of the museum. There is also a fabulous memorial to the reformation in one of the many beautiful parks in Geneva.
It was Yom Kippur when I was there, and I managed to get to the Grand Synagogue for the Yiskor an Ni’ila services, so I was happy. It was a lovely synagogue - a bit like a small version of Charnwood Rd in feel and degree of orthodoxy.
What else did we like about Geneva – the public transport for one – for a city of just 140,000 approx it has a full bus and tram network to rival Melbourne and water buses. Because driving in Geneva is difficult (we did surprisingly well finding our hotel, but there are millions of one way streets and tram only roads that make it difficult) the hotels all charge you to park your car securely and in return give their patrons free public transport passes for the duration of their stay. Although we did lots of walking each day, we also made great use of the public transport pass and it was even easy to get home from our restaurant across the other side of town and the lake at 11.30pm by tram. Lots of people still using the trams and quite safe. The hotel was very close to the tram stop, so it was great.
We also found the architecture interesting – no Medieval this time, but lots of large 19th century public buildings that reminded us of Collins St Melb with a French twist like shutters on the windows, and carved pediments. But of more interest was the modern architecture and there was some really interesting and attractive modern buildings including the hq’s of the World Meteorolgical Organisation – an oval skyscraper in blue glass that just looked great, a Catholic church that was built as a complete ball of marble or polished stone – the inside was very simple and austere and had windows that were photos of constellations but it all worked very harmoniously. There was also a huge public housing area called Quartier des Grottes (no Geoff – it’s not named after you) that was like a modern version of Gaudi, although it was supposedly inspired by the Smurf comic books! It reminded us of Montpellier’s Antigone area, not in its architectural style, but in the city’s attitude to public housing which is much more forward thinking and accepting of the need for public housing and therefore more inclusive of the facilities provided. This “estate” built in the 1980’s had lots of genuine gardens, shops, a school, a theatre, a kindergarten, etc and had several tram and bus stops outside. It tied in with Geneva’s strong Calvinist approach to social service and it looked great.
We also loved the food and had some astounding meals. We tried the our first Swiss fondue in Switzerland and although very nice, we found them rather boring as you get only one thing to dip in the cheese. Alan had a cheese and mushroom sauce with bread for dipping and I had a cheese and tomato sauce with baby new boiled potatoes for dipping. You can order a “Chinese” fondue which is oil and a variety of vegetables and meat, but it is also a lot more expensive than the traditional Swiss cheese fondue – maybe next time. The city also has a full cultural calendar of concerts, music, dance, theatre, etc, but nothing of interest on the nights we were there!
Pictures:- The waterfront on the lake
- The Old City: - the town hall with brilliant mosaics depicting important military events
- The Arch from the old city into the ????Gardens
- Chess Games in the ????Gardens & the main theatre outside the garden gates
- The Round Church - an impressive modern building
- The Reformation Wall - fabulous - in the ??? Gardens
- The Quartier des Grottes - a very impressive 1980-s public housing area - reminded me of the artist Gaudi, although it was supposed to be based on the Smurf cartoons!!!!!
- Views from the Cathedral and the cathedral itself, including the bell tower - one of the major cathedrals in Geneva - in this case Gothic architecture rather than the more austere reform style.
- The town hall with its medieval arches and the fabulous memorial mosaics next door.
- Various interesting buildings, architecture (old, typical, & new) and shop windows and signs.
- The Botanical Gardens on the Waterfront, where we even managed to sight a squirrel
- The International Meteorological Organisation - an impressive modern building.
- The Red Cross Museum - my favourite for architecture and actual museum content.
- A brilliant statue dedicated to the International Year of the Handicapped and land mines
- The United Nations and other museums in that precinct.
- The Russian Orthodox Church, the Synagogue and a brilliant "Reformation Tree" showing all the branches of the Christian Church and when they broke away from the central church
Lausanne
We left Geneva and took a leisurely drive along the Swiss side of the lake through Lausanne to Montreux at the far end of the lake to Geneva – about a 2 hour drive if you don’t stop. We stopped in Lausanne for lunch and a look at the Olympic Museum, so the “quick” stop turned our trip into a 7 hour drive!!
Lausanne proved to be a lot more fascinating and attractive than it first appeared. We spent quite a while in the fabulous Palais du Rumines, a former palace up on the high point of the hill at the top of the town, that now houses several museums of science and fine arts. The building was amazing. We also walked down the hill through the old city and spent ages in the Cathedral and outside the Chateau. Lausanne was the most French of all the towns we visited in Switzerland.
Unfortunately we had to leave town then to get to the Olympic museum before it closed. Only I went – Alan has no interest in sport, so he sat by the lake for a rest. The museum is good and the outline and highlights of each Olympic year were interesting, but very light and very carefully avoided political statements, so mention was made that certain countries boycotted certain games for political reasons, but nothing more. Similar coverage of the murder of 11 Israeli Athletes at the Munich Games. There was a whole section devoted to doping and the measures the IOC have taken to fight it. There were also a full set of medals from each of the games and the torches and various costumes and equipment etc, plus lots of video footage of various games. The museum covered the summer and winter games equally. There was also a temporary exhibition on Beijing that covered the city’s urban, building, social, religious and environmental issues. I wish I had been able to spend more time in it, but the museum was closing and we still had to get to Montreux! Palais du Rumines & houses built into the wall below it.Various old buildings including some excellent Tromp L'Oiels, shops built into the old castle walls
Yet another inspiring Gothic Cathedral - the only one we saw in Switzerland
The Olympic Museum
On the way to Montreux - Start of the Lavaux area, famous for its wine terraces
Montreux
Far more than Jazz!!!!
All I knew of Montreux was its famous jazz festival, which fortunately for Alan we missed, because he does not like jazz (except trad New Orleans style) and he does not like big crowds. However Montreux turned out to be a fabulous place.
The drive there from Lausanne was fabulous - very scenic with steep mountains on one side terraced with grape vines and the odd village and the lake on the other side changing colour and tone every few minutes!. I have since read that these slopes are an area called Lavaux and are listed as one of the UNESCO world heritage sites. The terracing is quite amazing and very steep - it is amazing that they can work the land like that. Still we have found Swiss wine to be surprisingly pleasant, drinkable and more importantly affordable! There is similar terracing past Montreux and for several kilometres inland on the way towards Interlaken (see blog further down).
Anway we drove through several towns and into Montreux, where we found our hotel very easily through town and just off the main road, right on the edge of the lake. Our hotel turned out to be a delightful 4 star place. Our room or I should say rooms, because we had an entry hall, a bathroom bigger than our main one back home and a large bedroom. Also a welcoming message displayed on the tv as soon as we walked into the room, which I thought was quite impressive - see photo somewhere below, free internet, and a balcony with a view over the beautiful hotel gardens and then over the lake and along the lakeshore into town– get the picture??!!!. We had good parking and once again a free public transport card. We were about half to one kilometre from the centre of town. Montreux itself is not that big but it does spread a long way round the lake and spreads into neighbouring towns at either end. It is a most spectacular position with the mountains coming right down to the lake’s edge and the village climbing up the hill. The lake is calm and the boats just bob on the water. Today the weather was beautiful, but you do get morning and evening cloud haze, so the lake turns a beautiful misty blue colour and the mountains all but disappear, only to resurface once the sun sets with all the village lights twinkling up the side of the hill. The sunset by the way was spectacular with a huge red fireball sending beautiful rays across the lake and colouring the sky.
There was an easy, beautiful and safe (even at night) walk along the lake front into town or a less attractive walk along the main road. The first night we walked along the lakeshore to the Casino for a divine meal of freshly caught sea perch from the lake pan fried in butter and parsley. Alan had cerf (deer) with a divine red cabbage and port wine sauce. Town was very attractive with lots of floral decorations and gardens all along the waterfront, lots of statues and in town itself, several huge hotels, the casino but also lots of nice restaurants and shops and an excellent tourist office. I have now discovered that Deep Purple's famous song Smoke on the Water was written about the fire that destroyed the former Montreux Casino while Deep Purple were staying there to record an album! Having seen the lake in lots of different hues, the song now has more meaning to me. There is also a great statue of Freddie Mercury (of Queen fame) on the waterfront, as it seems he was a great fan of the town and spent some months every year there.
I have done separate write ups below on the activities we did in Montreux - the funicular train ride and walk we did on the hills above the town, the visit to the nearby Chatillon Castle and my ferry ride on the lake and walk back along the lake shore from Vevey to Montreux. So this rather large first group of photos is just of the drive past the vineyards to Montreux, Montreux itself, our hotel and the lake in all its magnificent colours and moods.
The terraced grape vines. Note the lakeside road that we took and the freeway up the hillside - an impressive piece of engineering.
Some of the rather grand belle epoch hotels in the centre of town! then the lake shore in town.
Our Hotel
Montreux - Chatillon Castle
On the shores of the lake a few kilometres past Montreux is this fabulous Medieval Castle called Chatillon. It is actually built on a rock in the lake. You can tour through the whole building and the history was very interesting, (too long to add now), especially the dungeons that were below the lake - only the windows were above water level! The floor was part dirt and part the actual rock of the island, quite fascinating really. There are two photos below that explain what I saw in the dungeons - one is a bit blurry - sorry - very low light with no tripod, but it is readable. There was still some original decoration left on some of the walls and ceilings in the above ground rooms and they had some excellent exhibits. You could also climb the highest turret for some excellent views over the lake and along the shore line.
Montreux-Vevey & Ferry along the Lake
Vevey is the village that literally adjoins / merges into Montreux when you approach on the Swiss side of the lake from Lausanne. I caught the ferry from the Chateau Chatillon at Montreux across the lake to some French towns and back across to Vevey, where I alighted and walked back along the lake to Montreux, making sure I caught the sunset over the lake as I walked.
The ferry ride was lovely in an eerie sort of way, as the lake mist or fog enveloped the boat for most of the journey and you really didn't see much until you docked at each of the little villages. There were some interesting passengers including a young girl who had a genuine doggie handbag - I thought only precocious film stars and so called celebrities had them!
Vevey is a lovely small town, but also the home of Nestle and of the late Charlie Chaplin. Unfortunately I didn't have time to do a tour of either place. It's village centre as usual was pedestrian only and had some lovely French style signs promoting this, various shops and the town itself. Nothing beats the French for street / shop signs. You will also notice a rather prominent computer shop window! They actually had each window in a different primary colour, but most of you will know which one I liked! As usual the town had an active merry go round on the foreshore, lots of swans, some fabulous modern art work (I am still not sure what the fork was meant to represent, but it looked good!), and some lovely old buildings. The last few photos of buildings are all private mansions edging the lake with their own private foreshore, ie you had to walk back on the road to go round them! Some are still private homes, others are 5 star hotels!
The walk along the lake shore was lovely, peaceful, lots of families out for a stroll and quite safe. The local councils have even put pivoting seats on the rocks so that you can sit comfortably and watch the world go by! The sunset was also lovely, not as good as the one we saw driving into Montreux, but still lovely. The low cloud that sits over the lake every morning and evening makes for great effects as boats appear out of the mist, etc. and spectacular colours for sunrise & sunset.
Our First Alpine Walk
There were lots of brochures advertising the scenic cog wheel train ride up to the mountain peaks above Montreux, from where you could do numerous walks from easy to hard. With the weather so perfect, we decided that this would be a good way to spend the day. It turned out to be a spectacular near disaster! The train ride was everything the brochures promised - interesting, scenic and very pleasant. It was our first experience of a cog wheel train and they are very slow, but smooth and comfortable, allowing you plenty of time to admire the scenery. One section of the walk however, turned out to be one of the hardest walks I have done and has turned Alan off future walking, in the Alps at any rate. (This is a shame, because the later walks around Grindelwald proved to be much easier and within his capabilities, but we didn't know this at the time!) We looked at our brochures which had very limited information and also asked at the top station and restaurant for directions for the easy walk back down to the mid level railway station, where you caught the train back to town. The directions we were given, including a hand drawn map, first took us along a lovely scenic, but very narrow path zig zagging down a rather steep slope. Alan was not too happy about this as he felt it was a bit slippery, but it was fine for me and I thought if the rest of the walk was like this it would be ok. But alas no, at a junction of the paths, we were clearly told to go right and the signs pointed to the right; (the left hand path was meant to be harder!!!) but this track led us straight down a steep, narrow ravine on a scree (loose pebbles and dirt) track that still had patches of snow on it! As the climb back up would have been slow and would probably mean missing the last train back down, we had no choice but to continue downwards on the track. Needless to say Alan was not happy and even I struggled with the terrain. After a slow walk down and a lot of sliding on our backsides!, we came to the end of the ravine. After a short rest, we continued on a similar track to the one at the top - a narrow dirt track across open slopes and meadows that eventually led into the trees (we were now back below the tree line). the tree track was a lovely wide, shady path among the pine trees and other trees in full autumn foliage. Unfortunately Alan was too stuffed, tired and upset to enjoy this - he just wanted to get back to the hotel and rest!!!! The rest of the walk was lovely and we reached the train station a bit above the one we were aiming for just as the train arrived, so boarded it there and Alan slept while I watched the magnificent scenery on the way back down to Montreux. The scenery at the top was of open ski fields and throughout the walk was of magnificent mountain peaks with Lake Geneva below us shrouded in cloud and mist. It is a lovely feeling walking in clear sunshine and blue skies while looking down on the tops of clouds!! The photos don't really do it justice or show the real steepness of the ravine. But I hope you enjoy anyway.
Boarding the train and views from the train. You will notice some people even picnic by the train tracks - these people are doing a full day walk from the very top to the very bottom.
At the top train station looking out over the ski fields and surrounding peaks
Starting the walk (note some people do these tracks on their mountain bikes - Keen cyclist though I am, that is not for me!):
The start of the ravine! You will see Alan resting at the end of it.
The lower track and into the trees.
Interlaken
Interlaken was our next stop after Montreux. We were aiming for Grindelwald, but you need to go to Interlaken to access Grindelwald, so we decided to spend an afternoon there. Alan also spent a couple of afternoons there while I was busy walking in the alpine areas above Grindelwald (see below).
The first thing I noticed was the abrupt change from French to German. Geneva, Lausanne & Montreux were all in the French speaking part of Switzerland, but Interlaken was in the German speaking part and the line is very noticeable. You cannot see it as such, but one moment you are in a French speaking town and 15 minutes later you are in a German speaking town and there are no signs or any other indications en route to tell you when it changes. It felt quite strange, given we were in the same country and had not crossed international borders! Still the tourist office were very friendly and helpful and the staff spoke fluent English and French as well, so we were able to get all the information we needed.
The other interesting feature of Interlaken for me was the number of interesting buildings with artwork or sculptures attached. I read in one tourist guide that Interlaken had nothing to offer, but I actually thought it was a lovely town. It is situated between 2 lakes (Interlaken means between lakes) and is surrounded by snow capped mountains. The centre of town has a beautiful large park where you can sit at a lovely coffee shop (that used to be some sort of palace), drink a lovely hot chocolate and watch all the paragliders and parachutists glide down from the mountains and land! Alan also found another coffee shop when I wasn't there. This place was called Hooters, and all of the waitresses were young American girls wearing lycra hotpants and 'wet' T shirts! Their BLT was the best ever. Alan is also not a photographer, so no photos for you males - sorry. I think I was happier walking in the mountains!
The only other activity of note was that we caught the collection of recycling materials in town. This was done by the local high school students and was both interesting and fun to watch. (It doesn't take much to amuse us!!!!) The students all had little carts on wheels that they took round the streets collecting all the bundled paper. They took the paper to a central plaza where there was a huge truck that they loaded it into. A couple of kids stood on the top of the open truck, while other kids tossed up the bundles of paper to them to throw in the truck. They rotated the tasks around and those not active just sat and chatted while they waited. The operation was against all the occ health and safety rules that we now have in Australia, but the kids clearly enjoyed, they contributed to a community service activity and the recycling got done for minimal cost!
Anyway here are a few photos of Interlaken to whet your appetite.
Grindelwald
We had been recommended to visit this small Alpine village near Interlaken first by my brother Mark and then by our friends Cecily, Denise & Heather who went there a month before we did. The drive there is very spectacular, driving right up the narrow valley with the mountains getting closer all the time. Some of these photos are also from the drive to Interlaken from Montreaux. This town was all German speaking, but most people had some English language skills, due to the number of tourists and walkers/skiers that come there. Fortunately we were there at the last week of the summer season, so the number of tourists was very small and nothing was crowded and no queues. In fact several of the hotels had already closed for the next 2 months so they could prepare for the winter season. The village itself is very long and spread out, but the heart of it sits in a very fertile green valley immediately below the Eiger. It has all the characteristic Swiss scenery: the small church with the spire standing out against the hills; the cows with bells on - in fact each morning we were woken up by a boy walking his small herd of cattle down the road and into a nearby paddock. I loved it!!!!! The cow bells were very big and very loud, but had a lovely sound; Alpine style buildings with lots of decorated wood and flower boxes, etc. We were also still lucky enough to get the full autumn colours of the trees in the valley. The recommendations were valid and we also recommend anyone visiting Switzerland to come here - it is very pretty and has fabulous walking tracks / skiing.
The road into Interlaken. Note the half tunnels - keeps the snow off the road, but doesn't block the view!
Grindelwald:
The red building is the old mill on the river next to the road into Grindelwald. Then the views from our hotel balcony (note the cows being led down the road):
Town proper - Alan trying out the Apple Strudel, a restaurant indicator we liked, the railway station and some of the buildings.
Note 1. how the railway station literally ends in the main street. You could just walk on and off the platform as if you were walking down the street - quaint but very convenient and nice.
Note 2. the umbrellas over the plant boxes on the house balcony. I have never seen that before!
This was an artistic attempt to take the reflections of the mountains in the restaurant window. If you look carefully you will see me taking the photo!
They had a very active ice hockey stadium in Grindelwald. I have since discovered it is popular throughout the region. In the Chamonix valley there were several stadiums, some indoor, some outdoor, with a regular competition schedule.
The cows, as referred to earlier:
Views of the mountains overlooking Grindelwald, including the back? of the Eiger
Walking in Grindelwald - Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg
This walk was recommended to us by our friends Denise, Heather & Cecily who had done it about a month earlier. It was a fabulous walk and a great introduction to the scenery. It is also a very easy walk for those who are not used to walking. the track is quite flat, wide and well marked and the scenery can't be equalled!
I walked down to the gondola station a short walk below the township of Grindelwald and caught the gondola up to Mannlichen. This is basically the top of one of the ski areas and has the chairlift station, a restaurant, telephone and various communication towers and spectacular views into the Grindelwald valley. It has also been awarded UNESCO world heritage status. Down in the village I had been wandering about the skiing because I couldn't see the ski slopes, but once you got up here, the ski slopes were everywhere, and I am sure that in the future I will definitely be back in the winter!!! The slopes looked fantastic and there is a run all the way back to Grindelwald, which would be great.
From the Mannlichen gondola station there is a short 20 minute walk up hill to the actual Mannlichen summit at 2345 metres, which I did in the encroaching fog! Yes the beautiful day that H,D&C had was not in evidence for me. The sky was overcast, the rather dark clouds sitting in the valley, well below the walking track and making me wonder if it was worth doing the walk; but in fact the clouds blew in and out, making the walk quite eerie and fascinating, and when the clouds blew away the views were breathtaking and worth the momentary whiteouts!
From the summit I walked back down to the gondola station and on to the well marked panorama trail around to Kleine Scheidegg, marked as a 2 hour walk, but with me constantly stopping to take photos and admire the view, it was more like 31/2 hours! So what was this spectacular view???? Well it started with views over the ski runs and down into the valley and into Grindelwald itself. As you traversed around the side of the mountain you came face to face with the north face of the Eiger, one of the most famous mountains of Europe! The Eiger was literally the next mountain across the valley and you felt that you could reach out and touch it or just get across to the other side and climb it; only it was all rock and ice!!!! Still there were maps at the end of the walk that trace the routes the climbers have taken to reach the summit of the Eiger and you can see them very clearly from the walking track. Because it was not a clear day, I rarely saw the peak of the Eiger, but every now and then the cloud would lift a little and the peak came into view for a second or two then disappear again. It was quite fascinating.
The whole walk reminded me of walking up around Falls Creek on the Bogong High Plains. It was all alpine grass, no trees, granite rocks and boulders and every now and then clumps of red ground cover plants (don't know the botanical name - sorry plant friends) and little water holes / ponds. The main difference was that we were higher and the mountains were much craggier and steeper and Australia does not have these high rocky snow covered peaks in the summer walking season. Still it was beautiful - I really do love this scenery and walking in this type of country. (Rod Mattingley - we are definitely booked for more Alpine walks when I return to Aus!!!)
At Kleine Scheidegg (2061 metres), is the mid station for the cog train up to the Jungfraujoch (the highest train station in Europe at 3454 metres) but much as I would have loved to go, it cost an absolute fortune and I didn't really have the time, so I happily boarded the train for the scenic ride back down into Grindelwald along the lower edges of the Eiger's north face. Kleine Scheidegg also has ski lifts, restaurants and a bit more of a village feel, even though it is actually very small. From KS you can also clearly see the peaks of the Jungfrau and Monch.
I will now let the photos speak:
The Gondola ride up:
Encroaching cloud on the way to the summit and views from the summit.
Pam at
the summit
Views along
the walking track
Views of the Eiger:
At Kleine Scheidegg:
Schynige Platte
This was the last walk I did in the Swiss Alps, on our 2nd day in Grindelwald. The Schynige Platte is an alpine area famous for the cog train ride up to it, the view from the top and for the numerous scenic walking trails starting from the summit / railway station. Here are some quotes from a few web sites and they are followed by my description of my day and of course numerous photographs!
The best excursion from Interlaken, though, is the breathtaking Schynige Platte (2000m), acclaimed as offering one of the best views in the entire Alps. It is accessed through the peaceful village of Wilderswil is a few kilometres south of Interlaken, an attractive little place, full of traditional wooden houses, which serves as the base station for a cog-wheel train winding up for almost an hour to Schynige Platte. Trails lead out in all directions from the top station – including a two-hour panorama route circling the summit – or you can just relax with a short stroll around the Alpine Botanical Gardens, filled with luscious examples of the local flora, and one of the few places where you can be guaranteed to see a genuine living edelweiss. Every Wednesday in July and August, trains depart Wilderswil at 5.40am to catch the sunrise, with the optional extra of breakfast at the summit hotel.
One of the most attractive walks in the whole Oberland region is from Schynige Platte along the crest to the Faulhorn (2681m), on to First and then down to Grindelwald (roughly 6hr). This is worth doing at any time, but if you’re around in July and August, grab the unique opportunity to walk the route by moonlight: on the two Saturday nights with the fullest moon, trains leave Interlaken Ost at 10.30pm, bringing you to Schynige Platte by midnight, from where a local guide leads you along the six-hour trail. Ask the Interlaken tourist office for more details (www.switzerland.isyours.com)The Schynige Platte railway, which opened in 1893, is one of Switzerland’s pioneering lines. The cog train climbs at a sedate 12 kph up to Schynige Platte, passing many panoramic viewpoints overlooking Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, where the great Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler painted some of his famous landscapes, more than 100 years ago. After a 50-minute journey you arrive at the summit, 1,967 m above sea level, with stunning views of the world-famous Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, so close you feel you could touch them. (www.myswitzerland.com)
So now you have the background. I did the 2 hour panorama circuit as I did not have enough time to do the full 6 hour walk to First and back into Grindelwald (it is on hold for another day, as is the moonlight walk!). Also, as it was mid October and the end of "the season", the alpine botanic gardens were closed and almost all the wildflowers were finished which was a pity. A few flowers still popped up their heads as you will see. The top station also had a Lowe Walking boot test centre, where you could borrow a pair of hiking boots for a day to test them out. Fantastic for someone who needed new or their first pair of boots, but I was very happy with my pair, so didn't bother.
The walk was fantastic and the views were worth all the raving. Fortunately I had a lovely sunny day and from one side of the circuit you could see all of Interlaken sitting clearly between the two lakes (Interlaken means exactly that - between lakes) and on the other side you could see the Eiger, Jungfrau and Monch peaks very clearly. Although the circuit is very easy, it would be harder for those not good with heights, as part of it was literally on the ridge with a steep drop down to the lakes or onto an alpine meadow. Still the path was clearly marked and easy to follow and I thoroughly enjoyed.
The train ride was also brilliant with spectacular views and you could really feel the incline of the climb. For those who do not know what a cog railway is, the cog line is like a 3rd line between the 2 main tracks. The bottom of the train is attached to the cog line by a chain, so that it cannot slip on the steep climbs up and down.
Wilderswil Station and the train ride up (even the sheep wear bells!) Note also the beautiful autumn colours:
Views from the top
Views over Interlaken
This is a sports stadium on the outskirts of Interlaken.
Views of the craggy peaks and the panorama walking track, including a great view of the Brienzersee (one of the lakes), the surrounding mountain chain and the Oberberghorn which is a remarkable rock mass. Thanks to a stairway the Oberberghorn can be climbed in only 20 minutes. I declined this addition as I was not sure if I would make it back to the train I wanted to take home, but the views I got were good enough anyway.
A last glimpse of the Eiger and the mountain peaks:
The station and the train trip down:
Swiss Alpine Passes into Italy
We left Interlaken & Grindelwald and headed up into the Alps to cross by some scenic mountain passes into Italy. We checked the routes carefully first plotting them on a big paper map of Switzerland and Italy and then using Google Maps as a guide - utterly useless!!!! Google Maps always give you the so called "quickest" route and this involved driving to the Brig Pass, putting our car on a railway carriage and riding into Italy through a long dark tunnel! Not what we wanted. This route did give us the first pass we wanted, but not the second. So a stop at the Interlaken tourist bureau confirmed that the route and two passes we had chosen were indeed open to cars, were accessible and drivable in a normal 2 wheel drive car without snow tyres or chains, were scenic and were manageable in the time and weather we had. So we set off, first to the Grimsel Pass. I might add the day was very cloudy and drizzly, not the best for mountain driving or taking photos, but I did what I could.
The Grimsel Pass
Here is a a quote from Wikipedia: Grimsel Pass (German: Grimselpass) (el. 2165 m.) is a Swiss high mountain pass between the valley of the Rhone River in the canton of Valais and the Haslital (upper valley of the Aar river) in the canton of Bern. It is located near the source of the Rhone at the Rhone Glacier. and another quote from www.switzerland.isyours.com The other road from Gletsch climbs west in ever tighter curves up to the Grimsel Pass (2165m), marking the border between Valais and Canton Bern. There are three hotels on the top, and it’s an extraordinarily dramatic place to spend the night, with the bare, snow-patched rocks rising all around, the summit Totensee (“Dead Lake”) icy all summer, and stunning sunset views down over the Grimselsee just below. Three buses a day (July–Sept) run from Oberwald to Meiringen via the Grimselpass.
The road out of Interlaken was lovely - along the side of the lake and then a slow climb up towards the snow covered peaks. At first we were both a bit disappointed. It was classic Swiss countryside, green grass, cows with bells on, high jagged snow topped peaks, etc. which we loved but we had already seen this over the last few days and were wanting something more. However, it slowly changed until we were gasping in sheer amazement at the rocks, the road itself and the spectacular scenery all around us. We had not known quite what to expect, but in the end the Grimsel Pass simply exceeded all expectations. The road wound up and around the mountain side which slowly became all rock and no vegetation. The rocks were sheer slabs of green and grey granite (although I am sure it is actually a different rock) and the gullies and peaks were full of snow or waterfalls. As we got higher we noticed a dam wall higher up in the distance and next thing we are higher than the dam, looking down on the lake and still climbing! Eventually we reached the highest point of the pass and descended through similar countryside into the Valley, where the Rhone River begins. In fact the road follows the river right through the valley, although it is called something different at this stage. The Valley also contained several very small typical Swiss villages in the ancient style. By this I mean the houses were built of wood in the traditional log cabin manner but with stone bases. The joints between the stone and the wood were very interesting architecturally as they comprised stone discs inserted into the joints that stuck out from the side of the house. It was most unusual - hopefully you will be able to see what I mean in the photos. Anyway it was very pretty driving through the valley.
Simplon Pass
Here is a a quote from Wikipedia on the Simplon Pass:
Simplon Pass (Italian: Passo del Sempione) (2008 m./6589 ft.) is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. It connects Brig in the canton of Valais with Domodossola in Piedmont (Italy). The pass itself is, together with the first villages across the border such as Gondo, still in Switzerland. The Simplon Tunnel was built beneath the vicinity of the pass in the early 20th century to carry rail traffic between the two countries.
Eventually we left the valley and at a road junction in the middle of nowhere, headed off towards the Simplon Pass and Domodossola in Italy. Once again, a gradual rather than a dramtic change in scenery, but before long we were driving above the tree line through alpine grasses and snow capped mountain tops, although this time they were softer and more rounded, rather than the jagged rocky peaks of the Grimsel Pass. Although I said above the tree line, there were in fact some trees in full autumn colour and it was lovely seeing the burnt orange, brown and gold leaves against the grey and white of the road and snow. We stopped for lunch here at the hotel on the top of the Pass and then drove down through some spectacularly steep gorges into the very large and boring town of Domodossola. During the steepest part of the descent you could almost put your hands out the car windows and touch both sides of the gorge, it was so narrow! The other feature of this road were the number of half tunnels along the route. You cannot travel on Swiss roads, esp in the Alpine area, without going through numerous tunnels, but on this pass and in many other areas, they build half passes, where there is a roof and a concrete wall on the hill side and an open wall on the drop side, so that you can see the scenery. they are really good, because they keep the snow off the road (to a large extent) yet you don't feel closed in.
Unfortunately my photos don't do justice to either Pass, as it was impossible to stop most of the time because there was nowhere to pull over for other cars to pass, so most of the photos are taken from the moving car. Also the weather, with its very flat grey light and drizzly rain, made capturing the beauty of the landscape difficult. Also as we had to keep moving to get to Stresa before it got dark, I could not spend too long lingering over the photos. I have done what I can within the limited time frame.
Driving out of Interlaken
The Grimsel Pass
The Valley between the Passes & the traditional Swiss Houses
The Simplon Pass
Orta
This entry is out of order and should be entered below Stresa (see below), but I was tired and got confused with uploading photos and as it is such a job moving the photos around on the blog, you are getting Orta ahead of Stresa!
Orta was a small lake in the next valley west of Stresa. The hotel recommended it to us as a very pretty place to visit. And it was! It was also very touristy, but it did not spoil the ambience or the scenic value of the place. It is definitely far nicer off season without the summer hordes.
But first we chose a scenic route via a "hidden" but beautiful church that we had read about further up Lake Stresa shoreline . We found the access route, and the tiny village indicated, but the church was well and truly hidden! In addition, so were the people. The village was very, very quiet, although obviously lived in! I think we drove down every street in the village, wasting a good hour or two trying to find the church. We like exploring under our own steam! This included a visit to a different but lovely old Romanesque church in the village proper, the local ambulance depot and a few other assorted buildings. (But very few people!) By then it was lunch time, so we decided to eat at the local pizza restaurant which had now opened for business. After a lovely meal I decided to ask the people there if they knew about the church. Remember I had not yet taken Italian lessons, and no-one in this village spoke English. The result - the church was hidden! - it was a good 30 - 40 minute walk up the mountain behind the village and because of all the rain the day before and this particular day, the track was closed because it was too slippery and dangerous! So no church and back down the access route and across the mountains to Orta.
Orta was, as I said, very pretty. It also had an island with a monastry in the lake, but by the time we got there, it was too late to explore the monastry. Still there was plenty to see in Orta itself; including a fabulous mushroom fair which had mushrooms for sale, but also a really informative stand of all the regional mushrooms showing which ones could be eaten and which were poisonous and even fatal. It was the start of the mushroom season and it is very big business in Italy and France. Not only do a lot of villages hold similar stalls but we also saw posters and displays in all the pharmacy windows throughout Italy. There was also a lot of artwork and modern sculptures dotted troughout the village. I got the impression there was actually an artists colony living there or that it was a favourite retreat for many artists. We stayed there till the sun went down and the village looked just as lovely at dusk with all the lights. We then drove home an easier and quicker way over the mountain back to Stresa. Anyway, I will let the photos say the rest.
The Hidden village: very pretty on the shores of a very small lake
The local ambulance depot!
The village church:
On the outskirts of Orta was a fabulous hotel built in the 19th century in Moorish style. Unless you are staying there, you are not allowed past the front reception desk, but the exterior was amazing.
Orta lake & Monastry from the village:
Orta Village:
The Mushroom Fair:
Local Food & Wine Samples! I loved the fancy wine labels, & the variety and number of different pastas and salamis!
The local art work. I especially loved the round sculpture - it reminded me of the steel one I saw in the Vatican museum 15 years ago. There was a photo of that one on our dining room wall, that some of you may remember!
Stresa - Lake Maggiore
It was a tough choice between Lake Como and Lake Maggiore -the famous northern Italian lakes district sitting just below the Alps. After some research on the internet and our experiences to date, we chose the lesser known Lake Maggiore and the small resort town of Stresa, which sat at the apex half way along the long narrow lake, shaped somwhat like a boomerang. Stresa itself was quite small and picturesque, but the main reason for choosing this area was the attractions of the 3 islands on the lake within sight and easy access of Stresa. In addition this was a much easier route to drive to from the Alpine passes and then down to Milan.
We arrived at our hotel very easily as it was a big European style 3-4 star resort hotel on the main road. Like Montreaux we had scored excellent accommodation at bargain basement prices because it was off season!
The islands: these were an architectural, gardeners & scenic delight all rolled in to one. They are all owned by the same family - the Borromeo Family and have incredible history attached .
Lots of photos here, so I will explain each island as you come to the photos. Just keep scrolling down -you will reach the next island in due course.
First, views of our hotel including the views from our room, as we had picture windows on two sides - one facing the front garden and town & the other over the lake. We didn't have any complaints!
Our hotel:
Another of the large hotels in town
To access the islands you can catch a ferry, or like we did get waylaid by the local boatman who run a boat service between the islands. This was fun with a bit more flexibility time wise. However, as you can see the landing jetties were primitive, but fun!
The first island "Isola Madre" had a mansion and a fabulous garden. The highlights of the gardens to me were the borders of coleus in every imaginable colour and variation, and the exotic birds they had roaming around - white peacocks, and other birds I don't know. For Alan the highlight was the huge tree, several hundred years old, that had blown down in a huge cyclone they had a year or two back. They have tried to save the tree, by replanting and securing the broken roots with guy ropes etc. They feel they are winning, but it is a slow battle. However, the logistics of the process intrigued Alan. The views over the lake were also pretty special. The Borromeo family were very involved in the theatre and in the mansion on this island and on the third island they had built miniature stages with full sets and costumed figures - very elaborate, intricate and quite fascinating to pour over.
The second island "Isola dei Pescatore" was the village island, no mansion, but a lovely church - our first taste of Italian Romanesque churches and some amazing silver & gold statues of various bishops, read the info on the photo below; lovely narrow streets and lots of fish restaurants! We decided not to lash out at lunch, but found a lovely place where we could sip wine and eat a home made panino (sandwich) of beautiful home cured beef (we have not had anything like it since!!) while looking out over the lake. What more could you ask for! The whole island could be circumnavigated on foot in half an hour, but we spent more like and hour and half walking around the island. As you can see Alan also had lots of fun with the local swans at the tiny port. It was a lot of fun.
The third island "Isola Bella" was the island with the main palazzo (Palace) on it. It was a fabulous building - not many shots from inside, because we were not supposed to take photos, but I am just very naughty and snuck some in. (The benefits of being off season - no-one is around). The highlights were the grotto which took up the whole bottom floor of the building, built entirely from stones, and shells in the most amazing patterns on the floor, walls and ceilings. The grottos were also furnished and used as a museum for their collection of military cannons and also for many of their theatre reproductions. The entrance gallery and main staircase were decorated with rather large versions of the family and related coats of arms. The gardens were the other main feature and I will say no more - just look at the photos!
The Grotto
The Gardens
Catching the Chairlift near our hotel.
This chairlift took you up to the top of the mountains surrounding the lake. A beautiful day, spectacular views, including of the 3 islands we visited the previous day. A surprise to find ski runs up their - had to try out the chairlift! However, in the heart of Autumn, no snow, only beautiful carpets of autumn leaves.
I took the chairlift the morning we left Stresa, so it was a beautiful way to finish our stay in the Italian Lakes District.
Milano
We found the drive to Milano from Stresa to be very easy, but not particularly attractive. The shore of Lake Maggiore was lovely, although very developed. Once you left Lake Maggiore, it became just endless villages or the outskirts of large towns, none particularly old or attractive. The traffic was horrendous - just endless bumper to bumper traffic, so we gave up on the "scenic" route and took the autostrada (freeway). We had google maps instructions printed for finding our hotel and managed fairly well. Even managed to get the right exit and navigate our way through town (Pam driving) to our hotel.
Our hotel, found on the internet booking service, turned out to be a small (10 rooms??) 3 storey building opposite a nice residential park in the inner suburbs of Milan, not too far from the city centre. Milan turned out to be a really pleasant surprise - much more attractive than we expected and not at all industrial looking, as we thought it would be. The city even had trams, more like Melb.'s old style trams, only painted orange. The hotel had a tram & bus stop around the corner and a suburban train stop a short distance away.
The first evening we just caught the tram into the town centre, spotted a street festival - it was a public holiday that we had not known about, so wandered along the temporary mall, enjoying the atmosphere. At the end, we turned round came back, caught the tram back to our hotel, had dinner at a local Greek restaurant and went to bed.
The following day we caught the tram back into the town centre, found the railway station, a rather large grand building, although the outside was not as architecturally interesting as the stations in France or England. Then made our way to the Duomo - and here we discovered the "wedding cake" or main cathedral, a full on gothic cathedral in white stone . It was fabulous inside and out. It was also the last gothic cathedral we would see for some time. We could not walk round all the interior, because we caught them moving various precious works of art from the high walls into storage for restoration, and some of the cathedral was blocked off.
However, the duomo was not the only building to grab our attention. On the other side of the piazza was the Galleria - an arcaded shopping centre of designer names and cafes, unfortunately including the golden M. That aside it was an amazing building and was in strong contention to beat Galleries Lafayette as the best shopping complex, although the dome was not as fancy.
We walked through the Galleria to a new piazza facing the famous La Scala Theatre. No opera on tonight, but a good classical music program, so we decided to lash out and go to La Scala.
Here is where we had our first taste of Italian Bureaucracy:
Buying Concert Tickets:
The concert is advertised on La Scala paper on the walls of La Scala to be held at La Scala this evening.
So go to the theatre and ask for 2 tickets. Nooooooo, the ticket office is closed in the afternoon.
Okay, go do more sightseeing and come back at 5.00pm.
Back we come - no we can't buy the tickets here, you have to buy them from our other office on the other side of the Duomo piazza.
Off we go, but the office is not to be found, even after 3 circuits of the named piazza
Ask at the hotel instead
There is no ticket office here, you buy them from the theatre.
But, we said, they told us to buy them here.
There is no ticket office here - have you tried the one in the "sottopassaggio"? The what?
The subway under the piazza that accesses the metro train lines.
No we said, OK try there
Halleluyah, we found it, but still no tickets.
La Scala does not sell tickets for this concert - you have to buy them from the concert company performing the concert!
OK where do we go? The ticket office at La Scala!!!!!
But they sent us here (sort of). No, we are told, the company is selling last minute tickets from the theatre at 7.00pm - an hour from now and an hour before the concert starts!
Do we really want to go to this concert????? Yes
So we rush back to our hotel to change and freshen up.
Then back to La Scala to find a queue at the ticket office waiting for them to arrive - it is all closed up.
Like good Anglo-Saxons we queue up, only to find lots of Italians joining the queue in front of us.
By now it is 7.15pm, we have not had tea, we dont have tickets and no-one is in the ticket office.
The Italians are on their mobile phones trying to find out what is going on in a very Italian manner, with no result.
Just as we decide to give up, some one arrives.
Lots of people suddenly appear from the surrounding bars and cafes and go in to collect tickets ahead of those in the queue. We discover later, they have phoned and reserved tickets!
Eventually it is our turn and all that is on offer is the very top level of seats (there are 6 levels!!!)
We decide what the heck, buy them, rush out to the next door restaurant for a quick but lovely meal and make it to the concert as the bell rings!
Was it worth it? A resounding YES!!!!!! The theatre, acoustics and music were all excellent.
The local trams and the rather grand railway station
The "Wedding Cake" Cathedral
The Galleria
La Scala & its piazza- statue is of Leonardo da Vinci who lived in Milano for some years. The Galleria is the arched building in the background.
Some buildings I liked
Which is the building & which the scaffolding?!
No comments:
Post a Comment