Most years, for our summer holiday, we head over to Provence however last year we decided to go to Switzerland via Alsace as well.
It’s a bit of a drive from Calais so we often stop for lunch in Laon; an interesting old, hill-top town with a beautiful cathedral and a good cafe nearby. It’s a steep climb between the high and low parts of the town but we’ve now found a car park just by the medieval gateway.
Fed and watered we stopped off at a Logis for the night at a ‘one horse’ town, south-east of Rheims. It was a reasonably priced hotel, good sized room with a restaurant with absolutely ziltch atmosphere. You would have thought someone had just died in there …
Moving on we headed towards Alsace stopping off at the major tourist site of Chateau Haut-Koenigsbourg near the city of Sélestat. The castle sits on top of a large rock, ideal for spotting the arrival of your enemies. Its strategic position however didn’t stop the Swedish artillery who burnt the chateau to the ground in the Middle Ages which was then abandoned for two hundred years. It wasn’t until Alsace was annexed to Germany in 1899 and given to Kaiser Wilhelm II that the castle was rebuilt back in the style of a 15th century fortress. It’s an impressive castle with three storeys, great views all around and plenty to see and do.
Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg.
Before going to our friends in Sélestat we had a walk around a couple of the villages nearby. It was early afternoon and very quiet. The architecture in Alsace is Germanic in style with frontages clad in wide half-timbered panels and most buildings have steeply pitched roofs. The patterns seen on these houses stem from local symbols and traditional decorations. Even though Alsace is part of France, long periods were spent under German influence. The region was finally returned to France in 1945. Many of the street names are Germanic rather than French.
After a very pleasant stay with our friends we finally tore ourselves away from their wonderful hospitality and headed for the Swiss border and the town of Thun. I first visited this town over fifty years ago and it’s still as charming now as it was then. Yes it’s very touristy but it has a lovely feel about it. The Old Town is worth walking through and climbing up the steps to the medieval castle is a must. We didn’t go inside Schloss Thun purely due to lack of time but from the website it sounds as though its worth a visit. Its four distinctive 12th century white towers are a famous landmark – a real fairy tale castle. We did go inside the city church (Stadtkirche) which is just along from the Schloss. It was built in 1330 and has a striking tower which complements the architectural style of the nearby Schloss.
The weather that day was glorious and the town was buzzing. We sat at one of the cafes of which there are several along the banks of the river Aare. This is the longest wholly Swiss river and originates from the Oberaar glacier. I love the bluey-green waters of the river and with the backdrop of the old wooden bridge with flowers along it, you just know you’re in Switzerland.
By late afternoon we’d arrived in the mountain village of Grindelwald where we were staying for four nights. We always stay in the family-run, Hotel Tschuggen; Monica & Robert are so welcoming. We book one of the rooms at the back of the hotel as the view is, (in our view) one of the best in the world. There’s nothing better than relaxing on the balcony with a glass of wine whilst taking in the breathtaking scenery. The breakfast there is excellent and their yogurt …well you’d be hard pushed to find a more delicious yogurt anywhere – those Swiss cows enjoy a good life in the lush Swiss meadows.
As we were staying in the area for a few days and had planned various excursions and walks along some of the mountain trails we bought the Swiss Travel Pass. It appears quite pricey but when you’re using the transport system within the Bernese Oberland and going on several excursions, you do save money.
On our first morning the plan was to take the 25 minute Gondola ride from the village up to First and then walk to Lake Bachalpsee which takes about an hour. There’s a new Cliff Walk at First also a 800 metre ‘First Flyer’ zipline and a high-octane scooter ride down to the next Gondolbahn station so we watched all the action for a while before starting our walk. None of these new attractions are included in the Travel Pass.
We hadn’t walked very far before one of the rangers stopped us to say the trail to the Lake was closed due to recent snowfall so we changed our plan and decided to walk straight to Grosse Scheidegg. We were thwarted there too as the pass was also closed. Nothing we could do but to go back down to Grindelwald where we caught the bus to the new Terminal. It’s all very grand in there with lots of shops so we grabbed a baguette from the Co-op before going on another Gondolbahn up to Mannlichen.
I do a fair bit of walking and I remember some walks more than others; this one I’m unlikely to forget. Once again, the trail we intended to take was closed due to snow so we looked at the signpost showing the distance to Alpiglen station and as we thought it wasn’t too far we decided to head that way. Unfortunately we had misread the sign, it was a great deal further than we thought. From time to time we could see the station but it never seemed to get any closer. The trail at times wasn’t easy and the clouds kept coming in over the mountain tops which was a little worrying. In the end, having stopped to eat our baguette we decided to head towards Kleine Sheidegg.
What a climb that was! The wind was in our faces, we were tired and the trail was really steep. We almost fell into the cafe, ordered two beers and plomped ourselves down on the nearest seats. Thankfully the weather had improved a little but it didn’t lift our spirits. We caught the train down to Grindelwald and bought some chocolate in the town to sweeten us up, which it did …that and a glass of wine on the balcony, followed by a steaming hot bath.
That evening we walked along to Oncle Tom’s which is a superb pizza place only to find it was full. The day did end well though as we went to another pizza place, Pizzeria da Salvi and had a very good pizza there.
The next day we caught the train to Interlaken and then a second train going to Brienz. Bearing in mind that we had a Swiss Travel Pass it should have been easy to go straight onto the train, the Brienz Rothorn Bahn but no, the tickets didn’t work with the turnstile. We weren’t the only ones realising this and so there was quite a queue to get an actual ticket. Thankfully we squeezed into one of the carriages before the train chugged off. There’s not much room in the carriages what with people and backpacks but don’t be put off going as it’s a good journey, very interesting with some great views. The train takes an hour to get to the Rothorn Kulm with a stop at Planalp middle station to wait for the other train to come down from the summit as it’s a single track cogwheel railroad. They also refuel the steam locomotives with water there.
I seem to be mentioning the weather a little too much in this Blog but unfortunately it was very unsettled most of the time we were in the Bernese Oberland. This day was no exception; lots of cloud at the summit and bitterly cold but there is a good, spacious restaurant where we got a snack and were able to warm up. We did have a quick walk around the top but as soon as the sleet started we caught the next train down. This one was a steam locomotive and was more fun than the diesel one we’d travelled on to get up there.
There were limited views on the way down because of the low cloud and rain which might be the reason why the train was late getting in. If you know anything about the Swiss transport system you’ll know that all modes of transport synchronise with one another, in otherwords you hardly ever have to wait long for a connection. Looking at our watches we knew the paddle steamer would be leaving on time which meant we were in danger of missing it.
With a couple of minutes to spare we ran across from the train to the dock and boarded the steam boat which was just about to leave. We went up to the top deck not realising that it was first class. The waitress told us and said (for whatever the extra cost was), we could stay up there but we said we were happy to go downstairs. Actually it was just as enchanting. The design of the decor was early 20th century with bevelled mirrors, wooden panelling and solid wooden tables like you’d imagine something Agatha Christie would write about. No murders here or shady characters; passengers came and went, everyone shared tables and that way we met some interesting people. These boats are lovingly maintained, it was fascinating to see the engine from the viewing area and we both agreed it had been an interesting experience.
We rounded off the day with an excellent meal at the Hotel Pinte having escaped the rain and being rewarded by a beautiful rainbow as we walked along the Main Street of Grindelwald.
Our last day and wanting to get the most out of our Travel Pass we walked down to the Bus station to get the bus to The Terminal. In this building are several television screens showing what the conditions are like at Kleine Scheidegg or First or the top of the Eiger and other places. Most were pretty cloudy but we decided to get the Eiger Express up to the Eiger Glacier station which takes about fifteen minutes.
The weather wasn’t good as we’d seen on the TV screen so after having a warm drink at the top we caught the train down to Kleine Scheidegg and then a train to Wengen. I’m sure this pretty Swiss village is a lot busier than this in the winter but when we were there the main street was virtually deserted and no cars. There didn’t seem much to do so after wandering into a few touristy shops so we headed to the local bar for a couple of glasses of wine and snack.
Not feeling like walking round anymore we headed for the Wengen-Männlichen cable car This is a superb ride in a large cable car with an impressive view of the Lauterbrunnen valley and its iconic waterfalls. The trip is less than five minutes and has an open air balcony which would be great I’m sure in good weather. We then got the gondolbahn down to Grindelwald. It was an ‘interesting’ ride down as we had got on the Karaoke car! Our granddaughters would have loved it but after trying to sing a couple of songs we gave up and were content to enjoy the view.
That evening we did manage to get a table at Oncle Tom’s and thoroughly enjoyed a pizza and their excellent beer. If you’re ever in Grindelwald this is the place to go – reasonable prices, good food and beer and a great atmosphere. It was a perfect way to spend our last evening in the town.
After another excellent breakfast at the hotel we got on our way hoping to escape the rain which had dogged us for a few days and headed out of Switzerland towards France.
This Blog is quite long enough so I’ll write about the rest of our holiday in Part II. Hope its given you a taste for the Bernese Oberland and maybe you’ll be tempted to visit sometime.
Travels with the Booths.blog 