One of the finest day trips in Europe can be made via five forms of transport from Switzerland’s picturesque city of Lucerne to the forbidding peak of Pilatus. Named after Pontius Pilate, legend dictates that Pontius Pilate went into exile and committed suicide after the trial of Jesus Christ and had his body dumped into a mountain lake on Pilatus.
In medieval times, it was strictly forbidden to attempt to reach the Pilatus summit for fear of provoking Pilate's wrath. To strengthen the ban, a story abounded that once a year Pilate emerged from the jagged peak and appeared above the lake, dressed in ceremonial robes to unsuccessfully wash his bloodied hands, and anyone who saw him would die within a year.
Today, the spirits and legends have calmed and Pilatus is regularly visited via the Golden Roundtrip (Goldene Rundfahrt). The tour starts with a suburban bus journey (#1) to Kriens before boarding a tiny gondola which takes quarter of an hour to whisk people almost a vertical kilometre to the mountain station of Fräkmüntegg. Switzerland’s longest toboggan run starts from here along with some lovely hikes but the Pilatus peak is reached by taking a larger cable car a further five minutes and another 600 vertical metres to reach 2132 metres above sea level and a stunning panoramic view across Switzerland.
Unlike most of the numerous peaks in Switzerland, Pilatus stands isolated, a mass of grey stone grandly rising above Lucerne and offering panoramic vistas of much of Switzerland. The glistening Lake Lucerne sparkles below, its arms reaching into the verdant Swiss valleys and with the city of Lucerne sprawled along its shoreline. The southern and western views peer over the spectacular Swiss Alps, a veritable ocean of snowy peaks, creaky glaciers and craggy ridgelines including the majestic Mont Blanc and the inconic triple giants of Jungfrau, Monck and Eiger.
Various trails (from a short circle around the peak area to a long trail all the way down the mountain) lead to other panoramic views with cute marmots occasionally nervously watching from their rocky vantage points. A mountain cut-through, ominously named the Dragon’s Walk after the mystical dragons that supposedly inhabit the rocky caves, leads to various short climbs. An historic and a more modern hotel allow folks to spend an overnight stay on this stunning mountain.
Its location in central Switzerland as a stand-alone mountain peak makes it an ideal military point with clear vision to the Swiss borders and gun emplacements built into the mountain side. A small café serves (pricey) silky smooth hot chocolate and various tempting treats that bold dohle, imposing birds with a jet black sheen and yellow beak will gladly seize if your concentration wavers onto the view for even a second.
All walked out and relaxed, the journey down involves riding the world’s steepest cog railway. Praying that the brakes continue to function as they have since 1889 on this historic train and running for 4.5 kilometres at a gradient that reaches 48 degrees, the forty minute journey on the vivid red rail cars weaves its way down Pilatus to the shore of Lake Lucerne at Alpnachstad, where a 70 minute boat cruise across the beautiful Lake Lucerne (the subject of panoramic photos only two hours earlier) and back to the city.
The journey can be done in either direction and I strongly recommend that the trip is started early in the morning as the weather and clouds often reportedly roll in later in the day. While in Lucerne, make sure you check out both the moving Lion statue and the wonderful Chapel Bridge.
In the middle ages a brave monk and a handful of his intrepid followers clambered up Pilatus to confront the spirit of Pilate throwing rocks in the cursed lake. Pilatus stands tall among Swiss mountains, nout juts for its stories but for its spectacular vistas across Switzerland with wonderful alpine hikes and the adventure of being able to travel via boat, cog railway, cable car and gondola as part of the journey.
Note: Map courtesy of Pilatus Bahnen.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Pilatus Golden Roundtrip (Lucerne, Switzerland)
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Drinks Around the World: Hot Chocolate (Switzerland)
While people have been eating chocolate for only a couple of hundred years, chocolate has been taken as a beverage for over three thousand years (started in central America). To me, Switzerland is the home of hot chocolate drinks and is the best drink choice whenever visiting this scenic alpine country.
Hot chocolate comes in two types - the less-than-satisfying watery powdered drink served up in many places around the world or the silky smooth rich, thick, deep brown drink that tastes like a liquid chocolate cake. Switzerland serves up more of the latter and was a drink I enjoyed in a number of places around Switzerland whether perched on the peak of Lucerne's Pilatus or wandering the streets of one of the Swiss towns.
However the highlight is the wonderful unassuming granite storefront called La Barbare (their French website) up a staircase overlooking Lausanne (and on the famed Camino de Santiago or Way of St James) where the effervescent Marta has been serving up her magic brew since 1950. Served in a conical cup, the thick syrupy hot chocolate tastes like a liquid truffle and makes for a superb start of the day with a fresh croissant.
Don't miss the chance to enjoy a wondrous hot chocolate in Switzerland!!
At the start of each month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Other offerings from western Europe include Spanish Horchata, Bibicaffe from Italy, Dutch anijsmelk, Austria's Almdudler and an English chocolate mocha martini.
Photo Credit: shop
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Mark Twain and the Lion Monument (Lucerne, Switzerland)
As a child, I read Mark Twain's humourous tale of travelling through mainland Europe in A Tramp Abroad, influencing my will to travel later in life. Writing recently of the extraordinary Lion Monument with its poignant story of bravery by the Swiss Guards defending the French royal family, I was reminded of Twain's wonderful account of the sculpture, even providing commentary on pointless souvenirs over 100 years ago. Twain writes:
The commerce of Lucerne consists mainly in gimcrackery of the souvenir sort; the shops are packed with Alpine crystals, photographs of scenery, and wooden and ivory carvings. I will not conceal the fact that miniature figures of the Lion of Lucerne are to be had in them. Millions of them. But they are libels upon him, every one of them. There is a subtle something about the majestic pathos of the original which the copyist cannot get. Even the sun fails to get it; both the photographer and the carver give you a dying lion, and that is all. The shape is right, the attitude is right, the proportions are right, but that indescribable something which makes the Lion of Lucerne the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world, is wanting.
The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff—for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies.
Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion—and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Mournful Piece of Stone (Lucerne, Switzerland)
This is the final in a series of three European travel wonders (see also Bologna and Beaune), focussing on less popular travel cities. The series is written by Travel Wonders and kindly sponsored by HotelCalculator.com.
Located in the heart of Switzerland and overlooked by towering peaks, Lucerne is a medieval masterpiece. Built where the town-splitting Reuss River runs into the aquamarine Lake Lucerne, the elegant city has two remarkable landmarks among its collection of museums and its historic centre of quaint alleys and enchanting buildings.
The 14th century covered Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke) is Europe’s oldest wooden bridge. It runs a crooked path across the mouth of the river connecting the two parts of town via the octagonal Water Tower and is richly decorated with over 100 triangular paintings from Lucerne’s long history. Lined with radiant blooms from flower boxes, it is subtlely lit in the evening reflecting in the still waters that run silently below. The stone Water Tower has its own colourful history acting as a torture chamber, prison and treasury at various points throughout its 500 year life.
Sadly, the bridge was near destroyed by fire in 1993, probably from a tourist’s cigarette, losing many of the historic paintings and much of the structure of the bridge. Some signs of the ashen remains are apparent but the Swiss did a remarkable reconstruction job in their typically efficient way.
Nearby is a truly moving monument. Etched into a sheer rock wall, a lion, mortally wounded from a spear, lays peacefully in a cavern, life draining from his pained body. The shields of Switzerland and the French monarchy sit under the lion highlighting the sculpture’s story. 
Around 760 Swiss guards died gallantly defending the French royal family (who were unsuccessfully fleeing) in the Bastille uprising that marked the formation of the French republic. An officer in the guard was home in Switzerland on leave when the riot occurred. Some years later after things had settled in both countries, he built this moving monument in honour of his lost comrades marking it Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti ("To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss"). The name of the killed officers and the number DCCLXX (760) are noted in the inscription below the lion.
Famously described by Mark Twain in his superb A Tramp Abroad as “the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world”, the lion stands around six metres tall hewn from the sheer granite wall, a small sheltered lake reflecting the magnificent memorial.
With Lucerne being small, it is a wonderful town to explore on foot, the river front being lined with cafes overlooking a glorious wooden bridge over 650 years old reborn from the ashes just 15 years ago. The Lion is a sculpture worthy of the short walk to view the poignant memorial an officer commemorated his brave troops.
This series of three hidden European gems (written by Travel Wonders) is sponsored by HotelCalculator.com - the hotel search engine offering accommodation in over 10,000 cities worldwide including hotels in Lucerne, available at the best market prices.
Photo Source: Night Shots
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Waterfall Hidden in a Mountain (Trümmelbach Falls, Switzerland)
If one location can summarise the travel wonder of the European Alps and Switzerland, it is Interlaken and the Bernese Oberland. Sandwiched between two sparkling azure lakes, Interlaken stares at the towering giants of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau and the snaking icy river, Aletsch Glacier, which is Europe’s longest. Beautiful days in nature can be spent wandering between the traditional mountain villages and through the scenic verdant valleys.
One excellent journey starts by taking a train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and walking around five kilometers along a well sign-posted route to Trümmelbach Falls. The crisp fresh air, the amphitheatre of mountains, the tranquil setting and the glorious blooming wildflowers all brighten the steps and quicken the stride. Glorious waterfalls tumble down niches in the rock walls, none more impressive than the 300 metres Staubbach Falls that seemingly tumbles into Lauterbrunnen itself and gives it its name of Valley of Loud Waters.
In under an hour, the path crosses a small bridge with a raging torrent of water (turns out to be the bottom of Trümmelbach Falls) and an elevator which shoots to the top of the falls. Step out and meet a wall of deafening noise. Trümmelbach Falls gushes and carves its way down a tortured path of twists and turns having gouged its tumultuous journey over many thousands of years. Tiny lookouts onto the gushing water litter the path, the freezing spray stinging the face as small droplets strike unguarded skin. Subtle lighting along the narrow damp pathway and natural shafts of light from crevices in the rock sets an eerie scene with a background of the constant ear-piercing drumming of columns of milky glacial foaming water pounding into rock. Indeed, this waterfall is far more heard than seen.
A tri-lingual sign at the bottom summarises the crescendo of sound in numbers:
"Ten glacier-waterfalls inside the mountain made accessible by tunnel-lift and illuminated. The Trümmelbach alone drains the mighty glacier defiles of Eiger (3970m), Monk (4099m) and Jungfrau (4158m) and carries 20,200 tons of boulder detritus per year. Its drainage area is 24 sq km, half of it covered by snow and glaciers. Up to 20,000 litres of water per second. The only glacier-waterfalls in Europe inside the mountain and still accessible."
It is certainly worth a short journey through this mountain hideaway waterfall as a break from the visual feast of stupendous Swiss mountain and verdant valley beauty. The intensity of the sound from the huge volumes of water escaping the narrow rocky passage test the hearing but leave an incredible impression of the outrageous power of nature and time.
Photo Source: map, mountains
