clog blog: A Swiss Adventure! (Part 1)

Trains up mountains, trains through mountains, walking along mountain trails, city trips, chocolate, cheese fondues, cows, cow bells, church bells, wood carvings and sunshine. In Switzerland we saw and tried it all!

About last year this time our good friends in Cape Town Dave and Olga Finnemore invited us to join them on their Swiss holiday. Without hesitating we said YES!, and chose the middle week of their 3 week holiday to join them. In no time at all, where did the last year go??, we were jetting off for first a night in Lausanne and then a week in Lauterbunnen.

We arrived at our hotel in Lausanne at about 4pm on the Friday afternoon after a hassle free trip, for a change! With the sun only setting after 10 pm, there was still plenty of time to explore! First up: the UNESCO Heritage Site Lavaux Vineyards.

Set on the slopes along the shore of Lake Geneva, the Lavaux Vineyards are a 30 km stretch of terraced vineyards first planted in the 11th century. We started our walk in Cully and walked through the vineyards to Rivaz. It was amazing to see the imaginative methods the farmers devised to get their grapes down the inaccessible slopes. What a great way to start our holiday! The sun was shining and we had a lovely walk in this truly beautiful place; so peaceful and quiet, unchanged by the hands of time. We highly recommend a walk through the vineyards if you find yourself in the area!

Vies of Lake Geneva and the Lavaux Vineyards

View of the Alps from the shores of Lake Geneva

There was still time to explore the (small) city centre before sunset including a walk up to the Cathedral of Lausanne before dinner time. The next morning we took a gentle stroll down to the edge of Lake Geneva for a walk along the shore and to some breakfast. Finding somewhere to eat turned out not to be trivial! A cup of coffee you can get anywhere but breakfast? We finally found a nice looking bakery but landed up paying a lot for almost raw eggs =(

View of Rue du Grand Pont in Lausanne old city centre

View from the Lausanne Cathedral

Walking along Lake Geneva

Almost lunch time and time to catch a train to Lauterbrunnen! Our first experience of the bliss of Swiss trains! Clean, fresh smelling, always on time and super efficient! This is the way to travel.

We met up with Dave and Olga in Interlaken Ost and after a quick grocery shop, we were off up the mountains to Lauterbrunnen. Time for a quick two hour walk around the town and to the Stechelbach waterfall before dinner then shut eye time to rest up for the exciting week ahead!

The view from our front door in Lauterbrunnen

The Stechelbach waterfall

Our first day in Lauterbrunnen dawned bright and clear, a definite mountain day! The three main mountain peaks in the area are the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. Despite being high up the mountains, there are many small towns dotted around which are also easily accessible by either the awesome Swiss rail network ot by cable car. One of the things we really wanted to do while in Switzerland was go up the Jungfraujochbahn.

This amazing railway starts in Lauterbrunnen and chugs its way up to the Jungfrajoch, the saddle between the Jungfrau and the Monch, with a change over in Kleine Scheidegg first. Popularly advertised as ‘The Top of Europe’, the Jungfraujoch is the highest railway station in Europe at 3454 metres above sea level. After leaving Kleine Scheidegg, most of the railway is in the mountain itself. On the way up, the train stops at two intermediate stations for views of the notorious north face of the Eiger and also the Monch mountain. Last year was the centenary of the opening of the Jungfraujochbahn. It is amazing to think that they blasted through these mountains a hundred years ago with much less sophisticated technology that is available today.

Once up at the top there are several viewing decks where it is possible to go outside and enjoy being high up in the mountains where snow and ice still lie thick even in the middle of Summer. Temperatures at the Jungfraujoch were cool 3ºC while in Kleine Scheidegg and Lauterbrunnen they were a toasty 28ºC, quite a difference! We enjoyed the exhilarating views and clambering in the snow again but were also happy to return to the toasty sunny valley below. We highly recommend a trip up the Jungfraujoch for the railway experience as much as the views at the Tope of Europe.

On the way down, we stopped off for a very German lunch of bratwurst, rosti, sauerkraut and of course beer. On the way up we came via Lauterbrunnen but on the way down we went via Grindelwald to do a complete circle around the mountain.

In the next blog post: more of our wonderful Swiss adventure!