After completing the Rhine River Valley we headed for the Alps. The Alps are in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. While the Alps are not as high as the Rockies, they have a higher elevation gain. Some of the Alps are glacial, isolating some districts and supporting Alpine lakes. Crossing the Alps by road is not always possible and many towns are accessible only by long, steep, winding, narrow roads. Their culture does not necessarily reflect what current country they are in, but rather their isolation, their long history, and the proximity to the people that settled the area. For example, we found one town in Switzerland that was more aligned with Italy in language, culture, and cuisine. Most of the Alps did not speak English. Switzerland has four official languages: German, Italian, French, & Romanian (a version of ancient Roman mixed in with other dialects). The Alps are beautiful and one cannot travel through the Alps without thinking about names as Matterhorn and Eiger.
With all these countries being members of the European Union, border crossings were as easy as passing from state to state in USA. At the border of Austria we had to buy a vignette, an upfront toll for all roads. Switzerland has not accepted the euro currency yet, so we did have to get Swiss Francs, but not French Francs, Italian Lira, and German Marks.
Our route through the Alps took us through parts of France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Austria. This task was difficult to down-select our photographs and cover all the areas of interest and to reflect the unparalleled beauty and spectacular scenery.
Lake Lucerne Switzerland is in the heart of old Switzerland and is widely regarded as the most beautiful lake in Switzerland due to its Alpine setting and the reflection of the mountains in the water. Its landmark is the Chapel Bridge, constructed in the first half of the 14th century as part of the city’s fortifications. It is now a pedestrian bridge and is loaded with flowers. The water tower in the middle of it is octagonal and built c.1300 as part of the city wall. It has been used as a prison and torture chamber among other things.
The old wall fortifications of the city were built in 1386 and are still mostly intact, along with its towers. One tower (Zyt) has the oldest city clock built in 1535 and is privileged to chime one minute before the hour, setting the time for all the other town clocks.
The Lion Monument “The dying Lion of Lucerne” is in memory of the death of the Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792. Mark Twin said it was “the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world.” We thought so too.
The Pilatus Mountain nearby is named after Pontius Pilate, who, local folklore says, was buried in the bottom of a lake up there.
We enjoyed firsthand the Swiss Chocolate, Swiss watches, Swiss knives, Swiss fondue, and even an Alpenhorn performance in the park. The Swiss are renowned for their precision and good quality (made to last) as with Swiss watches. [We could not help but wonder, in this digital world, who is the market for these thousands of analog, gear and wind-up driven watches.] Switzerland has 70% of its territory covered by mountains with no raw materials except water, which it uses for hydro-electric power.
We drove on to Cannobio Italy. The views were incredible with snow peaks all around. We found our hotel with the help of non-English speaking locals, and were delighted with the view from our balcony. Lago Maggiore brags of the “best climate in Switzerland”. This is the southernmost point of our trip and it was hot there. There is a promenade along the lake that is one outdoor restaurant after another. We were told that very few English speaking people come here. It is mostly local tourists like Germans and Austrians.
Italy stretches from the high, glacier-topped Alps to half-way across the Mediterranean Sea. 75% of the country is mountainous. Italian food varies greatly from region to region. In the north, flat ribbon-shaped pastas with cream sauces are most popular, while in the south the favorite pasta is macaroni served with tomato-base sauces. The most popular meats are veal and pork.
Next we traveled back to Switzerland to Soglio: We continued up the Alps which was astounding, amazing, spectacular, marvelous, fantastic, and wonderful. The village sits at 3500’ and the peaks visible across the way are up to 10,000’. The views of the snow peaks and glaciers are just so beautiful. Soglio is just SW of the famous ski resort St. Moritz and is right near the Italy-Swiss border just past the tip of Lake Como. The village is a contrast between Mediterranean vegetation and Alpine views of the Bernina peaks.
Europe is definitely not handicapped-accessible! Inside the hotel, we were up on the 4th (top, so 5th in the US) floor, or 48 stairs up. Quite a job! The building this hotel is in was built in 1630 by Knight Baptista de Salis and has now been a hotel since 1876. The brochures for Soglio call it the “threshold of paradise.” Since this is so close to the Italy border, the food is mainly Italian and Italian is spoken here more than German.
We drove through the Swiss Alps, past St. Moritz (which didn’t look as posh as Aspen or Vail), through the Austrian Alps and on into Germany. The Engadin Valley was so gorgeous especially in Switzerland. It looked so “Sound of Music”-ish. We saw goat herds. There were raging waterfalls and rivers and green hills throughout. What gorgeous scenery! And the cattle in Switzerland really did have cowbells around their necks!
Next we drove to Pfronten Germany to our hotel high on the top of a mountain with a 3-mile one-lane windy road through the forest. There were 43 stairs this time up to our top floor room, ours with the turret on the outside. It has views of an abandoned castle Ludwig II started building next door, the Falkenstein Castle. This was originally built in 1270 by Count Meinhard II, stepfather to King Konrad V, who was beheaded in 1268. It became dilapidated and the brickwork seen today was from an attempt at restoration in 1565. 200 years later in 1883 is when Ludwig started planning to restore the ruined castle. Ludwig bought the land in 1884 in order for him to have more isolation. With the sudden death of Ludwig in 1886, all plans were immediately stopped and the ruins are still there today.
Not far away is the town of Hohenschwangau, Germany and its famous Neuschewanstein Castle built by eccentric King Ludwig II. This was supposed to illustrate his vision as “Castle of the Holy Grail.” The Neuschwanstein design was inspired by stage decorations used for two of Richard Wagner operas (and became the inspiration for Walt Disney’s castle.) Since Ludwig was spending so much money on castles, preferred to be alone, and did not care about the people’s welfare he was known as “Ludwig the Mad.” He was “officially” declared insane before the castle’s completion in 1886. Because Ludwig was deposed on grounds of mental incapacity without any medical examination, questions about the medical "diagnosis" remain controversial. Adding to the controversy are the mysterious circumstances under which he died. King Ludwig and the doctor assigned to him in captivity at Berg Castle on Lake Starnberg (Southern Bavaria) were both found drowned in the lake in waist-high water - the doctor with unexplained injuries to the head and shoulders and Ludwig later found with no water in his lungs. Because of his death, no one has ever lived in the castle. The 2nd castle in this town was Hohenschwangan erected by King Maximillian II (Ludwig’s father) in the 12th century.
King Ludwig II is generally well-liked and even revered by many Bavarians today, many of whom note the irony of his supposed madness and the fact that he left such a rich legacy of architecture and art. Ludwig was heavily into debt with building his castles and Bavaria had financial fallout as a result. It is ironic that the tourist income generated today helps to make Bavaria the richest state in Germany.
Last on our mountain trek was Salzburg Austria. This city is most well known as Mozart’s birth place. Like many towns of Europe, it is watched over by a castle and was built along a river. The churches, church bell towers, pedestrian cobblestone streets, street performers, outdoor cafés, and gorgeous mountain setting made it a perfect finale to our trip through the Alps.
No comments:
Post a Comment