New Wartburg Castle (Sälischlössli) near Olten

Thursday Oct.3, 2019 -- Unfortunately, our Wednesday day off this week was wet and rainy, but Thursday was a very nice day, so I met Urs after work in Olten, where he works, and we did a short hike to a nearby castle which he always sees on his way to work, and wanted to see it up close. It took us an hour to walk up, and then another hour to walk down to the nearby town of Aarburg which also has a splendid castle, which we have walked around before (unfortunately not possible to visit) and one that we always get a glimpse of when we ride the train from Zurich to Bern.

The current "castle" (actually a restaurant) was built in 1870 out of the ruins of the original New Wartburg castle (1260 original, rebuilt in the 15th Century after destruction by fire during the conquest of Aargau by the Bernese) but was closed for a few years, so we were lucky that the restaurant is now back in operation. There is a lovely view terrace where you get 360-degree views over this entire region of northwest Switzerland, and if the air is clear, all the way to the Bernese and Glarner Alps. A quick ascent of the very narrow spiral staircase to the rooftop terrace with its four towers make you feel like you're in a fairy tale.

Just South of the Sälischlössli are the ruins of Old Wartburg castle -- built early 1200's and destroyed at the same time as the "newer" castle but never rebuilt -- so we took a little detour to look at the ruins before continuing through the forest down to Aarburg.

Only a two-hour hike for us, but we also enjoyed the sunshine and French Fries on the terrace and made it home by 8 p.m., so we still managed our mid-week outing, so that's pretty cool!

Old Town Olten on the Aar River. I waited on a bench here for Urs to finish work and meet up with me.

It took us an hour to walk from the train station in Olten to the Wartburg-Säli castle, then another hour via the ruins of the Old Wartburg Castle down to the train station in Aarburg. We didn't go to the Aarburg Castle because we've been there before

The Sälischlössli restaurant was built in 1870 on the ruins of the New Wartburg Castle in the fashion of the time with no consideration of the historical influence of the location.

View South from the restaurant's terrace

Zoomed view of Aarburg Castle as seen from the restaurant

View Northwest over the city of Olten on the Aar River

View Northeast into Canton Aargau and the Nuclear Power Plant at Niedergösgen

The towers on the castle

The narrow spiral staircase to get up to the rooftop terrace

On a clear day you can see all the way to the Alps from here

Zoomed view of the Glarner Alps

Ruins of the Old Waltburg Fortress, built in the early 1200's but destroyed by fire in the 15th Century (during some war) and never rebuilt

Late afternoon at the ruins of the Old Wartburg Castle, before heading down to Aarburg.

Although we did not see the Aarburg Castle on this particular hike, this is what it looks like from the train when you pass it on the way between Zurich and Bern. The castle can unfortunately not be visited.

Back in 2015 we once walked from Aarburg to Olten along the Aar River. At that time we walked around the Aarburg Castle. But unfortunately you cannot visit it.

The mountains are looking beautiful on our way home from Olten to Lucerne