Short Walk on Christmas Morning from Seelisberg to Bauen

Monday December 25, 2023 -- Weather forecast was once again for sunshine, so we decided to walk along the "Swiss Path" from Seelisberg to Bauen on Lake Uri again, a hike we did last time almost exactly 10 years ago, on January 3, 2014. (The "Swiss Path" is a special themed trail circumventing Lake Uri, created in 1991 for the 700th anniversary of the Swiss Confederacy). At that time the sky was very overcast, so we were really looking forward to doing the same hike (with a couple of variations) on a brilliant morning. Being on the west side of Lake Uri, we expected a lot of morning sunshine.

As is often the case, though, the only clouds far and wide that morning were once again directly between the sun and where we were walking, so not as warm and sunny as I had hoped. We had expected to have sunshine in the town of Bauen (the goal of our hike) by the time we reached it at 12:30, but it was already in shadow by the time we got there.

Even without as much sunshine as I had hoped, we had quite the highlight when we spotted chamois on two different pastures along the way, at one point even a very large herd of them, which was quite a surprise. We also were the only passengers on the funicular ride up to Seelisberg. Being Christmas morning, there were not a lot of people out and about yet at 10 a.m.

We finished the excursion with a boat ride on Lake Uri from Bauen to the dock in Flüelen, from where it is a short train ride home.

Heading by train from Zug to Brunnen, we pass by Lake Zug with the fantastic view of Mount Pilatus to the West. 

Also passing by Mount Rigi (where we were two days later)

In the town of Brunnen, on the way from the train station to the boat dock, this is quite cute!

We were the only passengers boarding the boat in Brunnen at 9:48.... transferring from our bus, anyway. 

On the short ride across the lake to Seelisberg, we can see that there is indeed sunshine where we are planning to walk! Although the clouds in the east are a concern. 

As usual, there seem to be clouds blocking the sun exactly where we have chosen to walk this day! Those mountains are the Uri Alps. 

Arriving in Treib at the dock, from which you take the funicular to the top of Mount Seelisberg.

As a small Christmas gift, the ship's captain gave us these little boxes of tea as we disembarked! The saying printed on the box is "A boat ride is like a cup of tea at Christmastime: Relaxing and Heartwarming!

We were the only passengers on the funicular for the 8-minute ride up the mountain!

Originally we were going to start our walk here at the summit station of the Seelisberg funicular, but the sign said it would take 2 hours 10 minutes to walk to Bauen, where we needed to catch the 12:35 boat to Flüelen. As it is now 10:10, this would be cutting it too close, so we hopped the bus to the south end of the village to start the hike. We were also the only passengers on the bus!

Starting at the south end of the village of Seelisberg, it was less than two hours to walk to Bauen along the "Swiss Path" (also part of national trail no.2: "Trans Swiss Trail"). So we didn't need to rush. This was a short walk for us, only 6 km. 

The first section was through the sun-dappled forest, very pleasant. 

At the Marienhöhe look-out point we get this fantastic view to the north, to the city of Brunnen at the north end of Lake Uri from where caught the ship across. And in the back, the distinctive peaks of the Mythen mountains as well as the city of Schwyz.

And down below is the Rütli Meadow, where representatives from the three original Cantons Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden met in 1291 to create the Swiss Confederacy!!!

Marienhöhe look-out point along the Swiss Path on the west side of Lake Uri.

Continuing on southward now along an easy trail with lots of sunshine!

On the pasture below is where we saw the first three chamois!

The zoom lens on my camera helps me to find where the chamois are!

These are the chamois we saw here, two small ones just sneaking under a fence, and another keeping a careful eye on us!

Beautiful animals

And then we passed a barn, and the baby cows raced out to greet us!

Trail no.2 is the "TransSwiss Trail", and Trail no.99 is the "Swiss Path". Not quite halfway to our destination we pass the little Beroldingen Castle. 

Schlösschen Beroldingen, or "Little Beroldingen Castle", was built here in the 15th Century, with the current build with wooden panels dating from 1671. The small attached chapel was built in 1545. It has a gothic "winged" altar, which we saw in October 2021 when we did a different hike, descending from the mountain behind it. The chapel was open to visit at the time. Here is that PHOTO. 

Farmhouses along the way. (Nearby is another farm which offers the "Sleeping in Hay" experience)

We still have some weak sunshine, but at the south end of Lake Uri, the Reuss Delta and the town of Flüelen have more! (I walked in the Reuss Delta recently, those photos are HERE)

Continuing on, we came to the next pasture where we also saw chamois. (On the far left is a small one, running up the hill. On the right in the dip is the herd). 

It was so much fun to watch the chamois!

VIDEO:

Two of the chamois racing to join the rest of the herd.

A close-up look at the pretty chamois. One of them has spotted us and is looking very closely at what we plan on doing....

The lovely pasture where we watched the chamois

Another closer look at the Reuss Delta. 

To the east, the "Swiss Path" passes across that sunny pasture, then down to the lakeside village of Sisikon, which will be in shadow till late afternoon. 

There were also cows here watching us. 

Heading down a long stone stairway toward lake level. 

This time we left the themed trail which we had walked 10 years earlier, and took a different mountain trail above Bauen, approaching the village from the south once we got to lake level. 

Crossing the Bauerbach River

Some of the fancy houses at the south end of the village as we approach the lake. 

The mild microclimate here allows for the thriving of palm trees. We got to the village at 12:20, so this gave us 15 minutes to look around before our boat docked.

A monument of importance here: The Zwissig house, birthplace of Alderik Zwissig who composed the Swiss National Anthem. 

Even though there were other chapels in Bauen since the 14th Century, they kept being destroyed by storms and rock slides. This one (St.Idda) is fairly recent, from 1810. 

The inside of the St. Idda church

Other details from the church interior

This isn't the dock for the large ships, but it made for a nice photo!

A look at the church from the dock

Here comes our ship! Time to head to the actual ship dock, where about 15 people were already waiting. 

For us, the only public transport from Bauen is the boat. Otherwise, it would be another 30 minutes to walk to the nearest bus stop at Isleten, but the bus there runs only every 2 or 3 hours. 

A look behind us at the village of Bauen as we head out on the 20-minute boat ride to Flüelen. 

At the south end of the lake is the Reuss Delta and the mighty Mount Bristen.

The lakeside town of Flüelen

Ship docked in Flüelen, heading back to Brunnen. But we are taking the train back from here. 

What our hike and boat rides look like on Google Satellite Maps

On our way by train back along the east side of Lake Uri, we get a good look at Seelisberg and where we walked along the sunny pastures and down to Bauen. Now, there is more sun there! And as Bauen never got any sun anyway, we could have done the hike later in the afternoon, although the only other boats were at 14:35 and 15:21, and I didn't want to be there that late in the day. 

Location of Seelisberg in Switzerland, near where we live. 

(Links to websites with history of Bauen, in Germany:  HERE and HERE)