St.James Trail between St.Gallen and Rorschach on Lake Constance

Wednesday January 31, 2024 -- Today we traveled to the far northeast part of the country to the region between St.Gall and Lake Constance, because that was where the weather was supposed to be best. Our plan was to walk another section of the St.James Trail, more popularly known as the "Camino de Santiago de Compostela". (In fact, this section is considered to be the first stage of the St.James Trail through Switzerland, starting in Rorschach on the lake and ending at the huge St.Gall Abbey. We did it in the opposite direction).

We hadn't counted on there being so much fog again, even though the forecast was for better weather after 1 p.m. Since we got to St.Gall at 11 a.m., we figured it would be a good idea to go and have a look at the Cathedral again, something we did the last time about 10 years ago. The Cathedral and adjoining ancient library are one of Switzerland's 13 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. (The library is the third-oldest in the world). We walked around the old part of St.Gallen city (Photos are posted separately HERE) before taking a bus to to the outskirts of the city to join the St.James trail for the 12-km and 3-hour walk to Rorschach on Lake Constance. 

Typical for the St.James trail is that a lot of the path is on paved roads. But the fog had lifted and we had sunshine until we reached the train station in Rorschach Harbour, where the fog had sat all day on the lake. In Rorschach we also had a look inside the main Evangelical and Catholic church buildings there as well, so four church visits this day!!!!

Together with the city walk and long sections in train stations, this ended up being about 14 kilometers of walking this day!

We started our hike at 12:15 on the outskirts of the city of St.Gallen, and this is the view we had of Lake Constance to the north totally covered in fog! At least up here at the higher elevations we started getting some sunshine, but the hope was that we wouldn't be covered in fog once we got to Rorschach

This is the first section of the the St.James Trail no.4 (Camino de Santiago de Compostela) in Switzerland, from Rorschach to St.Gallen. We started on the outskirts of the city of St.Gallen (St.Fiden) and walked the 12 kilometers to the lake. 

The fog has lifted and we had sunshine now for our afternoon hike in the rolling hills of northeastern Switzerland. 

Here the trail descended right next to this house.

A look down across the pastures we are crossing, along the road from the right, and down along the left-side street. From there the trail follows the Goldach River ravine. 

Crossing the vehicle bridge at St. Martin's Bridge, over the Goldach River, which flows here through the Goldachtobel to empty into Lake Constance at Horn. 

A bit of an uphill section, we are not used to this any more! It was almost too hot to do this climb. (It was about 10 degrees this day!)

At 1:20 p.m. we finally found a suitable bench for our picnic lunch! We were glad of the half-shade this time. 

The Great Spotted Woodpecker is the most common woodpecker in Switzerland, but we don't get to see it too often, nor to photograph it like this!

Great Spotted Woodpecker. 

Trail no. 4 is the national trail "Via Jakobi" or "St.James Trail", the section of the popular "Camino de Santiago de Compostela" through Switzerland. 

Even the small farmers are busy on such a lovely day!

Up ahead (close-up view) is the small church in Untereggen, and in the background the thick blanket of fog across Lake Constance. 

We meet cats on all our hikes in the agricultural regions of Switzerland, and they often come to greet us!

Indications that we are on the "Camino de Santiage de Compostela", and possibly this property offers accommodations for pilgrims. According to the text on this clay slab, there would be just over 3415 kilometers to go from here!

Very pretty pastoral region here. 

Is this really the only photo we took of me on this day????

Here in Untereggen is where we started on a different hike along the Goldach River back in February 2019, also walking down to Lake Constance but further west to Horn. We had slightly better views of the lake that time! (Those photos are HERE)

This old barn has the most beautifully carved doors!

Leaving the village of Untereggen we passed a farm which makes its own joghurt and cheese, so Urs bought a chunk of Appenzell Cheese. (This region is very near Appenzell). 

How pretty this would look if the high-growth trees were in bloom!

Lots of orchards here. 

We've now reached a low moor of national importance, and the grounds of the Sulzberg Castle. 

This is the castle pond, called simply "Schlossweier" surrounded by the moorlands. 

You can just make out the tower of the Sulzberg Castle. The castle ponds are first mentioned in documents of 1412 when the lords of the Sulzberg Castle created the ponds 600 years ago first to raise fish, then to run the castle mill. 

Sulzberg Castle. The tower is assumed to have been built in about 1230 (!)

From the elevation of the castle we now look down at the city of Rorschach. We first have to walk across the freeway on the elevated bridge. It's still looking like we might hit fog at the lakeshore!

Another barn with a gorgeously sculpted door!

In the distance we caught sight of this church tower, which turns out to be along the trail to the harbour, so we had a look, obviously!

On our way to the churches we had seen from further up, we pass the former Mariaberg Benedictine Monastery built 1487 to 1489, but which apparently never served as an actual monastery. The buildings passed to the Canton of St.Gallen in 1864 and were converted to a teacher's college. The church served as the main catholic church until space became too small and the construction of the "Herz-Jesu" church was started in 1895.  

We reached the Evangelical Church of Rorschach at 15:30, and had a look inside. There were lots of doors around the building, and we tried them all until we got to the main door on the other (north side)! This structure was built 1902-1904

We're not that fond of the modern church buildings, but organs are always worth a look.

Just north of the church is the train station called "Rorschach-Stadt" (the city has three train stations). We could have caught this train home at 15:33 via St.Gallen, but as we still had sunshine here, we decided to complete the trail right down to the lakeshore, and also visit another nearby church, catching the 15:56 train via Romanshorn instead.

We had seen the spire of this church from along our hike as well, and did want to take the detour here, which was not far from the Evangelical church building. 

This church is called "Herz Jesu", or "Blessed Heart of Jesus", and is obviously a catholic church. 

Another neo-gothic build. The church was not lighted unfortunately. This church was built from 1895 to 1897 once the Mariaberg Seminar Church could no longer hold all the catholic church-goers. 

An original build from the Goll&Co. organ builders from Luzern, in operation for 90 years. 

We got to the harbour train station at 15:50, and sure enough, the fog reached just right to here, to the harbour and train platform! 

Rorschach harbour on Lake Constance, in the fog!

Rorschach Hafen train station. At least we only had to wait 6 minutes for our connecting train! It was a 2-hour and 15-minute trip home, first along the shore of Lake Constance to Romanshorn, then southwards.... 

We had some views of the Alpstein Massif and Mt.Säntis on our way home.

These are the hikes we have done in the region between St.Gallen and Lake Constance. The light pink trail is the hike we did this day. The purple trail is the Goldach Water Trail we walked in Februar 2019. 

Location of the St.Gallen region in Switzerland. 

Monastery City Sankt-Gallen, UNESCO World Heritage Site

Wednesday January 31, 2024 -- Today we traveled to the far northeast part of the country to the region between St.Gall and Lake Constance, because that was where the weather was supposed to be best. Our plan was to walk another section of the St.James Trail (in fact, this section is considered to be the first stage of the St.James Trail through Switzerland, starting in Rorschach on the lake and ending at the huge St.Gall Cathedral. We did it in the opposite direction).

We hadn't counted on there being so much fog again, even though the forecast was for better weather after 1 p.m. Since we got to St.Gall at 11 a.m., we figured it would be a good idea to go and have a look at the Cathedral again, something we did the last time about 10 years ago. The Cathedral and adjoining ancient library are one of Switzerland's 13 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Here is the excerpt from the UNESCO Website:  "The Convent of St Gall, a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery, was, from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805, one of the most important in Europe. Its library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and contains precious manuscripts such as the earliest-known architectural plan drawn on parchment. From 1755 to 1768, the conventual area was rebuilt in Baroque style. The cathedral and the library are the main features of this remarkable architectural complex, reflecting 12 centuries of continuous activity."  

We didn't visit the libray, because it costs a fortune to enter, and you can only take a photo at one particular photo-spot (Library Website is HERE). Still, we enjoyed the beautiful Baroque Cathedral, and even had a quick look into the nearby Neo-Gothic Evangelical Cathedral of St.Laurenzen. After about an hour in the old town of St.Gall, we took a bus to the outskirts of the city, where we joined the St.James Trail for the 3-hour hike to Lake Constance, from where we took the train back home from Rorschach Harbour (those photos are HERE).

All of our visits in this area start with the purchase of a St.Gall Bratwurst at the train station! We got here at 11 a.m. and instead of taking the next bus to the start of our hike, we figured we'd go to have a look at the Monastery Cathedral. We ended up spending an hour in the city. 

The Broder Fountain, not far from the train station, is the largest fountain in St.Gallen, built in 1896 by the Toggenburg artist August Bösch in honour of the engineers who figured out how to bring the water from Lake Constance to the city in 1895.... at which point the citizens could bathe in their homes once a week instead of once per year!!!!

This was cool! A restaurant with a whole lot of cable car cabins offering private fondu dinners!

Heading up one of the side streets in the old town

In the store window of a music instrument shop, my favourite display was this mini-orchestra created with metal bolts!

Old Town St.Gallen

St.Gallus Square in front of the monastery

First sight of the Cathedral towers from St.Gallus Square. 

St.Gallus fountain (1936, on the spot of an older, decrepit fountain). In the section of the monastery building on the right is the library. Founded in 1612, it is the third oldest library in the world, and one of the most beautiful apparently. (Photo and Information are the library's webside HERE). We entered the cathedral through the small entrance in the center. 

In front (west side) of the cathedral

Photos don't do justice to the vastness of this Baroque interior. It was like one of those "mirror halls", where one room keeps on getting reflected forever. 

Of course this building has a magnificent organ as well. 

Hard to imagine how much work was involved in building and decorating such magnificent structures. This is one of the last monumental Baroque buildings of Western Europe, built from 1755 to 1767.

The large choral area behind the altar is gated

In the Choir Stalls are 84 intricately carved choir seats and two more historical organs (one on each side).

Intricate art everywhere you look. 

We left the cathedral out of the north exit. Only the sandstone building on the right is part of the monastery grounds. The other pretty buildings are simply part of the old town.

Looking back at the north side of the cathedral building

Looking west across the monastery grounds. 

Between the monastery buildings you can see the St.Laurenzen church building, which we had a look inside after making a tour around the monastery grounds. 

A small model of the entire monastery complex. 

The view of the huge Cathedral from the west gate of the grounds. 

Doubling back now parallel to the monastery grounds, we head back toward the St.Laurenzen church, which is an evangelical church. 

The dividing wall between the Catholic Monastery and the rest of the city (which had mostly converted to Protestantism during the Reformation) was built in 1566, but only a small piece remains. 

After the Reformation when the city of St.Gallen mostly converted to Protestantism, a wall was built here separating the Catholic Monastery grounds from the rest of the city. 

Just outside of the old dividing wall is the St.Laurenzen Church. We had a look inside, just in time, as there was a concert going to start in about 15 minutes and after that the church would have been locked. This building is under National Monument Protection. The building was erected between 1850 and 1854 as a rebuild of the original 1423 church building here. 

We knew as soon as we entered that this was a neo-gothic construction. The huge organ here is at the very front of the church. This is the main evangelical church building in St.Gallen and seats 1000 people!

At the back of the church above the entrance is another part of the organ! I'd never seen such huge pipes!

Heading north through the old town now toward the marketplace where we are going to catch a bus to the outskirts of the city, where we are starting our hike on the St.James Trail. 

Our little walk through the heart of St.Gallen added almost two kilometers to the additional 12 kilometers we walked afterwards. 

The city of St.Gallen. On the left is the small walk we did around the heart of the city, and the light pink trail on the right is the 12-km additional hike we did this day. 

Location of St.Gallen in the northeastern part of Switzerland.