A Short Easter Week Walk from Bürglen to Altdorf in the Reuss Valley

(Posted on January 12, 2021)

Wednesday April 4, 2018 -- A beautiful spring day in the Reuss Valley, we traveled a short distance to Bürglen near Altdorf, the alleged birthplace of the folk hero William Tell, with a short walk to a popular restaurant called Nussbäumli, situated on the hillside with a most spectacular view of the Reuss Valley and the wonderful Uri Alps. Our main goal of the day was to eat out, and then to visit Urs' Aunt in the care facility in Altdorf, where she has lived since being injured in a car accident.

There is a lot of history in this area, most of it revolving around the story of William Tell. The highlight of the day was the weather and the view, a mild Spring day just after Easter with clear air and a wonderful contrast of the snowy peaks with the blue skies and green valley bottoms.

On the way from Zug to Bürglen along Lake Uri, this is a favourite view of mine: Mt. Gitschen

The beautiful Uri Alps with the late spring snow

The heart of Bürglen: On the left is the Tell Museum, the building ahead is the Tell Hotel, and next to the church is Tell's chapel

The church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Bürglen

As we walk uphill toward the Nussbäumli Restaurant, this is the view South along the Reuss Valley

We came from Bürglen on the right, and will head down to Altdorf after lunch. It was just a one-hour walk!

The Nussbäumli Restaurant

It was a lovely Spring day so we ate outside on the terrace with this fantastic view!

The view directly to the West: The town of Altdorf below, and Mt. Gitschen at the back

And to the North, the South end of Lake Uri

I usually order French Fries, because it's something I never cook at home!

VIDEO

A very interesting weather vane

After lunch we headed North again, and descended past the former Capuchin Monastery

The Capuchin Monastery, built between 1579 and 1581 was in use as a Monastery until 2009. It is now used for seminars

The former Capuchin Monastery in Altdorf

Heading down the hill below the former monastery

Looking over the roofs of Altdorf at the bell tower of St. Martin's church

And a look up at the Nussbäumli Restaurant on the hillside above

Magnolias in bloom

The top of the Tell Monument in Altdorf

The Tell Monument in Altdorf (photo from October 2013)

Waiting for the bus in front of St.Martin's church

This unusual statue was on display in front of the Uri Museum of Art....???? It being Easter Week, I guess that's the reason for the rabbit theme?

Our little 1-hour walk to have lunch at the Nussbäumli Restaurant, and then a visit at the care home in Altdorf. We started in Bürglen on the right, and descended to Altdorf on the left.

To date (April 2018) all the hikes we've done in the area. Mostly higher up. The one-hour walk from Bürglen to Altdorf is the small orange one at the base of the hill

Saturday June 9th, 2018

A couple of months later, after the trip described above, I had to go pick up some repaired hiking shoes in the little town of Bürglen (alleged birthplace of William Tell), the starting point of the previously-described outing. I took the opportunity to look around the Church of St.Peter and Paul with its attractive Baroque Art (including a pink marble organ) as well as the outlying buildings including Tell's Chapel and the ossuary. Here are a few pictures of Bürglen.

St.Peter and St.Paul Church in Bürglen (there is a statue of William Tell and his sone to the right of the church, near the street)

Close-up details of the church

Every church has its colorful cemetery

Pink marble organ inside the church of St.Peter and St.Paul

Baroque interior, lots of pink marble

Another view across the cemetery to the Reuss Valley. "Arnold" and "Betschart" are typical fmily names in Canton Uri

Next to the church grounds is the small Tell's Chapel (and behind it, Hotel Tell)

Tell's Chapel, date = 1588

On the inside of the chapel, frescoes depict the story of William Tell

And otherwise on the church grounds, another tiny chapel serving as ossuary! (I am always impressed by this, reminds you that here where we walk, thousands of feet have gone before, over hundreds of years, living totally different lifestyles...)

Because of the strong link to the story of William Tell, there is a special themed trail around the town and nearby which highlights the main parts of the story. For example, this one describes the "Ordeal of the Apple"

Close to home across the Pfannenstiel Range on Lake Zurich

Easter Monday, April 2nd: Staying locally we decided on a hike across the low ridge East of Lake Zurich, a popular area for city dwellers and great for a Sunday "stroll" (in our case, 11 km, of course). This trail is officially called the "Pfannenstiel Trail", named after the range. We don't come this way too much, we prefer the alpine heights or the rolling hills in the Emmental. But the low hills around our area offer comfortable forest trails, farms and often wetland reserves, and once in a while there's a look-out tower from where you can still admire the chain of alps on a day with a good view. 

After climbing the tower, we had lunch in the popular Hochwacht restaurant, and descended back to Lake Zurich via a quaint little gorge, and then crossed the lake on a car ferry, which makes the short run every 10 minutes. It's very popular and well-used: saves a ton of time driving around the lake. The day started warm and sunny, but sadly turned cold in the late afternoon. ALSO, we took the wrong bus in Horgen to the train station, and ended up walking an additional 2 km, so 13 km in all! My feet hurt that day.

11 km from Forch to Meilen, then a ferry back across the lake. The hill separating Lake Zurich from the smaller Lake Greifensee to the East is called the Pfannenstiel.

Heading North to Zurich by train along the West side of Lake Zurich, we look across the lake to the Pfannenstiel range, where today's hike takes place

Farms and pastoral landscapes in this area

These marshy areas that we often encounter are being lovingly restored by nature clubs

The 35-m high Hochwacht Tower offers some nice views of Lake Zurich and the Alps to the South.

Lake Zurich and the Alps to the South

To the East: Lake Greifensee (we walked around most of that in January this year)

Lunch at the popular Hochwacht Restaurant with the tremendous view.

Our descent back to Lake Zurich was through a small and slightly overgrown ravine. Pretty sure it looks better in summer!

This collection of buildings used to belong to a nearby fortress, now in ruins. The hamlet is uncreatively named Burg (German for Fortress).

Cute little (formerly) restaurant in Meilen on Lake Zurich

A well-used car ferry service operates between Meilen on the East of Lake Zurich, to Horgen on the West. We ended our outing with a ride across the lake on one of these ferries.

Giant Chestnut trees in the Maggia Valley

Sunday April 1st:  Easter Sunday hike.... we took a friend with us to the Ticino (my astute uncle recently mentioned we might as well just live there in the winter months) because again, that's where the weather was best. Also there is so much snow in the mountains this year, that this is the only place we can really do mountain hikes.

This time it was a hike from Verscio in the Pedemonte over the hill and into the Maggia Valley. We have done several hikes in this area, but wanted to show it to our friend, who doesn't get down this way a lot.

First a hike up to the Oratorio Sant'Anna for a splendid view over the Maggia Delta at Locarno, then a lunch of home-made porcini mushrooom risotto (disappointingly small portions) at the just-opened-for-the-season Grotto da Rosy, then through the quaint hamlets of Streccia and Dunzio, and then down the very steep and rocky hillside back to the Maggia River. On the way we learned about the Giant Chestnuts, a designation that a chestnut tree gets if its circumference is more than 7m. In Ticino there are 300 such trees, and three of those are along this trail. (Also, these trees are 350-700 years old).

This hike mapped out at just over 9 km and three hours, but it took us four hours.... probably because we had to watch our steps carefully on the steep descent, so typical for this area.

But we were all thrilled because the weather was so great, another successful outing when others are stuck in the rain.

Our hike starts in Verscio, after a short ride in the Centovalli train from Locarno

It's looking like springtime in Verscio

So many palm trees and stone bridges in this area. This is the entrance to the Riei Valley

From below, a zoomed view of the Oratorio above, which is our first destination

It was a warm hike up the hill on this side of the valley (in the back: Intragna and the entrance to the Centovalli)

Finally arrived at the Oratorio Sant'Anna. Took us 40 minutes to hike up from the valley bottom

View toward the Maggia Delta at Locarno (Lago Maggiore)

Looking down on Verscio

From the Oratorio we hiked up the Riei Valley, then over into the Maggia Valley. Between Streccia and Dunzio are the "Giant Chestnut Trees"

Stone is the main building material here

Everywhere stone walls depict property borders, or just make a path look pretty

Stone is the main building material here

At Grotto da Rosy, the owners were just opening for the season, but were still able to make us some Risotto.

All these stone walls and houses are constructed without mortar.

Streccia, the highest point of our tour. From here the trail descends into the Maggia Valley

This is one of three GIANT Chestnut trees in this area. This one is 7.2 m in circumference, and somewhere between 350 and 700 years old.

Some very nice (large!) houses in Dunzio, built in the ticinese style of stone without mortar.

Signs of springtime!

The trail passes right through the arch of the little chapel (Oratorio del Carmelo).

Oratorio del Carmelo high above the Maggia River

These bridges are called Roman bridges, because of the building style

This is the suspension bridge across the Maggia River at Ronchini, where we got back on the bus

The beautiful and wild Maggia Valley

We have done loads of hikes in this area