Hiking in Switzerland – Gabrielle and Urs

November 5, 2022

Short Walk around Monte Brè above Lugano

Saturday November 5, 2022 -- Urs had a school reunion to attend, but the weather was too ugly in the North and too nice in the South for me to just sit at home, so I did a quick trip to Lugano in the southern part of Switzerland, where the air temperature was 17 degrees but windy, so as usual for me: Too warm in the sun and too cold in forest or windy exposure!

At first I thought I would simply sit in the park at the lake, but I just can't sit that long, so I took the bus up to the village of Brè on Monte Brè, where I knew I would get a nice view over the lake, the city and its iconic mountain: Monte San Salvatore. From there I walked around the west side of the mountain along a variety of forest trails and residential areas, ending with a visit to the Santa Maria church in Viganello (the interior was spectacularly beautiful, like an art museum minus the people, and the sun through the window had just created a halo of light on a painting of Jesus; it was quite impressive), before catching the bus from there back to the train station in Lugano. In all I was on the road for 4 hours 40 minutes to spend about three hours in the sunshine!

(Side note: This is the fifth time I have been in Brè. Photos from two of the other hikes are here:
1) Jan.2018: Brè village to Gandria on the lake, and then along the lakeshore: HERE
2) Jan.2020: To the summit of Monte Broglia, and down to Cureggio: HERE

From the train station in Lugano this is the view you get to Monte Brè across the city to the East. After reviewing the photo, I saw the the church of Santa Maria where I ended the hike is on the photo, on the left. Otherwise, I started at the village of Brè behind the peak here, and walked around through the uppermost residential area then down to the church.

As a side note, the bus always has the right of way on the narrow winding mountain roads. Worst of all is when there is construction on the road, and the oncoming cars don't see that they had a red light and should not have been on the stretch at all when the bus was ascending! This fellow had a hard time manoeuvering his car backwards, which made the bus quite late in arriving at destination.

Local parish church in the village of Brè, where the bus ends its run up this mountain.

Before setting off on my walk for the day, I inspected the alleyways in the village of Brè. This is the fifth time I have been here, and there are always new and interesting details to see.

Inspecting the alleyways of the village of Brè

Before descending on the forest trail, here is the view I had this day from the village of Brè: Lake Lugano, Monte Generoso on the left, Monte San Giorgio in the center (Unesco World Heritage Site), and Monte San Salvatore, the iconic mountain of the city of Lugano

A look to the mountains to the East in Italy, past Lake Como

Total walking time this day was less than two hours, approximately 6 km. From Viganello I caught a bus back to the main station at Lugano, which was already in the shade of the mountains at 3:30 p.m.

In Aldesago (the highest populated area on Monte Brè), I stopped here at the chapel to have my picnic lunch at 1 p.m.

The view over the city of Lugano from my picnic spot at the church in Aldesago. At the very back in the middle (barely visible on this photo) is the Monte Rosa Massif in Canton Valais

Zoomed view of the Monte Rosa Massif to the West in Canton Valais. In this group is the highest mountain in the Swiss Alps: The Dufour Peak (4634m or 7103 feet)

A panorama view over Lugano, Lake Lugano, and Monte San Salvatore

In the heart of Aldesago is the very old part of the village. Everything is stone.

Old part of Aldesago

What a cute kitty!

Having come about an hour from Brè, from here I walked another 40 minutes to Viganello

View to the North past the San Bernardo Chapel (on the summit at the left) and the mountain called Caval Drossa, to the snow-covered peaks near Bellinzona.

One last view over the bay at Lugano, before descending through the forest to Santa Maria Church in Viganello

A simple-looking structure from the outside: Chiesa Santa Maria

On the inside, like an intricate art museum. You could spend a long time in here looking at all the sculptures, paintings, and other details

I am always particularly impressed by intricately painted ceilings

Many lovely details of the artwork inside this beautiful church building

Upon closer inspection, I realized the afternoon sun was shining through these south-facing windows, creating.....

...well-placed sunshine from the south-facing windows, illuminating the halo on this painting of Jesus. Absolutely stunning and magnificent.

Continuing down the road from the church to the bus stop. This region in the southernmost part of Switzerland has a Mediterranean-style climate, and the Ticino Palms flourish here (up to minus 10 degrees Celcius is no problem for them).

To the West is Monte Tamaro. This was the final weekend where the cable-car was in operation, and I would have liked to go up there, but there were very strong winds blowing this day.

Details of the hikes we have done in this area, in particular the five hikes starting, ending or through the village of Brè Paese! (The orange trail being the one I did this day).

Even here in Canton Ticino the mountains got some early snow. This is the beautiful Pizzo di Claro near Bellinzona. We walked that ridge last year, those photos are HERE.

Region of Lugano in the very southern part of Switzerland. The Monte Rosa Massif, which I saw from Monte Brè is just east of Zermatt.

November 2, 2022

A Short Walk across the Chestenberg Ridge in Canton Aargau

Wednesday November 2, 2022 -- It was mostly a very overcast day, but we knew there should be some clearing of clouds mid-afternoon, so we headed out anyway, to a small hill in Canton Aargau (between Aarau and Brugg) called Chestenberg, which is a nature reserve of sorts, a forest which has been allowed to grow and regenerate with no human intervention.

We didn't do a long hike this day, as we lose sun so quickly now. The main idea was to walk along the crest of this hill (starting at Brunegg Castle), which took about an hour. It was much more pleasant than expected, as we did get some views to the area to the north (Baden, Brugg, Windisch, and even all the way across the border into Germany) and the sun-dappled forest was very pretty. And we were surprised to learn that a small community existed here on the mountain back in the Bronze Age.

Originally we had planned to walk all the way to the Habsburg castle (that would have been a 3-hour hike), but we ended the hike at the little village of Scherz (2 hours), which was the main goal of the day as there is an old mill there which still produces various flours and feed for livestock, and also hand-makes special cherry-pit pillows which we heat up as warming pads. (I wanted to buy one, but came away with two kilos of cherry pits instead, as I will try to make my own pillows!)

I had hoped to see three castles along the way, but the one at Brunegg at the east end of the ridge is privately-owned, and from our vantage point we only saw the tower. The nearby beautiful Schloss Wildegg on the west side was unfortunately hidden by trees, and we never did make it to the Habsburg castle to the north. On the other hand, back in March of 2017 we walked the section of the "Aargauer Weg" from Brugg to Wildegg, visiting both those castles at the time. Those photos are HERE.

Heading by bus to Brunegg at the base of Mt. Chestenberg, we get a glimpse of the Brunegg Castle (privately-owned). We walked up to that castle first, then along the ridge...

Heading up the hill to the Brunegg Castle (25-minute climb)

A look down at Brunegg where we started

This is the best look we could get at the Brunegg Castle

The Brunegg Castle was already part of the Habsburg Family holdings back in the 13th Century.

Fortified wall around the Brunegg Castle

Our hike along the crest of Mt. Chestenberg, with descent to Scherz. Originally we were planning to continue north to the Habsburg castle, but the sun was already starting to go down!

The sun is just starting to shine as we head along the Chestenberg Ridge

It was a very nice 50-minute walk across the top of the mountain through the sun-dappled forest

A very cool mushroom!

Even along a small mountain ridge, there are some interesting stretches!

A view to the north toward Windisch/Brugg and Siggenthal

Here on this mountain they found evidence of a settlement during the Bronze Ages 3000 years ago!

Reading about the 3000-year old settlement here on Mt. Chestenberg

A close-up look at the medieval Habsburg Castle, original seat of the powerful Habsburg Family, one of the leading imperial and royal dynasties of Europe.

Another look north toward Brugg and Siggenthal, this time with sunshine! The hills in the back are in Germany.

The ridge trail along Mt. Chestenberg.

From the west end of the Chestenberg we descended to the village of Scherz via the Scherz pond. In 1848, the Scherz River, which runs out of this pond, was used to power the mill.

The Scherz pond

There were several such small "wharves" over the water for the fishermen! Actually, you were not actually allowed to access this without a "license" (I only read the sign later).

A sign warned that you had to have permission to walk on the wharves, not that I would have wanted to walk on this one...

Heading down from the forest into the community of Scherz

A second pond in Scherz

Living quarters next to the old mill

I didn't think to take photos inside the old mill, so here is a picture from their website, showing a selection of the cherry pillows which they sell. (They also sell pillows filled with grape seeds, apricot pits, and even strawberry seeds!!!)