First Hike of 2019: Einsiedeln to Rothenthurm via Chatzenstrick Pass

January 16, 2019 --  For our first hike of 2019 the weather was perfect for a winter hike in the mountains..... except most of the mountain areas in the country are currently on Avalanche Alert because of the almost non-stop snow in the last two weeks...

We had wanted to go to one of our favourite winter trails in the Schächental Valley in Canton Uri, but had the foresight to phone ahead. We were told the winter trail was closed due to large risk of avalanche. So we had to settle for something in the lower elevations in wide open landscape where no mountains can come down on us....

Our choice was to walk from the town of Einsiedeln in Canton Schwyz (whose massive monastery marks one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Switzerland; it is an important stop on the St.James Trail through Switzerland) over the low pass called Chatzenstrick (only 200m ascent from Einsiedeln) to the high moor of Rothenthurm, popular for cross-country skiing in winter and a protected area of national importance for the revival of the disappearing moor landscapes.

This location is only an hour travel from home, so an extra plus, and we did have lots of sunshine for our 12-km afternoon walk.

This is the view South across our home city of Zug as seen from the train window (the fastest way to our destination was North, then SE, then South.... One hour by train)

The massive monastery in Einsiedeln

Heading up to the Chatzenstrick Pass, which is only a 200m ascent to that building top right (50 minutes on foot from Einsiedeln)

Some pretty winter landscape, even though the snow was starting to disappear.

 

Looking down on Einsideln from the Chatzenstrick Pass

 

There were two dry benches in front of the chapel, so we had a coffee break while enjoying the view

 

Heading down the other side of the Pass, northwards toward the Rothenthurm Moor

Below us the wide open Rothenthurm Moor

 

Winter landscape on the Rothenthurm Moor

Walking across the Rothenthurm Moor. We had lots of sunshine

This open area is popular with cross-country skiers

The sun was pleasant but the trail was a bit soft and it took longer to get to our destination than we expected.

 

Lovely winter afternoon. 

Arriving at our goal of Rothenthurm where we took the bus home via Aegeri

Our Wednesday afternoon walk: 12 km including a quick walk to the Monastery in Einsiedeln before crossing the Chatzenstrick Pass and walking across the Rothenthurm Moor. Took us 3 hours and 45 minutes. 

Silvesterchlaus: New Year's Eve on January 12th in Urnäsch

Saturday January 12, 2019 --  There is a fabulous tradition in one single small canton in Switzerland (Appenzell Ausserrhoden): When the switch was made in 1582 from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar to change the date of Easter, the people of this canton refused to accept the new calendar, and continued to celebrate the change to the old New Year as per the Julian Calendar. To this day they still celebrate New Year's Eve twice: On December 31st and January 13th. The men in a select few villages dress up in intricately designed and lovingly handmade costumes either as "beautiful/ugly" (nature-themed), "ugly" (with scary masks), or "beautiful" characters, the latter wearing ornate headdresses depicting life in the old farming communities. Even the "ugly" characters are beautiful in their extravagant costumes of fresh forest leaves, branches, straw or wood-shavings. 

Starting at 5 a.m., groups of these characters (men only or boys) travel from farmhouse to farmhouse singing (or more like chanting) in a special folk style called "zäuelen" to wish the owners a Happy New Year and symbolically to scare away evil spirits. As a thank you they get payment and something to drink (beer or Glühwein).

This year we had the opportunity to travel to Urnäsch on January 12th (if the Old New Year's Eve falls on a Sunday, they follow through with the tradition -- called Silvesterchlaus -- on the Saturday) to witness this event. The weather was cold, wet, and cloudy, but the experience was fabulous. Also, we were quite lucky that it did not rain: the event does not take place when it rains or snows, because of possible damage to the delicate headpieces. 

The "Uglies":

In this case, the only "ugly" group we saw were children, and they were cute!

A group of singing children depicting the "Ugly" group

This "Ugly" was my favourite!

This group with their scary masks are not meant to represent evil.

VIDEO: The group of Children are ringing their bells

Half-Half: The Beautiful/Uglies (also beautiful). 
They are dressed in natural materials like leaves and branches and also wear extravagant headdresses, but depicting nature themes:

A group of nature-themed Chläuse with suits totally covered in tiny fir branches. These impressed us almost more than the "beautiful" masks.

As a thank you, the farmers provide something to drink (the whole group drinks from the same straw!)

When they are done chanting, they dance around and shake their bells

VIDEO: Ringing in the New Year with cow bells

This group of Nature-Themed Chläusen have headdresses with wood animals

 

This group depicts the woodland animals commonly found here

A group of children representing the Nature Group: The singing was barely audible, but it's nice to see them learn the tradition!

The Beautiful:  
These are usually groups of 6 or 7 where two of the men are dressed as women wearing the largest headdresses. The group leader's mask has a white flower on the corner of the mouth.

 

The headpieces are intricately-designed and very delicate.

Details from the life of the Appenzell people: Here a choir singing in traditional costume

More music-themed headpieces

Old horse-drawn wagon

In this group, life in general in an Appenzell Village

 

In this group, life in general in an Appenzell Village

VIDEO: A sample of the "singing", which is actually a type of yodeling 

(volume probably has to be turned up.)

This depiction of the construction of a wooden bridge is my favourite

 

In the early morning the groups were out in the snowy countryside, but by afternoon they were singing at the homes in Urnäsch town.

 

VIDEO: Heading off from one house to the next

Here a group of "Beautiful" are taking the headdresses off for a break!

VIDEO:  Drink break to warm up, in the local Gasthof!

It was wet and cold but not raining, so we were lucky to have seen the Chläusen as the came into the village.

A pretty Appenzell house...

We were here in Summer once: The fountain at the Urnäsch train station commemorates this tradition

Three Sections of the "Sentiero del Viandante" on Lake Como, Italy

December 29-31, 2018 -- Our final hike(s) of 2018 were not even in Switzerland, but on Lake Como in Italy.... which is close to Switzerland though, so it almost counts as "Hiking in Switzerland".

Instead of using our vacation days to travel 10 hours to the Riviera or Tuscany or the likes, we decided on a 3-hour trip to Menaggio and Varenna on Lake Como, where the weather was a mild 12 degrees. Recently we ran across information about a popular trail all along the East side of the lake (about 45 km total) called the "Sentiero del Viandante", originally a trading route used by the Romans to travel from Milano to Switzerland via Chiavenna North of the Lake. This "Wayfarer's Trail" seems to have become somewhat of a pilgrim's trail like the "Camino de Santiago de Compostela", with most tourists in the area wanting to walk some part of it.

The most popular and scenic section between Varenna and Dervio is about 15 km and we decided to do it in two days, with renting an apartment in Dervio for two nights (lovely apartment, but the heating didn't work... we managed to get the temperature up from 13 degrees to 18 degrees by using the baking oven!). Besides the fabulous views over the lake, we passed through some lovely olive groves, did detours into tiny villages with narrow alleys, and visited every church which was open to us, of which there were many! Plus ate lots of pizza and pasta...

Here are photos and summaries of each of the three days.....


DAY 1: The trip started with a one-hour bus ride across the border from Lugano to Menaggio; Our bus driver spent the whole time on the phone (hands free) with his Mama and Co-worker planning his evening... and we almost got stuck in a bend in the road where another bus was coming up, and neither could back up any more. Things work differently in Italy. 

Bus ride along Lake Lugano starting in Lugano. This is Monte San Salvatore

It was a one-hour bus ride along Lake Lugano, crossing the border into Italy. We spent one hour in Menaggio before crossing with the ferry to Varenna

The road is called "Lungolago" (along the lake). In many places it was quite narrow, oncoming cars had to back up.

On our approach to Menaggio we almost ran into another bus on its way to Lugano. There were several cars behind him and several behind us, so manoeuvering became tricky.

We had lunch and walked through the lakeshore town of Menaggio before taking the ferry to the east side of Lake Como, to Varenna.

Macchiato coffee and toasted ham and cheese sandwiches at a lakeside café. Mostly just bikers passing through at this time of year

Walking through the mostly deserted alleys of Menaggio

Along the lakeshore in Menaggio, heading to the ferry docks. The palm trees are all packaged up for the winter.

The little ferry runs between Menaggio, Varenna and Bellagio every hour. It's a 5-minute traverse.

Looking back at Menaggio with its lovely sunny exposure

Approaching Varenna, lots of shade still on this side even though it is noon. Up on the hill is the tower (Castello di Vezio), that's where we are headed.

Varenna, on the east side of Lake Como, is a very popular tourist village in summer. We were here in September a year ago, and were looking forward to gelato, but the gelateria (and most other restaurants) was closed, so we headed off on our hike up to the tower overlooking the village. We had read that the views up and down the lake were spectacular from there. 

Day 1 we hiked 8 km from Varenna to Bellano via the villages of Vezio and Perledo higher on the hill

First a little walk through Varenna. In summer, these passages are packed with tourists

This little village reminds me a lot of the fishing villages on the equally popular Cinque Terre region of Western Italy. 

The Trail "Sentiero del Viandante" passes through the village of Vezio above Varenna, so to start we had to zigzag up the hill to the tower, which not only is closed to the public from November to March, but costs 4 Euros to visit. So we had to be satisfied with the otherwise wonderful views we had along the rest of the trail to Bellano.

The trail was pretty well-marked

On the zigzag path heading up to the Tower of Vezio. Below is Varenna and the Monastery Gardens, across the lake is Menaggio and at the back, Switzerland.

All along the way we passed through olive groves. In the sun it was pleasantly warm

Once we arrived in Vezio we discovered the Castello Grounds were closed. We probably wouldn't have paid the entry fee anyway. 

Every village has unique alleys and buildings and we never tire of discovering them. 

From Vezio we get a glimpse of the village of Perledo. That church is our next destination, but we have to descend into a little ravine first.

At the bottom of the ravine at the old mill, it is cold in the shade. Not so terrible for the ascent to Perledo

Church of San Martino in Perledo

Every church has its unique ceiling.

From the bench in front of the Church in Perledo, where we had coffee and cookies, this is the view we had over Vezio and the tower we could not access

A couple of other critters enjoying the sunshine!

And finally Bellano below, the goal of today's 8-km hike. In the background is Dervio on the delta. That is where we had rented an apartment for two nights. It was a quick train ride.

DAY 2:  On our second day hiking we took the train from Dervio back to Bellano where we ended the night before, and after a quick walk through the narrow alleys, and a simple lunch at "Arnold's Diner" near the lakefront, it was almost 1 p.m. by the time we started up the hill to join the Sentiero del Viandante Trail (sunshine had only just reached this part of the mountain)

Chiesa Santa Maria in Bellano, barely noticeable among all the other buildings

The ceiling in the Chiesa Santa Maria

We love checking out all the little side courtyards which we have access to

Up and down the alleys of Bellano

 

Finally enough sun to get going on our trail, which we reach by a set of stairs behind this church, where services had just finished. This is "Chiesa dei Santi Nazaro e Celso".

The stunning interior of this church in Bellano

The wind was very strong, about 50 km/h (and later we found out it was blowing up to 100 km/h in Como itself), and together with the very dry conditions in winter south of the Alps, this is an ideal setting for forest fires, one of which started later that afternoon at the North end of Lake Como and within minutes had brought the smoke down the entire lake. Lucky for us we were just 30 minutes from being back at the apartment at that point. 

We climbed up the long set of stairs from Bellano to reach a small community called Ombriaco, where there were loads of very narrow alleys to discover. And this church, which is not even named on the map.

Narrow alleys and cool doors

View South over Bellano and Lake Como. You can see the strong wind on the lake. 

Another large church on this seemingly pilgrim's trail: "Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime" (Lady of the Tears)

And here the beautiful interior of this church "Madonna delle Lacrime"

Down below on that delta is the town of Dervio, where we had rented an apartment for two nights.

The trail was pretty well marked, so you knew where to go!

The wind was very strong even though the temperatures were mild. At this point, we still had nice clean air (the smoke from the forest fires further down this valley hadn't reached us yet)

This photo was taken right next to another church called "San Gottardo", which was impossible to photograph. Also, the door was locked.

And within minutes, the valley was full of smoke from the forest fires. Good thing we were almost done with our hiking for the day.

Whereas only minutes before we had a great view over Dervio, it is now obscured by smoke.

Last section of the Sentiero del Viandante before heading through Dervio to our apartment and a pizza and a shower to get the smell of smoke out of my hair....

DAY 3:  On the third day we headed home via Lecco on the southeastern arm of Lake Como (typical bigger city, not nearly as charming as the villages along the lake, and on this 31st day of December most of the specialty shops and smaller bistros were closed). On our way there we walked the "first" section of the "Sentiero del Viandante" (the point furthest South) but were rather unimpressed with the actual starting point on the busy highway, and the San Martino Church which marks the start of the trail is totally cemented up and falling apart....  

These "attractive" trains were our transportation along the East Side of Lake Como. People kept crossing these tracks even though it is forbidden.

The forest fires were still burning on the North end of the lake, but here on the South end the skies were clear.

Our last short hike (4 km) started in this village called Mandello; here were my favourite houses and Church Interior

From the train station in Mandello to the lakefront we passed several beautifully-painted buildings.

This Church (San Lorenzo) in Mandello was my favourite as far as interiors go. It looked more like an Art Museum

I think what was most striking in this church was the large paintings. It was like a museum. (And the organ, of course).

On the way up the hill to join the trail, we passed an actual Orange Tree!

And the water bombers were still busy fighting the various fires from the day before

Above right is "Chiesa San Giorgio" on the Sentiero del Viandante. Below is the village of Mandello where we started.

We really wanted to see the start of the trail, but it was anticlimactic. The church there, San Martino, has long been in disuse, and we had to walk along the busy road to the train station in Abbadia Lariana.

We had a few minutes before heading to the train station, so headed to the lake to look back to the village of Mandello where we started.

Public Park with olive trees and beautiful mountain backdrop in Abbadia Lariana

From Abbadia we took the train to Lecco. Its most striking feature, the Campanile (bell tower) requires a reservation to go up, and the Romanesque Church, as large as it is, was not even open to the public

Lecco's most striking feature, the Campanile (Bell Tower)

This large romanesque church, Basilica di San Nicolo, was not even open for viewing, or we could not find the way in, which was a disappointment for the end of my "Pilgrimage"

We sat at the lakeshore and ate a picnic dinner and watched Santa's Boat Sleigh cruise by

And all was not lost in Lecco: We found the only open gelateria, and the gelato was fantastic....