Talalpsee Wanderung - Early June

The relative lack of snow in the Winter season of 2019/2020 means many higher routes are available for access in early June. On this adventure, we trek to a small alpine lake called Talalpsee in Canton Glarus.

From Zurich main station, we took the S25 train toward Glarus and the Linthal. The train wasn't too crowded as we took the one leaving at 8:46 am, but I still wore my mask for good social-distancing practice. In Ziegelbrücke, we changed trains to the S4 train, for a very short segment to Mühlehorn. In Mühlehorn, we caught the 511/127 bus that makes a loop above the south side of Walensee and then down to Näfels-Molis and then back to Ziegelbrüke. We got off the super-crowded bus in the early part of the loop in the town of Filzbach. Walensee is around 500 meters at lake level and Filzbach is around 700 meters, so the bus helps cut off some junk meters from the hike.

After getting off in Filzbach, I took a few moments to unmask, get my water bottle out and enjoy views of Walensee below. Then, we started heading up the road toward Talalpsee. The first part is along the road. Then, you reach a point where a toll-road begins and there is a chair lift available. The lift was not yet open for the season, but many people had parked at that point and started walking. The trail then heads up steeply through meadows and into forest. The shade of the forest is a welcomed relief from the unrelenting sun on the northern facing slopes in the morning.

As we climbed, we started to get views of the peaks above as well as views of the Amden area on the other side of the lake. Shortly before arriving in Talalpsee at 1050 meters, we re-joined the toll road and came across a very noisy herd of cattle grazing. It's clear a lot of car owners also pay to use the toll-road, which ultimately means too many people along the shores of Talalpsee at lunch time on the weekend.

When we arrived, it was still relatively quiet. We grabbed a table at the Talalpsee restaurant before it got too crowded and enjoyed a Würst-käse salad. The restaurant only serves cold foods and has a relatively limited selection. But, it has a nice selection of snacks and drinks to take away, too.

After our stop, we headed around the west side of the lake, which has a narrower walking path. We enjoyed the wild flowers and ample butterflies. At the end of the lake, we continued up the trail toward the higher lake - Spaneggsee. We stopped below the steepest part of the climb at a spot called Hellöch, which many people thought was a crater from an asteroid. But, it's actually a collapsed cave.

From there, we headed back around Talalpsee on the eastern side via the wider trail. By this time, there were hundreds of people making fires to grill along the shores of the lake. We stopped again at the restaurant and grabbed a bag of chips and a small cake before heading up to Habergschwänd, which is another couple hundred meters up and where the chair lift from below drops off. At the top, you can eat at the Bergrestaurant or rent a scooter to ride back down the hill to Filzbach. That was tempting, but we decided to continue training our legs for the Summer season and walked back down to town. We took a slightly different route down along a creek and caught the bus as it was making its way to Näfels-Molis where we caught the S25 home. We arrived at the bus stop only two minutes before the bus, which was great timing!

Weekend in Urnerboden - the legendary valley

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In mid-June, we took our first weekend away from home since December, in the time when Switzerland first started to free up travel following the start of the COVID-19 crisis. We decided to travel to Urnerboden - an 8km long high valley we had passed through on our ride to the Klausen Pass last Fall. We had been impressed by its beauty and longed to return to explore on foot. 

We took the train and funicular to the village of Braunwald above Glarus to start our journey and walked into Urnerboden. 

The second day, we hiked from the Fisettengrat cable car, including a few scrambles over snow, enjoying the dramatic views of the peaks with a storm rolling in. The last day, we hitched a ride with the inn owner down to Glarus due to weather and hiked along the Glarus valley before heading home. 

Urnerboden is the name of the peak with the most mass in Switzerland. The valley is part of Canton Uri and lies east of Klausenpass. It is narrow and sandwiched between 3000 meter peaks. The fact that it is part of Uri, when it is only accessible from Uri in mid-summer is a bit of a curiosity given it is much more accessible from Glarus. After much dispute, the border was drawn between the cantons in 1315. 

The settling of the border with Urnerboden going to Uri is a bit of a legend. I will do my best to tell the legend from what we read in German. 

Once upon a time, the border between the cantons was in dispute between the Uri and Glarner neighbors. They settled on a contest to determine the border. When the rooster crows, an athlete from each side would start running and where they meet the border would be drawn. 

Each side chose its athletes with care and the roosters were also chosen with care for one that would crow as punctually at dawn as possible. The Uri people starved their rooster and kept it away from the hens believing hunger and good sleep would wake it up earlier. The Glarner kept their rooster well fed so it could crow powerfully. 

After a sleepless night, the Uri rooster in Altdorf woke up at the break of dawn and crowed first. Their runner started up the pass while the Glarner rooster slept soundly being well fed. Finally, the Glarner rooster awoke and crowed, but the Glarner runner started well behind. As he approached the first ridge, he already saw the Uri runner above descending from the valley above. Below the ridge, the two men collided and the Uri runner declared the border. 

The Glarner begged to have a bit more pasture that the Uri runner had won, and the Uri runner took pity on him and said he could have as much as he could take back with the Uri runner on his back heading uphill. The runner from Glarus put the Uri runner on his back and climbed a bit higher up the pass, but quickly ran out of breath and stopped to drink from the stream where he collapsed and died. The brook is still the border of the cantons today. 

Regardless of the legend, Urnerboden is an enchanted place, and I hope to return in Winter to see its beauty again. 

Socially Distanced Adventure - Engelberg

This weekend was the second weekend when people are freer to move about in Switzerland with public transit running more frequently and some restaurants, museums and lodgings now open for visitors - of course with strict social distancing guidelines in place. We decided this weekend to make our second visit to Engelberg - or Angel Mountain - located in Canton Obwalden. From Zurich, we take the IR70 train to Luzern and then catch the IR 2980 - the Luzern-Engelberg express. The trip is about two hours.

Our first visit to this valley was in late December when there was very little snow. But, we arrived to a very cold morning with the ground frozen solid. We took a small winter hike past the 12th century abbey and up the dead-end watershed north of town called Ende der Welt - or End of the World, which sits below the Brunni area. It is a short, steeply walled valley which gives you a sense that there is nothing beyond it - hence the name.

This weekend, since the mountain trams and cable cars are not yet running, we opted for the Engelberg Rundweg - a walk of around two hours heading a little bit south, but mostly east of town along the Engelberger Aa river.

As we left town, we passed an old barn turned art project that appears to be associated with the abby in some way. We snapped a few pix before heading through a tunnel of Linden trees toward the river. We found gorgeous Spring blooms and moody clouds covering Ende der Welt.  We listened to the sound of rushing water and smelled fresh hay being cut.

We passed through a small village called Eierwäldi, which seems mostly to be a camping location. There a guy was out in a field practicing his kite skiing, but without the snow. We watched as his kite danced around in front of the Titlus massif. As we headed further east, we passed the Engelberg golf club, our stomachs begging for a lunch stop. Just past the turnaround spot on the trail, we spotted a restaurant in the distance and decided to check it out. The Restaurant Wasserfall was at the base of a small waterfall and had a large, peaceful patio with ample distance built in. We enjoyed salad, trout with white wine sauce, schnitzel and pommes (fries) while enjoying the Alpen views, the sound of children laughing in the Spielplatz and the light patter of the waterfall across the road. The food was excellent and we enjoyed our break.

We stopped for some gratuitous waterfall pix and then headed back west toward town. We passed a house that featured a bit of Americana - including a flag, a mural of a grizzly bear and a model train running around the house.

Closer to town, we found farmers out cutting, turning and raking the hay while the cows grazed lazily nearby.....It all had that wonderful smell of farm combined with forest that is definitely the scent of Switzerland.

As we approached the abbey, which was established as a Benedictine monastery in the 12th century, the light was hitting it perfectly with a moody backdrop of clouds in the distance. We stopped to take it in as you could imagine the Lady of the Angels keeping watch over her parish.

Before heading home, we made our requisite stop in the Kiosk to visit the Starbucks machine. We basically know all the train stations in the country that that the Starbucks machines. They make the best machine-produced cappuccinos. Many of the Kiosks have Spetacculo machines, which are not at all spectacular. But, a Starbucks machine is always welcomed for the train ride home from a long hike. Aufwidersehen, Engelberg.

Spring 2019 - Portugal

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April 19

Yesterday (Good Friday) was our first day in Portugal, having arrived late on Thursday evening. We followed the Rick Steve's walking tour #2 of the waterfront. We saw the beautiful tile work in the train station, walked the avenue of Flores, had lunch off the square of Henry the Navigator and toured the San Franceso cathedral - which has baroque style wood carving throughout (no interior photos allowed). Then, we walked across the Ponte Don Luis I bridge to Câlem where we did a tour and port tasting. In the evening, we went to Cafe Santiago F to have the 1000 calorie sandwich - the Franchesina with five types of pork, smothered in melted cheese and doused in sauce. We followed that with a walk back to the bridge for sunset and a stop at Cremosi for gelato.

April 20

We took the urban train south today to Aviero - the "Venice of Portugal". Train trip was one hour and cost 1.80E for Rick and 3.30E for me. The town has a couple of canals and some cute motorized boats for scooting tourists about. We ate a seafood platter for two 14.00E in the Rossi neighborhood. Then, we walked to the former Dominican Monastery for
women, now a museum. The main focus of the museum was Santa Joana, a royal family member who took vows in the mid 1400s and who is the patron saint of Aviero. I wouldn't say the town is anything like Venice, but it was a nice chance to see the coast. We also saw a ton of storks nesting just inland on the train trip. Dinner was at Abadia (highly recommended). Just make sure you order a one portion dinner for two people.

April 21

Easter Sunday was a bit quieter around Porto. The good was less tourists to trip over, the bad less things open. We did Rick Steve's upper city walking tour in the morning followed by tapas and craft beer for lunch at Levare. Food and beer were good if overly ample. The Portuguese are feeders, I've decided. Most dishes could be split in two and still be too big. In any case, we wandered through some quiet alleys after lunch and then had a siesta. For dinner, we headed out to Clube 21. They weren't yet serving dinner, so we had snacks and wine. Salad and croquettes for me. With the side of olives and tuna with crackers, it was again more than enough. After dinner we tried to catch town at Golden hour, by my choice of spot wasn't great. We wandered back along the waterfront and stopped for gelato before calling it a night.

April 22

Today we were picked up in Porto by our tour guides Agostinho and Nikolas from Descubra Minho tours. We were transferred to a small traditional village called Soajo in Peneda Geres national park. We will be herehiking for the next three days. We had a small tour of traditional granaries in town used to store rye and corn. After that we walked up the trails to a ridge above town and spotted a newborn calf along the way. Dinner was at the only local restaurant open - thankfully it was good!

April 23

Let's see if I can do better on our slow, countryside wifi tonight. Today, our guides dropped us off in the town of Lindoso for a 12km hike in a loop around the mountain from there. We started through the village on stone paths and soon got to more wild places. We saw wild horses and the local cows. We picnicked on a boulder beneath a birch forest and descended gently back to town on a fire road. It rained on and off, but never heavily. We toured the castle and granaries in Lindoso before heading back to Soajo. Dinner was at the 2nd of two restaurants in town where we enjoyed shitake mushrooms, beef cooked in red wine and a delightful Douro Valley red. All in all a great day. Would rate the hike 7-8, higher with better weather.

April 24

Today we walked over a mountain in mostly sideways rain for 15km. It was also mostly a creek walk. Bless the lady who picked us up from the remote village on the other side looking like drowned rats. Tomorrow looks to be rainy and colder. Crossing my fingers for a slightly less epic weather day. The hike would have been awesome in better conditions.

April 25

We cancelled our taxi to the start of another 12km hike this morning, as there was no bailout once started and today’s weather looked worse than yesterday. Instead we attempted to walk part of the route backward to make an out and back. About 15 mins in it started pouring and thundering and hailing, so our out and back was about 30 mins. We then hunkered down with books the rest of the day, dreading the need to go out to get dinner. We were contemplating fruit and chocolate bars as the wind blew sideways, thunder and lightening raged and rain and hail bore down relentlessly. It finally lessened about 7pm and we made our way for some delightful grilled octopus while only getting halfway soaked on the walk. By the end of dinner, the sky was starting to open up, so we enjoyed a light digestif walk. Perhaps another time we will return for better hiking in the high mountains of Portugal.

April 26

The storm lifted about 8am, which allowed us to get in a bit over an hour on the route intended for yesterday before our guides arrived to take us back to Porto. We spent the evening wandering the streets. We visited the Lello Bookstore - allegedly the most beautiful in the world. It was quite lovely. We also bought our train tickets for Douro Valley and had a gelato stop. Finally, we dined at Gondarem Baixa. It was run by a sweet couple and we were the only ones there, which was surprising because it was quite good, cheap and had reasonable portions. Rick had cod gratin and I had curry chicken.

April 27

Today we milked Porto for the last of our sightseeing action. Tomorrow, we head up the Douro Valley for some wine tasting and hiking. We saw the Port Wine museum this morning, which was free today - yay! Then, we walked across town to the mouth of the river to see the Tram museum, which covers the history of their cable cars here in the city, which started as horse drawn trams. Finally, we did a little goose chasing at a couple malls, because Rick's mobile has a boo boo. Unfortunately, only one screen in stock locally and it had issues with touch targets :( Oh well, we got to see some suburbia and ride the metro.

Dinner! (And dessert). Can you believe the dinner was on 1/2 a single portion? #portugal🇵🇹 #fullbelly #pãodaló #puerco #vinhoverde @ Porto, Portugal

April 28

Today we headed out to the Douro river valley on the train. Our hotel had a water main issue, so getting breakfast before we needed to leave ended up being a crunch. But, we made it. We got to the town of Pinhao around noon and promptly found one of two restaurants in town for refuel - Rufete. I had duck thigh and Rick has pork cheeks. Both good. Then, we headed down to our hotel to see what we could book in terms of river cruise and wine tastings. We booked a two hour river cruise for this afternoon, which was nice. After the cruise,.we had a siesta and then a hike up the terraces above the town. Finally, we dined at the restaurant at our hotel - the Vintage House. I had octopus again, which did not disappoint. On this trip, we've stayed in a hipster hotel in Porto, where the rooms are build out of plywood and very Spartan, called the Zero Box Lodge. We also stayed at an old stone house in a village in Soajo - a rural stay home, and finally the 5-star Vintage House. It's quite an exercise in contrasts.

April 29

Our last day in Portugal was spent mostly in the Douro Valley. We started with a tour of Quinta do Bomfim, followed by lunch at Rufete. Then, we returned to Bomfim to do their vineyard hike up to the top of the canyon to overlook the entire valley. It was warm and sunny at 28F, and we collected some rays and vitamin D. Following the hike, we spent a couple hours at the Vintage House pool recharging before our train ride back to Porto. We finished the night with tapas at La Carneceria in our hotel, which is open very late. But, that wasn't before stopping for a final gelato at Cremosi - the best in town.

Vineyard view pool time post hiking. #portugal🇵🇹 #dourovalley #sunshine#portwine #hiking #chillaxing