European roadtrip 2023 Part 4

If you were to guess the location of Europe’s biggest waterfall, would you come up with the Rhine River, less than an hour north of Zurich airport? It was certainly a surprise to me, but having since seen something of the tributaries and rivers leading into The Rhine, the volume of water flowing through this river is just enormous. Although not the highest falls, they are almost 500’ wide and the most striking thing about being up close to them is the thundering roar and vibration created by this raging torrent. Rheinfall (as they are known in Switzerland) can be seen from the Schloss (castle) perched precariously on one side of the river which allow you to get yourself into the mist generated. However, taking a boat trip was the best option; there’s a mighty rock lying in the middle of the falls that has withstood the continual battering of the hundreds of cubic metres of water that rush by every second. Alighting there (carefully!), we climbed up through the spray to the top and could really feel the force and magnitude of the Falls – we’d chosen a rainy day to do this which was prudent, as we got soaked anyway!

Rheinfall was an exciting unexpected surprise, as we were actually on our way to Schaffhausen, a medieval town in Switzerland’s north, on my list of “must-see” places. Apparently the town is known for its 171 oriel windows, although not knowing much about windows that didn’t really mean much to me. It turns out an oriel window is an ornate, protruding type of bay window (apparently so that women could peer out and see the activities below while remaining invisible!) and it quickly became impossible NOT to see them – they were on every old medieval building and were enhanced by the incredible painted designs on the walls. The question that sprang to mind is how on earth do they keep these lavishly painted facades looking so perfect……but everything in Switzerland is so perfect and organised that they surely have continual upkeep and renovations in hand. The traffic-free old town is considered one of the prettiest in Switzerland and it certainly didn’t disappoint, especially the old circular Munot fortress which can be seen for miles. The guard still rings the bell at 9pm every evening which used to be a sign that the town gates and inns should close – clearly not heeded these days, as we were soon to find out!

After looking around the old town and hoping that we’d spotted at least half of the special oriel windows, we decided to go on a bike ride along the Rhine. Switzerland’s bike network is simply outstanding; if there are not dedicated bike paths, then roads have special bike zones at each side and drivers tend to be very courteous – like everything in this marvellous country, it has all been well thought out and IT WORKS!!! There’s even a dedicated App that makes biking, hiking and cross-crossing the whole country effortless – along with a ‘Grand Tour’ App, they have really got tourism covered. The weather was gorgeous and we biked through woodland, fields of crops and villages scattered with wooden houses which were clearly hundreds of years old, where the living quarters on one side adjoined the cowshed on the other. And everywhere we looked, it was just perfect……all the flower boxes had perfect geraniums, there were no weeds to be spotted in the vegetable gardens and not a single piece of litter to be seen anywhere. When we reached our destination of Stein am Rhein, we were absolutely awestruck – all the visitor information had concentrated on Schaffhausen (the capital of the ‘canton’ or region) but as so often happens, the actual jewel of the land is just next door. This town seems to sport even more oriel windows and painted facades (becoming somewhat of an expert now!) and it felt that the town made much more of its position alongside the beautiful Rhine river. After the obligatory and much-enjoyed wild swim (being careful not to swim out too far – even so far from Rheinfall, the current was noticeably strong and we had no intention of getting any closer to it than the middle rock!), we cycled back on the other side of the Rhine through fields of sunflowers and more picturesque villages.

Yet again, our visit had coincided with the town’s Annual Festival and, although too late to get tickets to the Rita Ora concert (the Festival line-up had plenty of well-known artists – obviously, Schaffhausen is more well-known than previously thought), we finished our bike ride back at the central market square. Looking entirely different from our daytime visit, the place was packed with food-wagons and all the painted facades were now lit up by colourful random octopi and seaweed, giving the impression of an underwater world. With food and drink secured, all was going well until the heavens opened – however, the Swiss seem to be prepared for any eventuality and free plastic ‘coats’ were dispensed and the party continued. It was hard not to giggle at the sight of us in head-to-toe white plastic; sitting at a local bar, sipping wine that was getting diluted by the rain, dressed in full-body condoms whilst listening to Rita Ora sing live is not an evening we’re ever going to forget!!!

Our hunt for good swim spots took us next to the town of Baden, where research had uncovered the fact that the town had recently put in open-air “hot tubs” that make the most of the area’s natural thermal springs. As if Switzerland hasn’t already been blessed with the riches of endless clear water springs, “free” hydro-electric power, a good amount of sunshine for their prolific solar panels……it also gets free hot water! On either side of the Limmat River, three concrete pools had been constructed with the thermal spring supplying the top one which was a scalding 40°C. This filtered down to the middle one (around 38°C) and the lower one was a positive cool 36°C……a good way for the body to adjust and enjoy all the benefits of this water that is full of minerals to soften our skin. Once we made it to the top pool, we had another rather one of those unusual and memorable experiences (that often happen while travelling!); an interesting conversation with some delightful Swiss locals whilst sitting beside the road in our swimsuits!

Next stop was Zug and we elected to experience the Zugersee, the beautiful lake on which it sits, from alongside by bike. Zug is known as being a low tax town and, reputedly, 1 in 8 people here are millionaires……although even a pauper would have a “millionaire’s view” of lake and heavenly mountain backdrop here! From there, we headed to Lucerne, where yet again it was explored by bike – having the weight of a canine passenger (Sandie!) means that lakeside rides are more realistic; there is always a stunning view of reflected mountain around every corner and Lake Lucerne, the fourth largest lake in Switzerland, certainly delivered. Lucerne (Luzern in German) is ranked amongst the world’s prettiest cities and is known mainly for its 650 year old timber, flower-adorned, covered Chapel Bridge but also for its medieval old centre. Having got to know the lake by bike and swim, what better way to get to know the old city than by a locally-brewed beer beside the water’s edge…..now, that’s my kind of sightseeing!

Wanting to have a serious hike the following day, where you are just spoilt for choice with glorious mountains, we somehow narrowed it down to Mount Pilatus, a jagged mountain overlooking Lake Lucerne. We drove up towards it and, it was only when google maps said that we’d ‘arrived’ that we realised that we’d been taken to the next door valley, as the mountain was only accessible by cog railway or cable car. Sometimes, these unintended errors have a better result than originally intended, as we were deposited in a really quiet spot beside a river at the beginning of several hiking trails. Looking up at the mountain, all we could see was the vertical “wall” of granite, so assumed this would be impassable without full rock-climbing gear. However, on closer inspection, we found a hiking path that took us right to the top; what followed was 3 hours of strenuous hiking, although the granite wall was more like continual steps up beside a waterfall. Luckily, we have good heads for height as there were certain patches that felt a little perilous – as for Sandie, she just selected four wheel drive and raced up! It was quite a challenge, but the views from the top were exceptional and it felt like quite an achievement to have reached the top under our own steam. However, the descent certainly did not have the same appeal! So, we bought tickets for the cable car (Sandie had to go in the backpack!) for a much more comfortable trip down, even though we still had an hour’s hike back to our valley. Arriving back exhausted, we spotted some communal barbecue areas by the river and discovered that there was even free wood provided – is there anything that the Swiss haven’t thought about? What could have been better after such a strenuous day than a dip in an ice cold river, a cup of tea by an open fire and an extraordinary sunset that made the mountain look aflame?!

Switzerland has wowed and amazed us so much that our original plan to head further east into Austria and back through Italy was almost immediately dismissed…….THIS was a country that we wanted to explore more and really get stuck into and, with the prospect of a big long break from work, it was a tantalising option. Although this country is small enough to drive from top to bottom in one day, it is full of such incredible mountainous scenery, hiking, biking and gorgeous clear blue lakes, so it seemed fitting to spend all our time getting into the thick of it. So, expect a lot more on Switzerland to come – it’s a roadtrip paradise! And, for those of you still wondering about Europe’s largest waterfall, I have ascertained that it is not assessed on the height of the vertical drop (relatively small at 23m), but on the enormous volume of water that passes through each second and, quite simply, the impressive raw power of it…….it is something to behold!