I have grown up in India, visiting grandparents every year in my summer
vacations staying in small villages and towns of Himachal. Beautiful highlands
cradling in the lap of breathtaking and picturesque Himalayan mountains.
For us that was probably the only most beautiful place that existed in the chaotic
material world. We used to often hear the more globally aware set of people
compare our villages with Switzerland. We had also seen Bollywood movies being
shot in beautiful Swiss locales. Probably not as a child but as i grew up i did
have a strong affinity and pull towards Switzerland; one reason of course was
being victimized by the charms of Indian movie actors wooing their lady love in
Swiss(most obvious thoughts point towards DDLJ); and second, hailing from
similar postcard towns in Himalayas, the Alps were dear to heart.
My first tryst with the Swiss Alps happened very recently in September
2014 when i got two lovely days to spend in a small village Wilderswil in
between two scenic Lakes-Thun and Brienz. Dreamy and fresh, this place was
a haven for a super stressed person like me.
Chocolate houses, abundant with spring flowers, narrow roads with a
tinkle of cow bell at every corner, this was all a fairytale for me, and i
could just stay here forever.
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Wilderswil as I admired it from my hotel room's window |
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Chocolate Houses and the spic and span streets of Wilderswil |
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Fairytale houses at Wilderswil. A walk around the village is blissful |
After spending a lazy evening in Wilderswil and gorging on gastronomical
delights of local haunts, we had complete next day to ourselves to explore the
beautiful Interlaken.
Interlaken : Touristy delight with a large number of hotels, backpackers
accommodations, busy streets with souvenir shops, buses all around. I felt Iam
in Kulu Manali or downtown of Shimla. We did have an option to follow the
touristy path of expedition to Jungfrau or one of the many hikes from Interlaken, however
we decided to walk on the 'road less traveled' path and explore the villages
around Lake Thun.
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View of Lake Thun in the backdrop of Swiss Alps |
The first village we visited on the shores of Lake Thun was Spiez. Few
would know that Spiez has an age old Castle built in 933 AD by King Burgundy.
Perched on a hill and surrounded by Vineyards, this low profile Castle has
housed many high profile personalities which have gone down in the pages of
history.
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The
Medieval Spiez Castle |
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View of Lake Thun and the Spiez Castle on the shores of the Lake |
We hopped onto the train for our next destination. The beautiful city of
Thun. Known for its shopping centers, restaurants, bustling with people
all over and many like us, in search of the old castles, the sunny weather
added an extra fizz to the whole atmosphere.
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Town Center of Thun overlooking the river. Flanked by eateries and shops on both sides |
After climbing around 50 steps from the City Center we reached the Thun
Castle. This 12th century castle sits proudly on a hill and has some of the
best preserved halls in Europe with a towering ceiling of 7mts high. Quite sad
that it was under renovation, so we got a glimpse of a part of the facade.
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Thun Castle |
Thun is known to house another beautiful castle popularly called as The
pearl of Lake Thun-Schadau Castle. An incomparable location with lush green
gardens, this castle looked as if it has just popped out of a Harry Potter
series or some other fairy tale book. I wish I could be a Snow White or a
Rapunzel to be swept off my feet by my Prince Charming here.
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Schadau Castle-The Pearl of Lake Thun |
We were quite tired walking almost the whole city of Thun and our last
Castle on the list was apparently in another town. While the knees went weak,
our spirits were still longing to have more of this beautiful Lake.
We hopped onto a Bus from Thun to Oberhofen which was 30 min away. A
quick beautiful drive and there we were standing right in front of a
magnificient sight. The eight centuries magic, this was truly a romantic
castle. With views of Jungfrau peak and Lake Thun, i guess i have to get
married many times in my life to live these fairytale dreams of Swiss castles
Our day of exploring the historical Castles on Lake Thun was
overwhelming. While on a lighter note I say we had an overdose of history, I
never anticipated that such picturesque locales exist for real. The area around
Lake Thun is heavily German and 'Castle' is called 'Schloss' in German. So all
sign boards directing you to these castles would read as 'Schloss'.
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A board directing to Thun Castle. Schloss is the German word for Castle |
As people say Swiss countryside looks like a painting or a postcard, i
would say Yes they are true in their statements.
While the Alps are a must visit in Switzerland, for those who are
looking to explore the real history, life of people and hidden gems of the
virgin beauty of Swiss, be an explorer to have a real indelible Swiss
experience in your life.
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Probably my favourite pic from my Swiss Album. A place which touched my soul |
** A note of stay options for readers : I stayed at Hotel Schonbuhl in Wilderswil. You can take a bus ticket from Schonbuhl to Interlaken West. I took a train from Interlaken to Spiez and then from Spiez to Thun and back the same route. There are buses as well on these routes. The train travel is a bit expensive and it costed me around 40 CHF for one person for a to and fro journey.
Interlaken is full of places to eat. However Swiss is wonderfully expensive :-) A decent meal of sanwiches or burgers with a drink will cost you on an average 10-12 CHF so do stuff your wallet pretty well before you start.
To sign off, let me tell you i adore the Swiss Franc notes. They are psychedelically designed and have lovely outstanding look. I still have retained around 20 Francs as souvenir **
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