We are staying in the small town of Sachseln along the shores of Lake Sarnen (Sarnensee), both of which are the geographic center of Switzerland. Lucerne, famous for its wooden bridges and the Lion Monument (aka the weeping lion), is likely one of the most-visited Swiss cities and is just 23km to our north (roughly 14.5 miles). To the southwest is Interlaken (meaning literally "between lakes") auf Deutsch) which is situated in the beautiful Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps. Below is a photo we took while walking along the beautiful Sarnensee.
We've heard from the locals that this summer they've had an exorbitant amount of rain (you can tell, the rivers and lakes are VERY full - the water nearly covers lower lying benches and signs!). With the rain comes lots and lots of snails and slugs!
We've lucked out with a few mostly dry days, one of which we took advantage of to hike along the Wanderweg (a hiking trail system running throughout Switzerland), specifically the portion known as the "Bruder Klaus Way" (Bruder Klausen Weg auf Deutsch). Little did we know that Sachseln is known as a bit of a spiritual mecca because of Switzerland's only saint, Brother Klaus, who wandered and resided in the area centuries ago!
The hike was a bit different from our Colorado standards - some of the path included roads or was paved with asphalt, other portions had paving stones and yet other areas were wide dirt trails through forest and farm land. We had a great time walking/hiking from the neighboring town of Sarnen to the rural/remote towns of Flüeli Ranft where Brother Klaus lived back to Sachseln. We lucked out with temperate weather and no rain!
Both to save money and to enjoy a picnic-esque mode of life, for lunch we've been enjoying making sandwiches of freshly baked rolls, salami and local cheese. Towards the end of our hike we enjoyed one of these lunches, along with a small bottle of wine, in Flüeli. Yummy!
After a full day of wandering through the beautiful Swiss mountainside we walked to the neighboring town of Sarnen (about a 2 mile walk) for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated catching a lift on the very efficient, although expensive, central Swiss train home.
Time for a bite to eat at the local gasthaus (guest house)!
- Kelsey
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