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France, part six – the château of the royal family, Cahors and the market
After leaving the kiwi plantation and winery at Domaine Chantelle in the morning, we headed for the beautiful Château de Cayx, situated on a rocky hillside in the Luzech district. Château de Cayx is a 15th-century castle and is surrounded by 2.000 years old vineyard. The castle and the vineyard have been owned by the Danish royal family since 1974. We actually also visited the…
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France, part five – truffles, foie gras, saffron, market and kiwis
After leaving the snail farm, see the previous post, our plan was to visit a truffle hunter and his dog. When we arrived at the address, the place was closed and actually seemed abandoned. We searched and searched for a “substitute”, without luck. All were closed – perhaps for the season. We even visited a truffle museum and asked for some advice, not much help…
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Hiking through the Devil’s Gorge – Teufelsschlucht, in Switzerland
Another short hike, this time through the Teufelschlucht – Gorge of the Devil! If you thought the previous gorge was beautiful, then have a look at this one. We parked in Hägendorf, just 40 minutes from Basel. We can highly recommend starting out early in the morning as we did. During the day, this particular gorge is very popular due to its vicinity to the…
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LÖTSCHENTAL, beautiful Swiss valley
LÖTSCHENTAL, a long (27 kilometers) and quiet valley in the Bernese Alps, offers about 200 kilometers of hiking trails in unspoiled nature with rivers, glaciers, lakes, forest, and view to lots of surrounding 3 – 4.000 meters high mountain peaks. At the end of the main road through the valley, the starting point for hiking is a huge parking place with a fantastic view of…
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STEIN am RHEIN, medieval village in Switzerland
STEIN am RHEIN, literally, Stone by the Rhine, and originally just a fishing village, is a small town with just about 3500 inhabitants. The more than 1000 years old historic medieval center, still with the old gate towers and walls, is full of the most beautiful old houses with fantastic frescoes painted on many of the facades. Most of them around the town hall square.…
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Hiking by the Thur Waterfalls in Toggenburg
In May we went for our first hike in the Toggenburg area. Close to the town Unterwasser, we wanted to see the Thur Waterfalls, Thurwasserfälle. We parked by the Hotel Sternen, but there are also parking spots for Mobilhomes just 100 meters away from the path to the waterfalls. The path follows the river Thur and into the Chamber Gorge (Chämmerlitobel). Arriving at the waterfalls,…
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SIMMENFÄLLE Waterfalls, Switzerland
SIMMENFÄLLE, the Simmen Waterfalls, is a series of waterfalls just outside Lenk im Simmental. Arriving at the restaurant, of the same name, at the end of the paved road, you will already see the first part of the falls. Then there is only a short and bit steep hike (exactly 1 km) upwards to Barbarabrücke (bridge) where the stream can be crossed and the view…
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The VERENA Gorge, Solothurn, Switzerland
The VERENA GORGE, just outside Solothurn, invites all to a short and easy walk-through along a rippling stream in a fairytale landscape with mossy stones and narrow bridges where you wouldn´t wonder if trolls shows up. Many of the places we find are completely random others by thorough research. The Verena gorge is an example of a mix, Lene had seen a picture of the…
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POËTA-RAISSE, a hidden gorge, Switzerland
POËTA-RAISSE, a well hidden gorge in the French speaking part of Switzerland is probably one of the most beautiful gorge hikes in this region of Val de Travers. Poëta actually (perhaps?) means awful or terrible… And in the old days where the path followed the stream, there were definitely some horribly difficult places to cross. Since then, the path has been made accessible for normal…
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TRAVERSINER STEG, a wooden stairs bridge, Switzerland
TRAVERSINER STEG II, is a wooden bridge over the wildest part of the Viamala Gorge. Designed by the worldwide renowned engineer and bridge builder Jürg Conzett and built in 2005. The “II” because it is the second bridge – the first, in complete different design, was destroyed by falling rocks a few years before just three years after being built. The Traversiner bridge is part…
