Hello Swiss Mountains

Posted On June 22, 2019

Hello Switzerland – here we are ! Since one week we are now in Switzerland and already had quite a program. Besides meeting family and friends again we already have slotted in one first hike.

Up to Kronberg

Kronberg in the Appenzell Mountains in Eastern Switzerland was our designated first hiking spot.

After an almost three hour train and bus ride we arrived at Schwegalp near mount Säntis. In case you are ever there in August don’t miss the traditional Swiss Wrestling festival (called Schwing-Fest in German).

After a short visit to the cheese shop which let you witness the production process and it was time to start hiking.

Lunch needs to be earned

The weather was fantastic and the impressive mountain landscape greeted us with lush meadow and plenty of cows and goats. It was almost tacky.

One thing with the Swiss mountains is that unavoidably you need to hike uphill sooner or later. After a flat warm up it was therefore time to tackle the about 250 meters up to Kronberg.

Let’s say it showed that we have been living in a flat country for the past two years (highest elevation in Singapore is 163 meters). At least the journey offered ample photo opportunities as an excuse for a short rest.

Our reward was a nice lunch at mountain restaurant. Hazel was less happy to see that there was a perfectly fine cable car up the mountain on the other side (probably marriages get destroyed over such things ;))

Rain and disintegrating Shoes

Well fed we enjoyed the panorama for a while before continuing our hike. From now on it was downhill only.

Unfortunately the weather changed and we got drenched by a short but mighty thunderstorm. In addition the soles of my shoes started to disintegrated rather fast (fair enough they were more than ten years old and served me very well on countless hikes) and so we changed the route slightly and headed directly to Gonten rather than Appenzell.

Nevertheless it was a fantastic way to reconnect with beautiful Switzerland. The sore muscles we had for the next two days were an additional memory.