Looking for a fun spring get-away or spring break vacation?  Don’t want to pay for expensive flights to Hawaii or face the long flight?  Well, here’s a beach in California that rivals any Hawaiian beach:  La Jolla, California.

The Spanish word, “la joya”, means the jewel and San Diegans call La Jolla the jewel of San Diego.  I’m a native of San Diego and can vouch for its charms.

La Jolla is close to all the famous San Diego attractions:  Sea World and the San Diego Zoo, 15 minutes away, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, 40 minutes, Lego Land, 30 minutes.  The Birch Aquarium and Museum, part of Scripp’s Institute of Oceanography, is just a few minute drive up the hill.

The European feel of the village of La Jolla, chock full of interesting boutiques, restaurants and art galleries invites fun strolls.  Scripps Park winds along the coast for playing and walking.  The clear water of the nearby cove offers great swimming and the chance to observe sea life for snorkelers.

In the center of the village, The La Valencia Hotel, known as the “Pink Lady“, has been an icon since it opened in 1926.  Stop in for a drink or a meal or just to admire the great views and enjoy the tiled courtyards, hand painted murals and Spanish mosaics.

Also in the village, San Diego County Museum of Modern Art offers a culture break from the sun and sand.  Want to flash back to the past? Then stop in at Harry’s Coffee Shop, a “sixties décor” coffee shop that serves breakfast all day.

Head over to La Jolla Shores Beach, one of the very best beaches in Southern California—a long, wide stretch of white sand, good waves for swimming, surfing, body surfing and kayaking.  Divers also love the beach because there’s a deep shelf just offshore for exploring.

My favorite hotel is the La Jolla Shores Hotel, right on the sand of La Jolla Shores beach.  Even with all the activities nearby in San Diego, the beach is so lovely, you may never want to leave the hotel.  Or after a busy day of sightseeing, relax in the heated pool and Jacuzzi, or in your ocean view room, with free wi-fi.  The hotel’s ocean front restaurant, The Shores, serves breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Check out their spring specials, with rooms starting at $199.

And just next door at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, the legendary Marine Room restaurant sits right on the sand, so close to the incoming waves that on a stormy night or during a high tide, the waves put on an exciting and wondrous wave dance as they splash against the windows.

During a low tide, explore the tide pools just north of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography Pier at the north end of the beach.  The University of California at San Diego and Scripps Institute of Oceanography sit on the hilltop above.

In the village at La Jolla Shores, you can rent surfboards, wet suits and kayaks or join a group kayaking expedition.  Or join a surf camp and learn to surf, during spring break or summer.

You can also rent a mountain or road bike, kayak or snorkel or go on a bike, kayak or snorkeling tour.

All the fun attractions San Diego offers are right there, yet you’re on a gorgeous beach.  Instead of costly airfares to Hawaii, just drive or fly to San Diego and enjoy the same fun, as the Beach Boys crooned ‘in the warm California sun’.

Fun highlights:

• La Jolla Shores Hotel
  8110 Camino Del Oro, La Jolla, CA 92037
  (877) 496-6063
• Harry’s Coffee Shop
  7545 Girard Avenue La Jolla, CA 92037
  (858) 454-7381
• Birch Aquarium
  2300 Expedition Way La Jolla, CA 92037
  (858) 534-3474
• Surf Diva Surf Shop
  2160 Avenida De La Playa # A La Jolla, CA 92037
  (858) 454-8273
• La Jolla Bike and Kayak
  2158 Avenida De La Playa, La Jolla, CA 92037

Ó Diane Covington 2012

The country of Wales may only be the size of Massachusetts, but just like its counterpart across the pond, every nook and cranny is full of history.  500-plus castles can be found in this part of the United Kingdom, in various degrees of disrepair and/or restoration, often seen on the hillsides as one speeds down the busy motorways.   I explored four unique castles, and came away amazed at the history and atmosphere of each venue.

A sense of déjà vu at Conwy Castle

The coastal city of Conwy, about 45 minutes drive from Manchester’s airport, proudly displays its old medieval walls, many of which can be walked on like that of the Great Wall of China.  And more conspicuous than the walls is the UNESCO World Heritage Site Conwy Castle.

It was built by Edward I from 1283-1289 at great expense (some £15,000 – equivalent to £15 million today) to help serve as one of his “Iron Ring” castles that helped to keep the English safe in Wales while fortifying his new empire there. The exterior and interior walls remain relatively intact, and I found them to be quite an experience walking through the various rooms from the king’s chamber, dining hall, kitchen, and prison.   I felt as if I were back in medieval times, especially when I went inside the castle chapel, where the soundtrack of Gregorian monks was playing in the midst of displays about Christianity’s role in that time.  I also was fascinated by the countless arrow slits carved into the walls, expecting a shooter to be taking aim.

Two fortified gateways and eight towers help make up the grandness of this place.  Four of them contain high towers where I got stunning views of the city, sea, and Conwy Mountain.   And as I walked up the spiralling staircases to get those views with only the help of ropes to keep me from falling, I could feel a sense of “home sweet home” in each part of the structure.

Stand where Prince Charles once stood at Caernarfon Castle

If you want to know just how hard life was for people long ago, just visit a medieval fortress like Caernarfon Castle  (pictured abobe) on a cold and rainy morning like I did.  As I walked through its long passageways and explored the interior rooms whose walls are still intact some 700 years after being built, the chill and drafts went through my layered clothing to my bones.   Much of the castle walls, both interior and exterior, remain intact from the time they were constructed between 1283-1330.

Charles I fashioned the polygonal and colored band walls (some twenty feet thick) after those of Constantinople to serve as the “capital” of North Wales, even creating a new town, destroying the old Welsh settlement.  Locals were conscripted as manpower, and were paid in silver pennies.

Despite all the expense, many of the plans for it never materialized.  Normally, the castle  had 20-40 people defending it in its early days.   What made the castle easier to defend were the ingenious way that three soldiers with bow and arrows could be stationed to shoot through what appeared on the inside of the castle to be three arrow slits, but in effect, those three arrows would come out through just one slit in the outer wall of this UNESCO World Heritage Site, which survived demolition orders in the 17^th century.

Caernarfon was once a motte and bailey castle (castle on a mound surrounded by a courtyard).  This mound still resides within the courtyard as a dais made of Welsh slate, and was the scene of two Princes of Wales getting their official titles, that being Edward VIII in 1911 and then Prince Charles in 1969.  The northeast tower has an extensive exhibit of those two investitures, including Prince Charles’ BBC telecast.   Prince Charles walked through the Queen’s Gate to greet his subjects, something which I got to do, as a special balcony still remains for photo opps.

Those two investitures have roots of the aftermath of the English conquest.  Edward I helped to stymie some of the resentment by Welsh locals by presenting his firstborn son, Edward II, to them as a prince born in Wales who couldn’t speak any English.  Ironically, the little baby wasn’t given his Prince of Wales title there, but at the Parliament of Lincoln.

In the Eagle Tower, the king would reside when he was in Caernarfon, which was protected above by a cluster of high turrets that can be explored.   The King’s room itself was grand, and did contain a personal chapel and fireplace to help fend off the chill.   The Queen’s Tower also has remnants of nicer accommodations, and it’s here where many artefacts and exhibits on the history of Welsh armies are featured.

Two Awesome castles in Denbighshire 

While the Vale of Clwyd is at the bottom of some incredible footpaths with steep angles going up hundreds of feet in the Clwydian Hills that’ll challenge any hiker, the town of Ruthin (an hour’s drive from Manchester) has a castle with the same namesake Ruthin Castle  that’s located just above the base of the valley.  It sits on grounds once allegedly housing a fort where King Arthur kept a little “love nest” for one of his mistresses dating before the Norman conquest.   But its confirmed date for a standing edifice dates back to 1277, when Edward I secured it for his kingdom against the rebellious Welsh.

Though much of the castle walls remain intact despite the 11 weeks of shelling it withstood during the English Civil War in 1646 along with neglect, improvements were made during and since Queen Victoria’s reign, and which I found not only showed outdoors, but with the décor on the inside that tries to imitate the Victorian Era, especially with the as “trompe l’oeil” wallpaper jobs that can be found in the spacious rooms that contain all the modern conveniences medieval kings would deem as sorcery: big screen TVs, free internet access, and electronic heat control.

I explored what was left of the medieval fortifications by walking around the old walls, and was greeted by some of the 16 peacocks who live there and wail away while the sun is up.  I peeked through the old cooking area, one of the places where apparitions have been spotted, including the “grey lady.”  I went to her creepy gravesite, where she was buried after being executed for killing the lover of her husband, one of the commanders of Edward I.   Unfortunately (or not), I didn’t see any ghosts.

About a 20 minute drive to the north of Ruthin in Denbigh is Denbigh Castle  completed in 1295 for one of the commanders of Charles I, Henry de Lacy.  I found it fascinating to walk around and take in stunning countryside views.  Much of the outer exterior walls exist, including the Grate Gate House (main entrance), kitchen and chamber areas.  I was able to walk on top of some battlements.   A five to ten minute walk took me outside the castle to the Goblin Tower, where some of the castle’s water supply existed, and in which de Lacy’s son fell to his death in, and purportedly haunts it.

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Roy A. Barnes attended a press trip sponsored by Visit Wales  but what he wrote were his own impressions without any scrutiny or vetting by the sponsor.  He writes from southeastern Wyoming, and is long time contributor to the Traveler and Traveler Blog.

It’s sort of a tradition here at Tourist Travel. An article to warm the heart, not to mention an excellent way to spend a little bit of your holiday time. So sit back and enjoy……

Christmas in San Francisco

New fallen snow blanketed the countryside. The sounds of passing cars along the road were muted in the still, peaceful air. Hills and valleys, in their blanket of snow, rolled softly into the distance, bathed in the mellow light of a nearly full moon. A woody smell of burning pine and warm hearths teased at my nostrils as I turned up the lane toward the house, snow crunching beneath my boots……

Click here to read the whole story

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Locked between mountains and the Gastineau Channel, Juneau is a great portal for visitors to be introduced to the rugged and beautiful “last frontier” state of Alaska. With a population of 31,000, Juneau is a cross between a city, a frontier town, a cruise ship destination, and small town America, and you will experience all of these within minutes of each other here.

Juneau’s cornucopia of natural splendor is really its stock-in-trade. You’re never far from an awe-inspiring glacier, rivers teeming with thousands of spawning salmon, or mammoth humpback whales breaching violently from the ocean. Or you can paddle across peaceful lakes, and ride a tramway up a steep mountain for a spectacular view of lush rain forest and shimmering fjords.

Juneau’s man-made attractions also pack some serious weight for their punch; sampling delectable amber ales at a renowned brewery, panning for gold on a river which hard bitten prospectors worked over a century earlier, walking through a historic gold mine, and wandering through some interesting museums are all part of the Juneau experience. And watching the locals who emerge after the tidal wave of cruise passengers has receded back into their luxury liners is always instructive.

You can’t miss Juneau residents—they’re likely to be wearing the Official footwear of Alaska, brown Neoprene XTRATUF Gumboots, with a half-inch wide, cream-colored rim around the top, and cream-colored soles. I once saw a flock of hot young women, dressed to kill in their mini skirts, participating in a Karaoke bar wearing these gumboots, without the slightest hint of self consciousness.

The Mendenhall Glacier is an ideal place to set the naturalistic stage for your visit to Juneau. Caught in a deep valley between tall granite outcrops, the glacier presents a breathtaking sight, with its bluish gray cliffs and tall ridges of ice snaking down from a huge ice field. Sunk into the top of a small butte and surrounded by Northwest evergreens, the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center is an ideal place to view the glacier. Only a 15-minute drive from town, it’s the oldest visitor center in the national park system, one mile from the huge glacier that dominates the vista.

Inside the center auditorium, an 11-minute film tells how these phenomenal ice monsters are formed and recede in tandem with the pulse of nature, while other displays describe Alaska’s abundant wildlife. Outside, a short walk along a sealed trail gets you to Photo Point, where tourists snap frantically away with their point-and-shoots and DLRs, recording this picture perfect vista of lake, glacier, and mountains.

Descending a concrete walkway near the center you enter a raised boardwalk, set ten feet above the ground on metal stilts, where you can look down on the spawning salmon in the small glacial creek. It’s August and they’re writhing and wriggling as they fight their way up the rushing water; stopping for a breather in small side eddies. Recent evidence of bears is everywhere: Chewed up salmon carcasses, large crushed piles of grass, and black piles of scat. The bears are hungry, stocking up for their impending hibernation.

Nearby I read a sign that tells parents to keep their dogs on a leash and keep their children close—sound advice indeed. The bears are taking the afternoon off when we visit, but I’m told that when one lumbers onto the boardwalk, a ranger walks in front, warning visitors to move back and stand still while the bear passes. Wow, a personal ranger escort—welcome to Alaska!

The next day we launch a kayak from Above & Beyond Alaska Company’s Kayak Center into the eerily quiet Mendenhall Lake. The calm waters are shrouded in lacy curtains of mist as we slowly paddle our way towards the glacier, about two miles distant. We silently glide among oddly sculpted icebergs, some the size of small cars or large houses, as they loom up around us. Their colors change from blue to green to white depending on their depth and size. It’s like being in a giant ice-filled margarita glass, with a rim of forest and mountains.

Sticking close to the water’s edge we paddle past cascading waterfalls, gravel beaches, and protruding wedges of land covered with dense green Northwest foliage and brush. Finally, we get to within three quarters of a mile of the glacier, and it’s noticeably colder here from the packed icebergs. All too quickly we turn away from this marvelous sight and paddle back to our beach.

On our way into town we drop by the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery to watch the amazing sight of thousands of huge, spawning salmon struggling and clawing their way up the rushing water to reach their biological destiny, which in this case is to be milked, gutted, cleaned and sold to fishermen. Inside the Visitor Center, an aquarium shows Alaskan undersea life, and tourists are lured into buying salmon products of every description you can imagine, smoked, canned, you name it.

This non-profit hatchery exists to sustain salmon for the State of Alaska for commercial and sporting use, and I’d say they do an outstanding job of it. We walk past long metal vats with tens of thousands of tiny salmon fry writhing around, waiting to graduate into the larger vats with the bigger boys and girls. Eventually they’ll be released into the ocean and 2 to 5 years later will thrash their way back here to be milked of their eggs and milt. Where else but Alaska will you find a horde of tourists intensely watching this whole process?

It would be gross touristic negligence to visit Juneau without going on a whale-watching excursion. To see these behemoth 45-foot long denizens of the deep erupt 15 feet or more from the water in a feeding frenzy is more than spectacular, or any other superlative for that matter. It is, simply put, a sight that must be seen to be believed. Captain Greg of Weather Permitting Alaska takes us out in his aluminum boat to show us these enormous creatures, telling me that he guarantees a whale sighting.

He lives up to his word. Twenty minutes later we are watching a sight that would excite even the most jaded tourist or wild life photographer—humpback whales bubblefeeding. One of the whales makes a primal grunting sound somewhat akin to a distorted foghorn, and then dives below a school of unsuspecting herring where it blows bubbles that rise, scaring the herring into a tight ball. Meanwhile, nine whales have dived deep under the water, forming into a circle, and then rise rapidly up to the surface, their enormous jaws wide open, scooping hundreds of pounds of herring and plankton into their gaping maws.

Exactly eleven seconds after the foghorn warning, the whales breach simultaneously from the water like prehistoric monsters, in a gigantic waterspout, and then slam down onto the water on their backs and sides, to disappear with a blast of steam from their blowholes and a last flick of their mighty trident shaped tails. It’s quite a performance and I can hardly speak for a while afterwards, apart from a lame “Did you see that?” We follow the whales for an hour or so, see this performance repeated a couple of times and return to shore very happy campers.

Back in Juneau, we take the Mount Roberts Tramway to the top of the steep, 2000-foot high mountain of the same name, and catch a breathtaking view of Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island far below us. This panorama of absolute seclusion is a powerful reminder of how Juneau can only be reached by boat or plane—there are no roads leading into Juneau from the mainland. We visit a half blind eagle in a shelter, walk along the hiking trail for a while, and watch an informative movie, Seeing Daylight, about Tlingit Indian legends, culture, and language.

Back down the mountain we walk along Juneau’s tidy streets exploring its touristy shops, galleries, museums, and restaurants. The historic district of town, with its turn of the century western facades, is an eclectic milieu of jewelry and souvenir shops that feed the insatiable thirst of the cruise ship passengers, interspersed with bars of all stripes, and hardware and convenience stores for the residents. Pretty planter boxes of colorful flowers, twin-globe street lamps, and festive banners brighten up the sidewalk, as a trolley car clangs its way along the street. Juneau is quite the scene, tucked dramatically away at the foot of a mountain range.

Watching the enormous cruise ships berthing and sightseeing seaplanes buzzing to and fro across the harbor reinforce just how much tourism is the life-blood of this city.

Don’t miss the iconic Red Dog Saloon, but time your visit after the cruise passengers have retreated, or you’ll have to wait a while. This touristy recreation of a noisy honkey tonk bar seems to have captured the spirit of the 1890’s during the town’s gold rush heyday, complete with sawdust floor. Look for Wyatt Earp’s gun, some Winchester rifles, a mounted Kodiak bear, and other frontier paraphernalia displayed behind the bar.

For beer aficionados, the Alaskan Brewing Company makes for a lively stop. In 1986, when Alaskan Brewing Company set up their brewery in Juneau, they became the 67^th operating brewery in the United States. Since then, their products have been awarded more than 100 major national and international medals and awards, half of which are gold. Their most renowned brews, Alaskan Amber, Alaskan IPA, Alaskan Stout, Alaskan Summer Ale, and Alaskan Winter Ale are uniformly thirst quenching. Drop by and sample up to six of their delicious beers, free of charge. You’ll meet a fun mix of locals and tourists, all with a passion for beer.

Much of Juneau’s history revolves around its gold mining days that started in 1880, so you’ll find plenty of gold mining museums and tours here. Tucked away in a rugged mountain valley behind Juneau, the Last Chance Mining Museum is absolutely crammed, floor to ceiling, with thousands of old pieces of gold mining equipment. They range from small to enormous and the gadgets make the museum look like the setting for a Steampunk Convention.

In one corner of the museum stands a replica of the AJ Mine Adit, the mine entrance. The original mine entrances are sealed off to the public, so this replica was created to give the visitor an idea of what a mine was like back in the day. Walking through, you’ll see historic photographs, a wide display of hand tools that were used in the shops for maintaining the mining equipment, pneumatic drilling equipment, and ancient picks and rock samples.

The remnants of another gold mine are seen on the AJ Mine and Gastineau Mill Tour—and they’ll show you how to pan for gold. The tour bus ascends a steep trail up Mount Roberts to what remains of the Alaska Gastineau Mill. A guide shows large black and white photos outlining the different types of gold mining and demonstrates how to operate a sluice box, and then describes hydraulic mining, dredging, open pit mining, and underground hard rock mining.

Next you drive two minutes down the dirt trail and stop at the enormous rusting steel girders and concrete skeleton of the former mill, built into the steep mountainside. It was here that the ore carts opened to pour their contents into a rotating pebble mill, where the rocks were crushed into a sand-like product, which was sifted and washed to collect the gold.

Then, you’re whisked further down the hill for a tour inside the historic Gastineau Mine conveyor tunnel shaft, one of the highlights of the day. It’s the only hard rock gold mining tour in S.E. Alaska. Your guide escorts you into the cool, 360-foot-long mine shaft. Inside the mineshaft, 20 feet wide and ten feet high, our voices and the gravel crunching underfoot echo down its length. The guide stops to demonstrate how work was done in the mines, sawing a joist, operating a bone rattling pneumatic drill, and dumping ore into a hopper ore cart.

The Juneau-Douglas City Museum gives a concise and thorough history of the town. As one might expect, its major focus of is on its mining history, with plenty of old photographs, interactive exhibits, dioramas, and displays about Hands On Mining, to show the pioneer life as it was back in the mining days.

You can read stories about the mines from sliding panels, and a large colorful display shows the types of rock at the Treadwell Mine. Glass cases contain typical clothing worn by miners, and some of their equipment.

The Alaska State Museum, a large white concrete building with art nouveau decorations sculpted into its walls, is only a ten-minute walk from the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, and is equally impressive. Although not as focused on mining as the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, it gives a polished, in-depth recounting of the state’s history and natural history, including Native Cultures, History Galleries, a For Kids Only section, and much more.

The Juneau Steamboat Company Harbor Tour, ably led by Captain John L. George, is a low-key summary of the Juneau gold rush heritage. You sit inside a turn-of-the-century, wood-fired passenger steamboat as it chugs sedately along the Gastineau Channel at 3.5 knots. Wearing a black vest complete with silver watch chain and captain’s hat, Captain George regales you with tales of how these steamboats were a common form of transport back in the day, ferrying miners and their families across the channel, and tells of the three mines that produced gold along the channel.

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Where to stay:

For the complete experience, stay at the historic Silverbow Hotel, a beautiful 1914 boutique hotel with 11 rooms decorated with antiques and period wallpaper. Situated in the heart of downtown Juneau, its old furnishings and creaking floors help you relive the good old days of mining in Juneau. The bakery next door is not to be missed.

——————

Roy Stevenson is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in Seattle, Washington. He’s had more than 600 articles published in 160 regional national, and international magazines, newspapers, in-flights and online travel magazines in the U.S.A., Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. He writes on travel and culture, history, art, military history, military vehicles, writing, communications, health, fitness, running, triathlons, sports and film festival reviews.

The city of Luzern is just a 45 minute train ride from Zurich, one that I found more than worth the effort when experiencing much enchantment and stunning views of the waters and mountainous regions surrounding it.

The Entlebuch’s Enchanted Plums

Residing west of Luzern is the Entlebuch, about 35 minutes by train at the stop called Schupfheim.  It’s made up of eight villages and spans some 154 square miles and contains many of the Alps’ rolling foothills:  roughly one per cent of Switzerland’s land area.  One fourth of this area is now protected moors (highland marshlands), which exuded a pleasantly eerie feeling amidst the fog, making me wonder if any monsters were lurking there.

The first settlers here came in the 11th century, but for the last two centuries, one passed-down fairy tale has captivated the locals involving a plum-like fruit called the Zyberli.  It’s featured in a five year old-plus German book Zyberli-Gschicht.  As a big fan of children’s stories, I got to visit this land, where, according to the story, little people known as the Bargmandli used to pan for gold for their valley masters (Talherrens), and in return for making the latter rich, they would receive the Zyberli fruit.  But this would end as the egotistical Talherrans chopped all the fruit trees down so they could build bigger thrones for themselves, making the little people leave, leaving the Talherrans without more gold.

I started out on the three mile circular trail in the town of Romoos at the Hotel Kreuz, and soon came upon a newly planted Zyberli tree on a lawn.   My path then took me outside the town center to the Forest Gate, where I would then embark on long and winding dirt roads that were wet with dead leaves from a steady drizzle, which I navigated with my walking pole, opening and closing many gates.

Little feet symbols were plastered along the trail to make sure I didn’t get lost, leading me to such places as the school for the Bargmandli, where actual kids convene to get lessons on acting responsible in the forest amidst beautiful and peaceful surroundings that include a natural babbling brook soundtrack.

Fluhi’s Surrounding Natural Magic

Fluhi is on the other side of the Entlebuch, and provided me a great opportunity to see more breathtaking autumn scenery in the Pre-Alps (foothills), ending at Cheesiloch, a canyon with a 130-plus foot drop.   Prior to the path leading directly to the canyon, a 45 minute hike from town begins that has winding roads, cows who love being  photographed (kept apart by a “fence” made of just one rope), and rolling meadows.   The last 30 minutes to the canyon would be one of my most challenging hikes I’ve ever taken.  My walking pole saved the day, for the narrow pathway was sharp and rocky, and drenched with wet maple leaves.  Nature’s soundtrack included hearing the pleasant babbling of the Rotbach stream as I proceeded deeper into the dense evergreen forest with deep drops to the canyon below.

To see the Entlebuch via Romoos, it takes about 40 minutes from Luzern via public transportation.  From Luzern, take a train en route to Wolhusen (first stop towards Bern about 15-20 minutes away), and then the yellow “Post” bus will take you to Romoos in less than 20 minutes.  Fluhi is reachable a little further down the same above-mentioned line at Schupfheim’s train station (about 35 minutes), and then by taking a Post bus to the town, which takes ten minutes.

Dragons Take On the Ghost of Pontius Pilate

I planned to go to the top of Mt. Pilatus via The Golden Round Trip.  I expected to do a good amount of hiking, but steady rainfall in the lower elevations of Luzern and reports of snow up the mountain before I even left town appeared to hamper my day.

I started my Golden Round Trip from Luzern with a free (thanks to my Swiss Pass) 100 minute boat ride on Lake Luzern to Alpnachstad, the base of the 6,995 foot high Mt. Pilatus.  I wasn’t feeling ideal, as my stomach was a bit queasy and my sinuses were clogging up, but nonetheless, I told myself I’d tough it out.   Even though the fog gave way somewhat, the steady drizzle continued amidst the deep valleys that were cut by glaciers in times past.  The boat bounced around from one town to another along multi-finger-like Lake Luzern, which has the look of a dragon’s outline.

Dragons and the Luzern area have had a long mythical love affair, going back to medieval times.  One story from long ago featured a cooper reportedly falling off Mt. Pilatus in wintertime, but he awoke all snug and warm in a dragon’s cave, and was cared for by the dragons until springtime, when the weather warmed up.  It’s said that one can still hear the flapping of a dragons’ wings and see their shadows at fateful times when on the mountain.

The dragons have allegedly survived even as the ghost of Pontius Pilate hasn’t.  Some seven centuries ago, locals were banned from scaling the mountain because of the fierce weather around Lake Oberalp, blamed on Pontius Pilate’s ghost haunting the place.   That is, until the town rose up in 1685 to take on the poltergeist (appearing with gray hair and dressed in purple annually on Good Friday) by “stoning” the lake.  Nonetheless, the weather I was experiencing made me wonder if Pilate’s ghost was doing an encore.

Healing by the Dragons’s “Touch”

My second leg of the “Golden Round Trip” proceeded on the world’s steepest cogwheel railway from Alpnachstad, where us passengers experienced gradients as high as 48 per cent at speeds of about 6-7 mph. Going up, we were surrounded by thick evergreen forests being hammered by rain, then light snow, and then heavier snow as the visibility decreased. But I began to notice something on my ascent:  I wasn’t feeling queasy anymore and my sinuses were clearing up as the 33 minute ride (that’s half price with a Swiss Pass) ascended through several tunnels barely wide enough for the cogway carriages.  The driver masterfully had to navigate the heavier snow amidst sudden jerks and stops.   He laughed even though I was anxious (because there are three braking systems to prevent disaster).

At the top, it was snowing hard and very cold.  Despite the many paths and other activities being closed down, I was able to take on the below freezing temperature and wind chill and walk through a series of tunnels in the mountain called the Drachenwag.  The tunnels kept me from getting wetter, but not colder.  But alas, I felt such a high even though the openings in the tunnels showed little as the snow-covered mountains became whiter.  Still, my venture upwards to the dragon’s mythical homeland made me feel better, along with some delicious hot vegetable soup and some green tea-flavored Swiss cola called Rivella in one of the area’s diners.

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Pictures credit to Roy A. Barnes and may not be used without permission.

Disclosure: Roy A. Barnes attended a press trip sponsored by Switzerland Tourism  but what he wrote were his own impressions without any scrutiny of the press trip sponsor.   He’s a frequent contributor to the Traveler Blog, writing from southeastern Wyoming.