Posted by Seth Miller on December 10, 2012 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports | 
There is much more to Lausanne than just the waterfront. The Cité, or Old Town, district offers up a rather compact and accessible walking area worth spending an hour or two in. It has the requisite Cathedral (I poked my head in but it was Sunday morning and there was a service being held which I didn’t want to interrupt) which dominates the skyline. It also has a pretty cool old castle adjacent to the church.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the sundial on the corner of the castle-ish building was still accurate, though it doesn’t take into account Daylight Saving Time.
And how often is it that you get to wander up or down a covered stair path from the medieval era? These connect the merchant and residential areas below with the cathedral above and have carried pedestrians and goods since the 13th century or so. Definitely some new treads in there and at least one relatively modern mural painted on a wall so it isn’t completely an old world experience but it still has quite a bit of that charm.
The shops along the stairs are useful for window shopping. And I couldn’t help but grab a photo of this resident hanging their arms out the window under the word Armes.
There is a metro line which runs from the central train station down to the waterfront, making that transit quick and easy. As an added bonus, nearly every hotel in Lausanne (at least the ones I spoke with) participates in a program where guests get free day-passes to the train at check-in meaning that it is also free to get between the different parts of town. Of course, that only works after check-in and I was staying along the waterfront so I walked there first but after that it was free rides the rest of my stay. That made getting up to the Old City in the morning rather easy.
And the views down to the Ouchy waterfront area, Lake Geneva and Alps in the background definitely made it worth the trek up the hill.
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Posted by Seth Miller on December 6, 2012 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
After spending most of the day hiking through vineyards along the shores of Lake Geneva it was time for a bit of a break. Of course, my idea of taking a break is, at times, not particularly relaxing. In this case it was more walking but in town and along the waterfront of Lausanne rather than out in the countryside. And with the added bonus of sunset approaching, softening the light and making for some great views.
The waterfront has a working harbor, chock full of yachts. There are many miles of parks and paths along the water to keep visitors entertained during a stay. And there is also a ferry terminal with ships carrying locals and the occasional tourist between Lausanne and the French town of Evian across the lake. I considered doing the ferry just for the sake of stepping in to France for a few minutes but the timing of my evening was a bit tight with the schedule and I was getting tired. I chose to take in the sunset from the Swiss side instead.
And, if you’re into that sort of thing, there are a bunch of swans and other water fowl in the park at the harbor. They are more than willing to accept donations of food scraps from visitors.
The big "C" shaped statue in the photo below is actually perched out on the breakwater outside the harbor and it isn’t only a statue. It is actually a wind vane. There are four "viewing posts" on the edge of the waterfront, each with a curve cut out facing a different angle. Depending on which way the winds are blowing the C will line up with one of the curves and that’s how the locals call the winds. A bit different from the typical compass directional approach, to be certain. And a nice art piece as well.
The waterfront was quite lively on this particular evening. I attribute some of that to it being a Saturday and some to the weather being unseasonably warm. And then there is the part where it is quite beautiful. Hard to complain too much about that, really.
I missed the Olympic museum in town (closed for renovations). And I heard after my visit about L’Art Brut, an art museum which features works by criminals and other atypical artists. I’ll definitely put those on the list for next time.
Posted by Seth Miller on November 30, 2012 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports, Wandering Aramean Travel Tools |
Every now and then a travel moment just "clicks" and everything seems right. They aren’t all that common but when it happens there is a moment of clarity, a bit of release where you realize that all the other crazy bits were worthwhile. Things make sense. As I stepped off the commuter train in St. Saphorin, Switzerland a few weeks ago I had one of those moments.
It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm and sunny Saturday afternoon and I, along with 20-30 other tourists, had just walked in to a wee bit of living history. We were about to walk along the trails cutting through the Lavaux Vineyards. They are a designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are incredibly easy to visit, keeping pace with their natural beauty.
There are many miles of trails passing through these vineyards built into the cliffs which rise up from Lake Geneva. Documented history dating back to the 13th Century indicates that monks terraced the slopes to more efficiently cultivate grapes in the area. Prior to that it is believed that the ancient Romans were growing grapes in the area back when it was part of their empire.
The current operations are no longer part of the Church; locals bought out those estates over the years. And other bits have changed in the style and technology of the harvest. The plots are generally a single type of grape now rather than many varietals, mostly to improve yields and avoid some disease issues seen in the relatively recent past. Other parts of the operation are quite similar to how they ran hundreds of years ago.
Because of the steep incline the vineyards are built on and the relatively small chunks of contiguous land much of the work is still done by hand. I watched as a crew walked the rows, picking some of the last grapes of the season. There are some mechanical aspects – many vineyards had motorized "roller coaster" carts with tracks running up and down the hill so the picked grapes could be carried up or down more easily. But still nearly all the work is manual.
The trail stretches a dozen or so miles along the shores of Lake Geneva. There are markers all along the trail, guiding visitors to the next stop. And, depending on just how much you want to walk, a visit can range from brief to a full day or, if extending beyond Lavaux, many days worth of walking along the lake. Each small town along the trail has a train stop making it easy to end the trip, riding back in to Lausanne (the closest real city) and wrapping up the day. The towns also offer up some awesome "old world" architecture, with narrow streets and steep hills matching the surrounding landscape.
The villages also offer the infrastructure for the winemakers to produce and distribute their wares. Every half hour or so along the way was another village, chock full of cellars, bottlers and tasting rooms. Alas, thanks to being so late in the season the tasting rooms (and supposed restaurants) were all closed so I didn’t have much in the way of opportunity to partake of the goods.
I didn’t strike out completely, however. There was a woman running a tasting from a small hut among the vines at an intersection of the trail at one point. Somewhere around 11am I found myself with this view. Hard to beat, really.
I spent about four hours out in the vineyards on this magical day, covering roughly eight miles. Not the fastest walk I’ve ever done, to be certain. But when you have views like this at pretty much every turn it is easy to understand how there are stops reasonably often to take pictures and soak in the experience.
Next time I’ll pack a picnic lunch to hedge against all the shops in the towns being closed for the season. Plus there are places all along the path with tables and views like the one from the wine tasting photo above; incredible scenery for a lunch. Other than that, however, I’m not sure it could have been any better of a day. And I managed to raid my emergency snack stash of Biscoff and Milano cookies from airport lounges to make it through the day.
Putting the experience in to words is challenging. There was something about the natural beauty combined with the lack of crowds – I was often alone enough that I figured I was lost – which made for just an incredible couple hours. Considering that I had no idea this even existed just 26 hours earlier when I landed at the Geneva airport I’m calling it a HUGE win.
I made the trip as a quick hop from Lausanne. It is reasonably easy to do as a day trip from Bern or Geneva, too. Just budget an extra hour each way for the train ride on the ridiculously efficient Swiss rail network. You’ll need to transfer in Lausanne anyways but the local trains along the waterfront which get you to the trails run a couple times each hour so not hard to build a connection.
More photos here.
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