“Turn here!” I directed Nina, who cheerfully swerved the car into a one-lane road without blinking an eye. I love her for that. We wound our way up and down a switchback lane through sub-alpine meadows past Swiss cows, bells clanging, and quaint Swiss barns and farmhouses. Then wound up at a dead-end right on the shores of Lake Lucerne: Treib.

Nina glanced from me to the quaint ferry/inn/funicular complex and grinned. We’d discovered another gem. She knew better than to question my navigation and map-reading skills; she had absolutely none herself. I didn’t tell her that I was just choosing places to drive out of a tapestry of intuition, smell, logic and just plain random choice. We were on an adventure, after all, and getting lost was a prerequisite. :-3 Just kidding; we were never really lost. I knew where we were: we were in Central Switzerland and we were driving around Lake Lucerne.

After we made our home base at the excellent Schloss Hotel, in the charming village of Merlischachen, we decided to circumnavigate the lake. This would involve driving on small twisting roads and through several tunnels. Lake Lucerne is called the Vierwaldstättersee (“lake of the four forested Cantons”) and is the fourth largest lake in Switzerland at 114 sq. km. Its meandering arms span from Lucerne through steep valleys beneath 1,500 foot-high mountains like Rigi, Pilatus and Oberbuenstock.

We started our drive through Küssnacht, located at the end of a long bay, named–yep–the Küssnachter See. The bay is part of a larger valley that connects the chain of Bernese Alps from Interlacken to Zug. We took the scenic Hwy 2b along the north-east shore of the lake, through some of the oldest communities of Switzerland such as Weggis, Vitznau, Gersau, and Brunnen. This area is commonly known as the “Riviera of Central Switzerland” and provides the second largest tourist destination in the Canton of Lucerne.

The ancient town of Weggis

(which means “place of the ferry man” in Celtic) dates as far back as 1332 and lies at the base of Mount Rigi. People there enjoy a very mild climate. Attractions include the aerial tramway to Rigi-Kaltbad, close to Känzeli. From Rigi-Kaltbad you can climb the mountain on the cog railway (Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn) and get some awesome viewing.

The picturesque village of Vitznau, at the foot of Mount Rigi, is a good starting point for excursions around the lake. Historic paddlewheel steamers and saloon motor vessels stop here and take you to places like Lucerne, Pilatus, Stanserhorn, Bürgenstock, Klewenalp and Seelisberg. The Vitznau-Rigi railway also stops here and takes you to the Kulm of Rigi (1798 m) with a truly breathtaking panoramic view across the Alps, that includes thirteen lakes, all the way to Germany and France. Over a hundred kilometers of trails descend the mountain, through flowers-rich meadows (over 1,000 species I was told). From Vitznau you can also take a cableway to Hinterbergen, a hotel-restaurant which commands a wonderful view from its sun terrace. Another cableway takes you to Wissifluh Mountain Restaurant where a lot of trails begin.

The first thing we saw on the waterfront of Vitznau, was the Hotel Rigibahn, a classy big hotel built in 1873 by the railway. In 1930 they designed the striking Bauhaus style Restaurant Rondel as the first dancing hall on Lake Lucerne. It swings out over the lake and still has all its original furniture from 1930. It looked closed and was

undergoing major renovations—in time for the summer crowd, no doubt—so, sadly Nina and I missed the opportunity to test the quality of its café crème.

We did, however, stop at the restaurant Paradies Hotel Rotschuo, a few miles farther down the road. The hotel-restaurant lay nestled into the craggy shoreline with a breathtaking view of the lake and hotel grounds from the terrace. The restaurant offered elegant dining with classic décor of red and white. Nina and I enjoyed a wonderful tomato basil soup with cream (9.5 FCH) followed by a pork steak with asparagus and Hollandaise sauce and young potatoes (46 FCH). We paired the meal with a hearty German wheat beer, a Hacker-Pschorr Weissebeir, which made Nina very happy. When Nina’s happy so am I… :-3

Thank you, Tony, Stephan and Carston!

Gersau, like Vitznau offers connections to scenic trails and railcar rides up the Rigi-Scheidegg. Today, two cable-cars lead to the area: on the Gersau side, one goes from Gschwänd to Rigi-Burggeist, about 100 metres below the Scheidegg and a second from the Kräbel stop on the Arth-Rigi railway line up to the Rigi-Scheidegg plateau.

At Brunnen, we took Hwy 2 south to Flüelen, at the southern end of the steeply sided Urnersee. The Alpine Reuss River enters the lake at Flüelen. On our way there I had to keep reminding Nina to watch the road as she slowed to a near-snail’s pace to look at the scenery. I couldn’t fault her as I stared at the steep mountains (over 3,000 feet) of the Urner See’s western shore.  Peaks of the Neider Bauen Chulm and Oberbuenstock provided scenic foreground to the snowy Alps of Uri Rotstock and Brunnistock (2,952 m).

Located beneath the scenic snow-capped summits of the Urner and Glaris Alps, the small town of Flüelen became a transshipment point on the trade routes over the Gotthard pass and along the lake. We had one of my top five café crèmes at the Café Seehof (Hotel Hirschen) there. They hadn’t yet opened for supper but kindly served us coffee that made my whiskers curl. :-3

The next day, we drove in the other direction, in search of the majestic mansion I’d glimpsed from the road to Flüelen. We drove west, through Meggan and Lucerne, then south on the autobahn to Stansstad. From there we took the main road east past the Burgenstock ridge that divides the main body of the lake into two parallel sub-basins. We drove along the southern basin called Buochser See.

Near Beckenreid and with no clear idea, I directed Nina to veer off the main road—well, that’s what she does: veer. We ended up on a narrow country road that twisted its way up pastoral countryside. My nose took us right there. We passed Emmetten, then rounded a corner into Seelisberg and there it was: the splendid mansion I’d seen. Nina took in a breath of astonishment.

Across the street from the mansion, a park with an expansive view of the Urner See beckoned. Nina didn’t need my prompt to park there. Charged with a celebratory glass of rose wine, we entered the park on the edge of the world. A truly breathtaking vista opened before us of Lake Lucerne and the Rütli meadow. Nina grinned as I pointed out the resort town of Brunnen to the north and where we’d driven along the steep eastern shoreline beneath the majestic Fronalstock and the Rophaeen (2078 m) mountains. The Riemenstalden ravine that divided these summits descended to the tiny village of Sisikon. And to the south, at the end of the steep basin on the delta of the Ruess River, I saw the

village of Flüelen, where we’d enjoyed that marvelous café crème.

From the park we crossed the road to the mansion and read the sign “Welcome to the International Capital of the Age of Enlightenment”. Known as little Seelisberg, this converted Victorian hotel on the village outskirts is home to the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Health Centre that offers everything from a one-day massage treatment for Fr.300, to a two-week residential cure for Fr.4000. From 1968 to 1992 it served as the global headquarters of the Transcendental Meditation movement headed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and is currently a school for TM.

A funicular from the northern end of the main street Seelisberg descends the cliff to the quaint old lakeside inn and boat station of Treib below. A short path from the top funicular station, leads to the Rütli meadow, where Confederation was founded, and the start of a pleasant 35 km scenic trail to Platz der Auslandschweizer in Brunnen.   

Which leads me back to Wirtshaus zur Treib, on the shores of Lake Lucerne; run by Irena and Siggy, and where Nina and I shared a delicious Weinerschniztel capped by a “mystery” Treib Café Spécial.

Happy with our adventure, we entered the inn with thoughts of food and drink. We were treated to a rustic original interior, with thick beamed ceiling, original windows of bottle-bottom glass (called crown glass or Butzenfenster), and decorated with Swiss traditional farming implements and some awesome cow bells. Irena proudly pointed out one huge bell with ornamental girdle that was a gift to her on her fiftieth birthday.

The inn and restaurant Wirtshaus zur Treib was originally built in the late 1400s as a shelter to protect people from the stormy southerly wind, called “Föhn”, around the Lake of Uri.

After devouring several Treib special coffees, Nina asked Irena what was in the drink; Irena coyly refused to divulge the “secret recipe”. She claimed that a chaotic mixture of various schnapps available during the day, collected into a “mystery” bottle—which she showed us, was added to the coffee, then topped with Swiss cream. Nina wasn’t buying it. She tried to sneak a peek after ordering another one but Irena was wise to her and kept her back between Nina and the drinks she was concocting. Way to go, Irena! Keep them guessing!

Photos by Nina Munteanu & others

Contact information:Paradies Hotel Rotschuo

Seestrasse 158, 6442 Gersau
Hans-Werner Danckwardt, your host

Tel. +41 (0)41 828 22 66
Fax +41 (0)41 828 22 70
hotel@rotschuo.ch
www.rotschuo.ch

 

Wirtshaus zur Treib
CH-6377 Seelisberg
Phone: +41 (0)- 041 820 12 61
Fax: +41 (0)- 041 820 12 07

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