While the number of COVID infections ebbed and flowed throughout 2021, we did not take a vacation or travel anywhere during the first half of the year. Luckily, we received our first dose of Moderna vaccine in March and then a second dose in June. Like many people in Europe, we started travelling again with caution and patience.
In June 2021 we took our first leisure trip. For new readers, our home was in Lausanne, a French-speaking region of Switzerland that is about an hour’s drive from Geneva. Without crossing any national border, we visited by car the two major lakes of Bernese Oberland in central Switzerland – Thunersee (Lake Thun) and Brienzersee (Lake Brienz) in the canton of Bern.
Several years ago, we visited this region, and stayed in Interlaken, a well-known touristy city situated between these two lakes. The main interest of that trip was Jungfrau and the surrounding valleys. We had published a series of 5 posts on our Jungfrau trip. Click here to read that series. You can also find a link to the series on our home page in the gallery section.
Spiez
For this trip, we chose as our base, Spiez, a town located on the southern shore of Thunersee at about 600 m above sea level. This small town is apparently more than 1000 years old, as it was mentioned in some ancient text.
Our lodgings, Hotel Eden is located midway between the pier at the lakefront and the train station uphill. From our balcony which faced east, we can just see Thurnersee and its northern shore. We had a very comfortable stay at this hotel – recommendable.
On the lakefront, the medieval Schloss Spiez (Castle Spiez) dates from 933, and was continuously occupied. It was renovated to its present appearance in the 15th and 18th centuries.
We also had a good view of the mountain range lying behind Spiez, which comprises the famous peaks of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau ( … but we could not identify them individually from where we were).
The pyramidal mountain behind Spiez is Niesen (2336 m), one of the stops on the Grand Tour of Switzerland. A funicular train (Niesenbahn) runs up to the summit from Mülenen. The view from the summit must be spectacular.
Alongside the path of the Niesenbahn is the longest stairway in the world with 11,674 steps. It is open only once a year to the public for a stair run.
Paul Klee
One of Chris’s favorite artists, Paul Klee made a painting of the mountain, simply titled Der Niesen. In 1915 he spent several days vacationing in the region with his friend Louis Millet in the town of Gunten, which faces the Niesen from directly across the lake.
At night, the resemblance is startling, although Paul Klee’s view was framed by buildings(?), trees and other objects. It was a surprise when we discovered the connection while researching this blog post. In our photo, the brightly lit building is the town’s train station which is a major junction for the Swiss trans-alpine rail traffic.
The best way to enjoy the region is to take a cruise on the two lakes. We had taken a 3 hour-roundtrip cruise from Interlaken to Thun previously. But, not wanting to drive every day while on vacation, we took the ferry to see the city of Thun.
As we cruised pass the shoreline, one can see that apart from tourism, agriculture including viticulture, is the other main business of the region.
Vines and pristine pasture uphill, sailboats on the lake.
The cruise was not packed but it was not empty. There were no international tourists, however. It will take some time for the tourism business to return to pre-pandemic level.
The lakes in this Alpine region were formed mostly by glaciers. The lakes were formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. The color of the water in a lake depends on the source, and the amount and type of silt in the water. For example, water in lakes at high altitude tends to have a milky appearance. Both Thunersee and Brienzersee have an intense turquoise color.
Hoping that this first post gives you a flavor of our future posts; we love to get some feedback from you. Please leave a comment below. To follow us, bookmark the main page – chrisnsue.com or subscribe to the blog (from the main page).
See you all soon.
One response to “Travel in Post-pandemic Switzerland, Spiez”
My son Lucas was in Interlaken July 2022. He was in Metz France for his summer study. He loves Switzerland 🇨🇭