Chocolates, Lakes, Castles, Scenic Drives & Stunning Views! Must mean we’re in Switzerland!
Everyone knows Switzerland is perfect for winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding but are there are other reasons to visit one of the smallest countries in Europe? After you’ve read about Switzerland’s Chocolates, Lakes, Castles, Scenic Drives or Train Rides…. you’ll probably feel like we do about this beautiful country. Plus we’ve heard it’s an interesting country jam-packed full of stunning views to match similarly beautiful countries like Croatia, Norway or parts of Andalusia in Spain.
Lake Lucerne
Lying between France & Italy, Switzerland is a small, landlocked mountainous country about the size of New Jersey in the US… To try and get the girls involved, we’d been looking up facts about Switzerland beforehand, finding these little gems
- It’s been a neutral country for over 190 years and has 4 official languages
- It has over 1,500 lakes & 230+ mountains over 3000m (Monte Rosa is the highest at 4,634)
- Is the home of CERN and it’s world famous physics laboratory
- Has a population of 8 million who love watches… not just watches, but luxury ones!!!!
- The Swiss consume the most chocolate per capita of any country in the world
- The Swiss Guards who protect the Vatican are dual citizens and are the only Swiss citizens allowed to serve in foreign armies.
- Traditional Swiss sports include Schwingen (wrestling), Hornussen, (a cross between baseball and golf) and Steinstossen (stone put).
Our route southwards towards Locarno on the Swiss/Italian border on the Highway ‘2’ takes in the truly stunning location of Lucerne (one to rival Lake Bled , Geirangerfjord or Lake Bracciano)…. It’s flanked by snowcapped mountains with a lake’s surface that shimmers in blue, turquoise and even green. But it has plenty of wildlife too.. full of swans, ducks and the occasional leaping fish.
If you’re thinking of visiting too this year, perhaps wait until the Lucerne Summer Festival starts in the summer, or check out these ideas for a weekend break – click here
Put simply, Lucerne’s the perfect place to break up the 3hr journey that sees you descend north to south through Switzerland… There are no tolls, but you’ll need a vignette to use the motorway system (like a number of other European countries i.e Slovenia, Hungary… (2017 Cost was approx £35 / 40 Euros).. If you like the view above, then head past Lucerne itself, and onto Bucochs for a great picnic spot!
So this little taste of Switzerland just adds to our earlier experiences in Geneva but we’ll have to wait to fully explore this stunning country a little later on in this trip… But for now, we’ll have to make do with this fleeting glimpse of Switzerland, one that has certainly whetted our appetite to see more….
