Another wonderful part of my last trip overseas was visiting Stansstad in the Lake Lucerne region of Switzerland.  Switzerland is a country with much variation in geography, and cultural diversity.  The country has 4 languages, majority is German, Italian, Albanian and Swiss french.   We checked into Hotel Hermann www.hermann-stansstad.ch around 5pm. This Hotel was a good location for us with only a 5 minute walk to the Lake and jetty area and 5 minutes  drive to the Mountain Stanserhorn. There is also 2 trains every hour from Luzerne.

On our  first evening we walked to the lake and had a superb dinner at an Italian restaurant right on the jetty overlooking the Lake and mountains. The next morning we enjoyed a lovely continental breakfast at our Hotel.  I ordered coffee but of course it’s quite different to the coffee we have in Australia so I ended up having a cup of tea instead!  I really am not sure why it is such a challenge to get good coffee in Europe especially in England. I have to admit that we do have some fantastic Baristas in Australia .  Australians have become quite demanding with their quest for the perfect coffee.  Moving forward we took off to the base of Mount Stanserhorn in Stans and jumped aboard the old timber open carriage on the funicular railway,  snapped a couple of great photos of the mountain with a few bell wearing Swiss cows and sheep here and there
as we commenced the steep incline to the mid station to transfer to a Cabrio cable car which has an upper open deck  allowing 30 people to stand comfortably.  The cables are located along the side enabling a good view for taking photos.  

Stanserhorn is approx. 1,898 metres above sea level you have amazing 360 deg view of the mountain ranges and lake, it is only open from April to beginning of November.  This was a fantastic location where you could dine in the first and only revolving restaurant in Switzerland, or have a picnic further up or just sunbake on the open deck area and just laze around with a cocktail taking in the magnificent panoramic view and enhaling fresh mountain air.  The mountain climbing enthusiasts can make their own trek up the mountain and travel back down in the Cabrio is so desired.  The view is spectacular reaching out far over the  swiss alps.  The only issue is getting back down, if you leave it too late in the day the temperature drops and you can be waiting in a long line of people hugging yourself to keep warm , so it’s always a good idea to carry a lightweight water  and wind chill proof jacket.  Our second night we walked down the street and along the lake to another superb restaurant named Aiola al porto www.al-porto.ch this restaurant is situated right on the Lake with a lovely table out on the balcony where we enjoyed some delicious antipasti like carpaccio de manzo (raw beef tenderloin with arugula capers & parmesan) followed by some Risotto ai fruitti di mare paired with a lovely Wine and of course you can’t refuse dolci.  Dieting is just folly when travelling.

I was sad to leave this stunning place and will make sure I revisit and do some real mountain hiking equipped with boots, backpack and all!

Published by Seafarrwide

Passionate woman, enjoying life, learning new things, love traveling, writing thoughts and sharing memories. View all posts by Seafarrwide