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Nancyann Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2013 Posts: 2314 | TRs | Pics Location: Sultan Basin |
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Nancyann
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Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:56 pm
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Last summer, my son, who is stationed at Ramstein AFB in Germany, invited me to spend a week hiking in Switzerland. We drove to the Jura region, along the French border to an ancient little town called Avenches, where we stayed for the first three days. Just experiencing Avenches was a mind blowing experience for me. This location was first settled by the Romans around 15-13 BC. In addition to Avenches Castle there are ruins of an amphitheater and outdoor theater, and parts of a wall still standing.
The surrounding countryside was exceptionally lovely.
The l’ Areuse River Gorge trail begins at the small town of Noiraigue, about an hour drive from Avenches. It folllows a railway line down through the deep gorge for almost 12 km to a train station at Boudry, not far from Neuchâtel, where we caught the train back to our car at Noiraigue.
Noiraigue, Switzerland 5/31/18 Noiraigue, Switzerland 5/31/18 Noiraigue, Switzerland 5/31/18 Noiraigue, Switzerland 5/31/18 Noiraigue, Switzerland 5/31/18 Noiraigue, Switzerland 5/31/18
This was an entrancing centuries-old trail that followed along the river as it wound its way through the gorge, and that day we saw no one for several hours. Ancient stone bridges crossed the l’Areuse several times, providing views into the gorge.
Along the way, we saw many wildflowers, some of which I had never seen before.
The trail passed by several charming chalets.
And a brightly colored substation.
It was a warm summer day, and we were delighted to discover an elegant French restaurant, and a majestic old hotel and historic train station, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, about two thirds of the way through the gorge, where we stopped for refreshments.
Neither of us spoke French, but we spotted creme brûlée on the menu which was the best I have ever had!
Refreshed and full, we continued our journey down the magical trail, amazed at the Swiss engineering from centuries ago.
At the end of the day, we reached the Boudry train station, where we caught a high speed train back to our car. We arrived at our hostel in Avenches, just in time for a delicious dinner at our hostel, a perfect end to a lovely day!
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whitebark Member
Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Posts: 1864 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
Beautiful! Makes me want to go to Switzerland again and do some hiking.
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awilsondc Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2016 Posts: 1323 | TRs | Pics
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Looks awesome! I wish I could travel more... gonna have to start making that happen. So much to see in this beautiful world! Thanks for sharing!
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Nancyann Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2013 Posts: 2314 | TRs | Pics Location: Sultan Basin |
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Nancyann
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Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:09 pm
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Thanks Aaron and whitebark. This was my first visit to Switzerland and it was even more beautiful than I had imagined. When I have time, I’m going to post two more hikes we did that week. Already making plans to go back next summer.
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RichP Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5628 | TRs | Pics Location: here |
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RichP
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Mon Feb 11, 2019 6:47 am
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So lovely and quaint.
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