A DAY ON LAKE LUCERNE
Lucerne stands at the western end of Lake Lucerne, the fourth largest in the country. This
lake has an irregular shape, basically a right angle with some side arms. It is thirty
kilometres in length from Lucerne in the west to Fluelen to the south-east.
One feature of the lake is a large fleet of pleasure steamers that ply
up and down the lake. The principal operator has five paddlewheel steamboats and
fifteen motorboats. The oldest paddlewheeler was launched as long ago as
1901, the "youngest" was launched in 1928.
An older paddlewheeler now converted into a floating restaurant
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We
decided to spend our first full day on the lake. There is an hourly
service from Lucerne to Fluelen and you can get off and on as many times
as you like on the one ticket. The journey time from Lucerne to
Fluelen is just under four hours. We had an excellent buffet breakfast
at the hotel and caught the paddlewheeler leaving just after nine o'clock.
We went the whole way to Fleulen arriving just before noon. Our ship was
the Gallia, built in 1913 and renovated in 2004. It was in quite
remarkable condition and you might have thought it had just been
launched. The working parts were visible and they were as clean as a
whistle driving the paddles.
Passing one of the motorboats in the fleet, the Rigi
Fleulen is on the St. Gotthard Railway and we passed through there the day before. Standing at the station you can see just how much rail traffic there is and much of it is heavy freight. It makes it obvious why they decided to build the second tunnel. We had a nice lunch in Fluelen enjoying goulash soup and we came to realise that it is a staple part of the Swiss diet.
Back on the next steamboat, this time the Uri built in 1901, the oldest in the fleet but you wouldn't know it. We decided to get off at one of the intermediate ports, Beckenreid. As it was a very warm day we enjoyed sitting on the lake-side just watching the world go by and having a nice cup of tea and a glass of beer. Our last leg back to Lucerne was on one of the motorboats, the Brunnen.
We were back in time to seek out another restuarant, this one in the old part of the town. As we ate we were treated to an alpenhorn band. There were about fifteen players in the wandering alpenhorn band and they made a great sound. You can hear a typical alpenhorn band on
Mount Pilatus from the boat
Passing one of the motorboats in the fleet, the Rigi
The village of Bauen
The paddle steamer Gallia at Fleulen
The Gallia
Typical Lake Lucerne scenery
Fleulen is on the St. Gotthard Railway and we passed through there the day before. Standing at the station you can see just how much rail traffic there is and much of it is heavy freight. It makes it obvious why they decided to build the second tunnel. We had a nice lunch in Fluelen enjoying goulash soup and we came to realise that it is a staple part of the Swiss diet.
Back on the next steamboat, this time the Uri built in 1901, the oldest in the fleet but you wouldn't know it. We decided to get off at one of the intermediate ports, Beckenreid. As it was a very warm day we enjoyed sitting on the lake-side just watching the world go by and having a nice cup of tea and a glass of beer. Our last leg back to Lucerne was on one of the motorboats, the Brunnen.
We were back in time to seek out another restuarant, this one in the old part of the town. As we ate we were treated to an alpenhorn band. There were about fifteen players in the wandering alpenhorn band and they made a great sound. You can hear a typical alpenhorn band on
After their performance they all enjoyed large glasses of beer, ladies and gentlemen alike. We found that beer was just about the cheapest drink available.
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