Day 5 A local bus to have lunch with Jesus

Leaving Basel on the 8.04am train we were off to explore more of Switzerland. We arrived in Lucerne at 9.04am. A change of plan has brought us this way and we are very glad we made the effort. Lucerne is a tourist town, with a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. We walked across the famous Chapel Bridge originally built 700 years ago. We enjoyed the old town and one of the most intriguing cathedrals we have ever seen. It is painted white on the inside and adorned wall to ceiling with exquisite paintings and frescos. After reading about the things we could do in Lucerne in the local travel guide, we finally chose something only briefly mentioned in small print at the back of the brochure.  We bought a day pass for the local buses and went on to enjoy a couple  of local adventures.

Firstly we traveled about 20 minutes up the lake on bus Route 24 to a stop called Hermitage. From there we found a walking track (Wanderweg)  that took us around the lake past castles, mansions, chalets, farmhouses and barns. We were alone on a track that wound its way panoramically around the lake.  At one point the track took a turn which led right down to the lake’s edge where we thought we could enjoy a picnic lunch of some goodies in our daypack. Amazingly at the end of the track, right on the lake, we sat at the feet of a 3-metre statue of Jesus.

Later we caught the Route 9 bus about 10 minutes out of town in a different direction and then walked up a steep snow covered track to secure a bird’s eye view of the town, the lake and the surrounding mountains. Once again we  had the view to ourselves, it was a view every tourist to Lucerne should have been able to enjoy, but without the help of a local bus pass we could also have easily missed it.