We were so disappointed to see that despite the initial weather forecast it was raining and dull. Today our special scenic tickets commenced with an almost 3 hour trip on a old style paddle steamer across various lakes to the town on Fluelen, where we changed to a panorama train and pass through the Gotthard mountain range and tunnel to Bellinzona in Italy. We have booked a separate connection to Milan from there – a further 1.45hrs. Our departure time was 11:12, so we had time for a sleep in and leisurely breakfast (as much as one can at a frenzied feeding hall).
Our boat was a lovely classic called ‘Stadt Luzern” and first class tickets get you a friendly greeting, your bags taken and looked after and access to the top deck restaurant and seated deck area. We sat outside for a good half of the trip before it got too jolly cold and we came into the dining section. We used some of the last of our coins on a coffe 6 CHF, and a hot chocolate for me at 4.70 – that is about 15 NZD for a couple of standard drinks. Blewdy robbery – especially given the tickets – again I would expect water and a cup of tea at the very least. Swiss meanness exceeds the Dutch frugality.
The Gotthard mountain is the most tunneled in Europe. A tunnel was put through 1871 and finished in 1881, costing about 199 deaths during construction. To gain altitude you do a series of 360 loops inside the mountain to get high without using a rack rail. At another part you do a series of 180 degree loops and pop out to see a little village with a church three times, at three different levels.
The special first class panorama carriage attendant gave us lots of informative personal commentary as the journey progressed – pointing out things of interest and adding some great information. The train went too fast for good pictures however, I can report it was a continuation of typical scenic Switzerland passing through narrow green wooded valleys inbetween high mountain ranges with boulder filled white water rivers, numerous waterfalls and tiny groups of houses perched like mussels clinging to a rock high on the hills – or mountains in small clearings. Overall you see neatness, order and clever engineering in winding roads and more tunnels than a Swiss cheese. I just found out that French style gruyere must have holes in it but real Swiss gruyere does not – there you go.
When we got as far as the Italian side, we needed to change to a normal Italian regional train in Bellinzona. It was not bad, had aircon and moved along steadily. After about 20 minutes of travel and at one of the stops along the way to Milano, there was a long wait at the station before moving along. We were in the front carriage and there were several drivers going in and out and changing at other stations but not much happening here. A lady came and told us that the driver had not arrived so we had to wait for another train to bring one in. We ended up sitting there for about 40 minutes before we got going again. Apparently this is not unusual in Italy and part of the problem is ongoing little tensions and lack of coordination between Swiss rail and Italian rail.
On arrival in Milan we hit ‘hot’ weather again – being over 30 degrees at 6:30pm at night. The central train station is HUGE and in an impressive building. It is one of the major stations in Europe and dates back to 1864, but the current size (extension) was begun in 1903 with a corner stone being laid by King Victor Emmanuel III. It is quite something to view with tiled floors and big glass arches and it took us a little while to work out which exit to take for our hotel! Lucky we picked the right one, and in less than 10 minutes we were at our hotel. Its a really nice one, for a very reasonable price and we get breakfast included. We settled in for our one night stay and set to researching where to eat on trip advisor. We found luckily that there was a good mid range place 2 minutes walk around the corner, so set off for that hoping to get a table without reservation.
Dinner at the restaurant included a free welcome Prosecco, bruschetta and at the end a limoncello. Can report they were all of good quality. We ordered an entree and a ‘second plate’ which is like a pre main and it was too much – could not get through it at all. I had an octapus salad – which was a meal in itself and served warm with diced potato, onion, and tomato with a lemon, garlic and parsley type dressing. Very nice. Vern had traditional fresh buffalo mozzarella and tomato and basil slices (in Salata). Mains Vern got big folds of flat pasta with italian bacon and cream – which was amazing and I got a veal osso bucco on a saffron risotto and marrow bone sauce. Nomy nom nom.
We were feeling nice a mellow after the big limoncello which was very smooth, and way too full but happy as we waddled I mean strolled back to our room. The bed is really comfy so that is nice, I am such a 5 star girl – cant help it.
Reflections on our scenic rail trips is that they cost us an arm and two legs, but we are pleased to have done them. If you do not wish to pay the tourist scenic ticket fee, you can see a decent amount of scenery on the general public trains, but they do not follow exactly the same lines, have panoramic windows, you are not guaranteed a seat and you may not even get air-con. So really for the full experience you either pay – or you wont see or experience. Our only regret is that the water trip part was not clear and sunny so we could have enjoyed the emerald lakes and moutain views.
Travels with Valrock 