It seems that this summer is all about visiting glaciers or revisiting places that I have already seen during winter. Visiting glaciers has been an impressive experience! I didn’t get to take a closer look to the Icelandic glaciers when I visited the country a few years ago, and seeing these ice giants more closely has been on my bucket list since then! And revisiting those places where I already went during winter is always a good idea… the landscape changes so much during the year that sometimes I feel that I have never been to those places before!!
Today’s post is about one of those places. In late January I visited one of the most beautiful Alpine lakes in Switzerland, the Oeschinensee, in Kandersteg, Canton Bern. It was impressive! Everything was covered with a thick layer of snow, the winter light was incredibly beautiful that day and when we arrived to the lake, it was completely frozen! We could even walk on the ice and see people fishing on the frozen lake! That time, the hike was a short one. The trails where covered in snow and most of them were used as ski or sled slopes, so we took the easy way, the gondola, to get to the Kandersteg ski slopes and walk through the forest to the lake…
In summer everything is so different! With all the hiking trails clear, we decided to walk from the town of Kandersteg to the lake. The trail was short and easy, but gorgeous, with beautiful views of the mountains around the valley crowned with low and grey clouds, the sound of the waterfalls from the near rock wall accompanying us along the way. After ascending some 500m, we reached the upper valley where Swiss cows where grazing on the Alpine pastures and soon we saw the Oeschinen lake in front of us. What was all ice and white during winter, now was a beautiful turquoise lake surrounded by mountains and vertical cliffs. There were small waterfalls on all of these mountains, falling into the lake. And romantic rowing boats were all on the lake… Since I visited this lake in winter I was looking forward to visiting it again in another season… And I have to say, it didn’t disappoint me! The best part was all those low clouds, covering all the peaks around the lake. The whole place had a beautiful moody atmosphere that day. After having lunch in one of the Berggasthaus with views of the lake and walking around it for a bit, we headed back to Zurich and we made a little stop at the lakeside village of Iseltwald, in lake Brienz, and Lungernersee.
Here are some photos I took during this trip. I hope you like them! And now, I’m going to make a little break of two weeks… See you soon!!!
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