lake – David Kotz

We’re in the midst of a two-week driving tour of Scotland, about which I’ll post later. Meanwhile, a quick report about our hikes this weekend – my 31st consecutive weekend hike – in and around the small town of Ballater in the center of Cairngorm National Park. In addition to the natural beauty of the pastoral landscape surrounding this village on the shores of the River Dee, Ballater is known for the nearby Balmoral Castle (“the Highland home of the Royal Family”), built by Queen Victoria and a favorite retreat for Queen Elizabeth II. This area offers many interesting walks, from 4km to 70km. Given our schedule, I ended up doing four short walks, outlined after the photo.

Today we took the boat from Zurich a couple of hours up-lake to the quaint town of Rapperswil. It was a beautiful sunny day, warm and dry with a cool breeze; perfect for sitting on a passenger ferry and enjoying the scenery roll by. It’s cool that the ZSG boats are part of the same Zurich transportation system as the trains, so our all-zone passes allowed us to take the boat up the lake and just jump on a train back to Zurich later.

The other people on the boat seemed out for the same purpose – a pleasant Saturday morning on the lake, with tea and croissants in the on-board restaurant. The boat stopped every 10-20 minutes at one of the small villages along the lake, eventually reaching the old town Rapperswil at the foot of its 13th-century castle. We and the other tourists spilled off the boat to stroll the cobblestone streets of old-town Rapperswil, passing the many cafes and swanky shops that lure tourists.

Unlike those tourists, though, we picked a quiet Indian restaurant in the modern section of town. The only customers – the Sri Lankan owner explained to us that most of his customers are locals who come for dinner or on weekdays, not like us odd American tourists with a hankering for Indian food.

A delightful outing. More photos in the gallery.

Tag: lake

Ballater, Scotland

Rapperswil