Chocolate box pretty Luzern

Luzern looks like an old-style chocolate box – it is just a perfect old town with river, lake, and mountains to add perspective.

We took advantage of a slightly cooler morning to walk Luzern’s walls and climb its towers for views over the lake to hazy, distant mountains. The towers look like they were picked by a convention of Disney artists, but that doesn’t change the fact there are a lot of steep steps to get to the top of them.

Next we strolled through the old town – Switzerland may well be one of them few European spots where the old town wasn’t devastated by war at some level – to the lake.

The paddle-steamers on the lake looked crowded so stopped at a chocolatier for supplies and then set off in a rented motor boat. Lac Luzern is nestled under mountains but the lake edge is rolling green and home to beaches and small villages, and some huge mansions. It was all very pretty.

We had lunch beside the river that feeds out of the lake. It was in the low thirties and really too hot to do much more than sit.

After recovering in the air conditioning of our hotel we met up with my cousin and her daughter for apero at the Montana Hotel Beach Club. We sat on a terrace half way up a hill with sweeping views over the lake – with our chairs sitting on sand. Slightly weird but the views were amazing.

I’d like to report that it got cooler in the evening, but it didn’t – it just sat around 32 degrees. Still, we had dinner on another terrace by the lake with another cousin and his wife which was charming,

Luzern has proven to be a great way to relax after our mountain walk. Tomorrow we head north to Zurich.