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ALPINE ENGELBERG


Close to Lucerne, it is located at about forty minutes by train. Popular both as a winter and summer destination, this tiny village-town is one of the best places to experience the Swiss Alpine  settings. The founders of this place christened it "Engelberg", which means the Mountain of Angels. And it is no less than one. Cozily nested within the Uri Alps (the most  prominent mountain range of Central Switzerland), this place, at an altitude of about 1000 meters, is surrounded with some really beautiful peaks all around. Notable among them are the Titlis, Wallenstocke, Ruckstock, Wissberg and Hanen. My experience of Engelberg is limited to the summers. But if your intent is to enjoy the ski-experience, which this town is also famous for, then the winter months might make a more apt timing.

Being late summer, day light continued till late and this offered me some really long walks within the town, especially during the evening hours. While the snow on the top of the mountains continued reflecting the final rays of the sun for the day, the  green meadows adorned the comforting dim of the moon. I can still remember the freshness of those long walks.



Engelberg and the Mt. Titlis tourism often go together. At an altitude of well above 3000 meters, the Titlis represents the quintessential Swiss Alps - snow, glaciers, lakes, ice caves and cliff-walks. 

Hardly minutes away from the Engelberg train station, it's a lovely walk to the base of the Mt. Titlis. The well organized Titlis cable car system, which is the oldest of its kind in the world, is the  quickest way to reach the summit of the Klein (Small) Titlis (just below the Gross (Big) Titlis, and about 3000 meters altitude). En-route the summit, the cable cars pass through three stages (Gersnialp, Trubsee and Stand in the order of ascension). 

From the Klein Titlis, the experience is difficult to describe. The glacier caves and cliff-walks take as close as possible to the magnificence of the Alps from the top. From the Klein Titlis, one can see a natural stone setting resembling the meditation of Buddha. Apparently, a Chinese gymnast named Donghua Li first traced this natural stone setting and considered it a good omen, thus getting the premonition of winning an Olympic gold...which he eventually did. 

I did spend quite some time gazing at the peaks, especially the point where the clouds touch the peaks....Such moments have the ability to connect beauty with spirituality...the sort of feeling which makes us understand and appreciate our insignificance. Back home in India, I have always loved those lovely trips to the mountains, be it the Himalayas in the north or the Western Ghats of peninsular India.

Enroute the summit and back, there are two spectacular lakes - Lake Harzlisee (a heart shaped lake) and Lake Trubsee. Lake Harzlisee is fondly also addressed as the Love Lake by the tourists. The more popular lake Trubsee is also a cable car stop. Translated, it means the "dull" lake. Not sure, how the active lakes would be, if the Trubsee is dull.

Engelberg is no doubt angelic. 


This post is for alphabet ‘E’ of the #BlogchatterA2Z 2020 challenge:
 E for Engelberg

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