Via Jacobi--Our Journey

[edandjoan]

Our plan is to depart St. Gallen on August 17 and walk to Geneva. Our flight from the USA has been booked and we will book the first night or two of accommodations. We have allowed plenty of time to explore a few sites, and hope to meet up with some others we have meet doing other caminos. It is always an exciting time once the commitment has been made.
Please feel free to add any comments or ideas of things not to miss.
We hope we can get a credential in St. Gallen. If any one know the details let us know.

 

[Kitsambler]

I would organize your credencial before leaving home; either from American Pilgrims or from Ivar. That way you are not at the mercy of local opening hours in St Gallen.

Most likely you will want to just take the boat from Lausanne to Geneva, as the walking route is pretty solidly suburban.

I will be interested in hearing your experiences with lodging in August - both availability and pricing. You picked up the hikers' lodging sheet from the Swiss site?

Einsiedeln is definitely worth a rest day. I had good experiences at several monastic houses along the way. Details in my blog, as usual. You'll have a lovely journey!

 

[edandjoan]

Thanks @Kitsambler
We will take a credential from the American Pilgrims, but will look into getting one in St. Gallen. We like the local ones.
We are looking at three website, I will post here and hope that is okay.
http://www.wanderland.ch/en/routes/route-04.html
--this is the Swiss site with the app and maps
https://www.camino-europe.eu/en/eu/ch/routes/rorschach-einsiedeln-en/rorschach-herisau-en/
--this site has some pdf files with accommodations
https://www.jakobsweg.ch/assets/Dokumente-Jakobsweg/Wegleitungen-E/FRomandieE.pdf
--this link is one of several that has information

Thanks for the boat option to Geneva, I have read that on several occasions. So that would take a day from Lausanne instead of the 3 walking? And it looks like we will need to take a couple other short boat rides along the way. We want to take an extra day in the Interlaken area. We fly into and our of Zurich (much cheaper). We also want to visit the cities of Bern and Lucern. We are trying to decide if we should buy the train pass that allows us to ride half price.

 

[Kitsambler]

https://www.jakobsweg.ch/assets/Dokumente-Jakobsweg/Wegleitungen-E/FRomandieE.pdf

Wow! The Swiss association has really built a terrific site here! Route guide descriptions in English, maps and elevation profiles, and lodging lists. Everything you need! They're serious about getting pilgrims on the route! I used those lodging lists when making reservation by email; they worked very well. Be sure to use a "Schlaf im Stroh/Sleep on Straw" place at least once.

So that would take a day from Lausanne instead of the 3 walking?

Yes, that's right. Be aware that the "time-to-travel" quotes from the Swiss hiking associations are, well, designed for the strong, sturdy, day-pack-carrying hill-climbing Swiss. They were too ambitious for me by half.

And it looks like we will need to take a couple other short boat rides along the way.

The boat rides offer some of the most spectacular scenery in Switzerland and should not be missed. I would even consider a rest day that's just a round-trip boat ride.

We want to take an extra day in the Interlaken area.

Interlaken is beautiful and very touristy, with lots of services for travelers. All of Switzerland east of Interlaken is spectacular; west of there more rolling.

We are trying to decide if we should buy the train pass that allows us to ride half price.

The most appropriate pass would be the 4-day Flexipass 2nd class, but that's only good for one month and costs $299 per person for seniors over 60. I don't think that will save you money; you will be anxious over meeting the schedule imposed by the pass. I would just pay for tickets as and when you want them.

 

[gittiharre]

Be sure to book into the pilgrim hostel in Rapperswil. It is beautiful and often booked out.
My account of the route. www.gittiharre.blogspot.com

 

[edandjoan]

@Kitsambler Thanks for all the great responses.
@gittiharre thanks for that info, I am going to keep that place in my notes and check it out.

 

[edandjoan]

This will be a different adventure...I have booked almost all nights from St. Gallen to Lausanne. I can only book the Abbey at Romont the night before and we are not sure if we will walk or take the boat from Lausanne to Geneva. We will probably walk, it does look like we can get a boat ride from some other locations further west of Lausanne to Geneva.
We will keep a blog...
http://swisscheeseandchocolate.blogspot.com

It looks like we will have about a week to explore after arriving in Geneva so we will go back to the Interlaken/Murren area for a couple of days to hike and to Zermatt for a couple of days to see the Matterhorn, and we also want to visit Bern. Those that have been to Switzerland and have a special place feel free to share.

Learning the German language has not gone well. I have not practiced and listened to it enough and I will probably be sorry for not working harder to learn more.

 

[Symplicjan]

I will walk this road at the end of september. Good luck!

And a little travel tip about local legend. Near Lucerne is Mont Pilatus. Legends says that on this mountain is tomb of Pontius Pilate.
The Mors Pilati ("Death of Pilate", biblical apocrypha) telling us about illness of Tiberius, who sends Volusanius to Judaea to fetch the Christ for a cure. In Judaea Pilate covers for the fact that Christ has been crucified, and asks for a delay. But Volusanius encounters Veronica who informs him of the truth but sends him back to Rome with her Veronica of Christ's face on her kerchief, which heals Tiberius. Tiberius then calls for Pontius Pilate, but when Pilate appears, he is wearing the seamless robe of the Christ and Tiberius' heart is softened, but only until Pilate is induced to doff the garment, whereupon he is treated to a ghastly execution. His body, when thrown into the Tiber, however, raises such storm demons that it is sent to Vienne (via gehennae) in France and thrown to the Rhone. That river's spirits reject it too, and the body is driven east into "Losania", where it is plunged in the bay of the lake near Lucerne, near Mont Pilatus whence the uncorrupting corpse rises every Good Friday to sit on the bank and wash unavailing hands.

 

[edandjoan]

Thanks for the interesting bit. We look forward to checking that out on our journey.

 

[edandjoan]

We only recently finished our video of the journey:

 

[Kitsambler]

We only recently finished our video of the journey:

Well done! Looks like you had a great trip!

 

[Reija]

We only recently finished our video of the journey:

How wonderful!! Thanks for sharing all these memories.

 

[Sheffield James]

We only recently finished our video of the journey:

What a lovely video and a beautiful country. Thank-you for sharing your journey with us.