Zug

Zug is a quaint little town just 25 mins away from Zurich main train station. There are a few trains that will take you to Zug but the fastest is the Inter-regional (IR) train as the other trains will take a longer travelling time as they stop at more stations.

The first thing we arrived was to visit the Tourist Office near the train station for maps and recommendations on places to visit. So the first destination is usually, the Old Town. It seems that for most places, they have an old town where with cobble-stone streets and are usually vehicle-free for certain parts of the streets. Compared to Zurich, Zug's old town is pretty small.

When we arrived at the main train station, there was a band rehearsal. A pity that I couldn't stay to watch it but managed to hear some of the songs they were rehearsing whilst we were queuing in the Tourist Information centre.

As we walked towards the old town, we were greeted with the beautiful and peaceful Lake Zug.

As it was a Sunday, the place wasn't too packed with people or tourists.

From the lake, we could also see the mountains and alps afar.

Sitting by the lake, admiring the beautiful scenery and enjoying the tranquility of the clear, blue waters.

Uncle Tan has finally gotten his pair of new Made-in-Switzerland sunglasses.

Auntie trying to read the map to find out how to get to Zytturm (Clock Tower), which is located at Kolinplatz.


The 52-metre high tower used to serve many functions - a fortified entrance into the town, a prison and a look-out point for sighting fires. The tower has installed an astrological clock which has 4 hands to indicate the months, phases of the moon, the days of the week and the leap years. Amazing huh?


To climb the tower, you would need to obtain a key from the nearby police station. You would need to deposit your ID/ passport in order to get the key. It's a unique entrance which is by the side and has quite a steep stairway up. Do remember to turn off the lights and lock the door after your visit.

Views from the tower top.

The police station where we had to return the key. Nice building ya :)
This restaurant is closed on Sundays, must be doing well so can afford to be closed on a weekend :p

St Oswald's Church

The first foundation stones for this Gothic-looking church was laid on 18 May 1478 and it took 5 years to complete. From a single-nave church, it was extended to a 3-nave basilica in the mid 16th century.


At the main entrance were the Patron Saints of Zug - Oswald and Michael. Between the 2 doorways stand the Virgin Mary with her child and above St Anne, the Church's patron, in a holy figure of 3. There is supposed to be a mural of <> which was over the chancel archway in the church but we didn't have a chance to see as there was a church service going on then.









Have attached a clip for you to hear the church bells, which is a common sound I hear in Zurich at each hour.

Castle Museum Zug

One of the landmarks of Zug which used to serve as a fortification, now houses a cultural-historic museum. We didn't go in as it requires an entrance fee and from the past visit of the museum in Rapperswil, Uncle Tan decided to give this a miss. The exhibitions are changed regularly and offer a range of local, regional and international art and culture.
Opening Times: Tue - Sat, 2 - 5pm; Sun, 10am - 5pm and 1st Wed of the month, 2-8pm. For more info, you can visit www.burgzug.ch

The sound of breeze and falling leaves at the top of the castle.


Other places in Zug includes:

• The Fishing Museum (apparently the name 'Zug' comes from the word 'Fischzug' which means fish draught) where you could observe the eggs and spawn of the fishes in Lake Zug
• The Cantonal Museum of Prehistory - you could see the archaeological findings of prehistoric life dating back to 20,000 years
• The Africa Museum, which showcases masks and fetishes from Central Africa together with the wood carvings, household utensils, jewelry and musical instruments
• The Casino Theater - with stage built into the hillside so that the audience could enjoy the view of the changing light effects over Lake Zug
  

As we walked back to the old town, we saw some strawberry look-alike fruits.

And passed by a house amidst a big green field.

Imagine staying in a house that overlooks the lake...

The streets are quiet on a Sunday.

Everywhere we could see fountains and usually people will drink directly or fill up their water bottles from these fountains.

Lunch time! Here we are again at San Marco cos it offers a better view as it's next to the lake. Plus, we didn't understand the stuff on the menus of other restaurants hehe ;p

Guess when we go back to SG, we would not eat any more pizzas...cos our taste buds have been spoilt by the pizzas here ;p Auntie here is too hungry to care about image hehe ;p

After lunch, time for a short walk and relax by the lake before we proceed to our next destination - Höllgrotten

Sunning our feet hehe ;p

Apparently, there were 2 occasions where part of the town had sank into the water. One in 1435, which killed 60 people when the houses from the 2 rows of the lower street sank, and one in 1887, which killed 11 and made 300 people homeless.

Höllgrotten
Located in Baar (I remembered my friends and other passengers on board the train mimicked the sound of sheep when the name was announced on board the train :p). Höllgrotten is the name of a group of interesting limestone caves which are covered with unusual stone formations. It's been described in one of the internet searches as the "fairytale Höll caves in Baar, impressive in their diversity of colour and special rock formations". Well...it's a little over-rated thou...or maybe we don't really know how to appreciate it.


The ladies trying to 'park' their bikes onto the bus.

Bus no. 2 will take you to Höllgrotten from the main train station, but do note that the name indicated on the bus is 'Tobelbr.-Höllgrotten', which is 9 stops away from the main train station. Btw, the main train station is often referred as 'Bahnhof' by the Swiss. You could buy the tickets directly from the bus driver as you board the bus. Don't bother to ask the bus driver for the bus fares while he's having his break, cos he will tell you to wait till it's time for him to drive :)

Ya, so happy right? Cos I didn't expect what was ahead of the journey to the 'fairytale caves'...

Look at the steep slopes down. We had to find some sturdy branches to help us to take the narrow and steep path down.

This bridge is actually one of the scenic routes taken by the trains. Have seen this in some brochures before :)

Along the way, we saw some families having picnics or grilling...oh the smell of burning charcoal cum BBQ...umm.....
Stone or pebble throwing seems to be the favourite past times among the kids here, even the teens as well. And this reminds us of the cute little boy, Denes, who likes to throw stones into the water :)
It was about an hour's walk to the cave. We were wondering if there's an entrance fee, and Uncle Tan joked that serkali we walked all the way there to find out that it cost CHF 10 per pax...aiyo, strike 4D also not so accurate...and he was right. Having come so far, just pay to go in lah.

Actually we didn't know we need to pay the entrance fee as there was no signage and just as we were about to enter, a lady called out for us to make payment at a food kiosk nearby. Aiya, if not for Uncle Tan who had spent time going to the toilet, we could have saved CHF 20 which is worth 2 meals for us leh ;p

Höllgrotten when translated into English is actually 'Hell-Grottoes' or 'Hell Cave'. It sort of contradicts the earlier descriptions of the 'fairytale caves'. Uncle Tan said they look like alien's eggs and probably the director or Aliens got his inspirations from such caves.

Hell Grottoes in Baar were formed over the course of thousands of years from the springs and was discovered at the end of the 19th century during the removal of limestone.

It was pretty cold and wet in the cave and was quite similar to the one we saw in Krabi, just that Krabi's cave is smaller and not as extensive. The place was lit by lights and there were 2 levels to the caves, connected by good walking paths, and yes, with quite a no. of stairs as well. It will take about 45 mins to finish visiting the caves and Uncle Tan tried to console himself, saying that it was a worthwhile visit since there are 2 levels with more stones to see as compared to the one in Krabi ;D

Opening hours: 1 Apr - 31 Oct: 9am to 12pm, 1pm to 5.30pm. Sundays are open throughout.
For more information, you could visit:
http://www.zug-tourismus.ch/en/navpage-HoellgrottenZT.html

Next, was the 1 hr hike to the Baar railway station. Supposed to be an hour's hike but I guess that was based on the normal Swiss standards as we took about 1.5 - 2 hours to finish the hike. I guess they have longer legs so they could walk faster than us? One elderly couple who were walking behind us ended up far ahead of us in just a couple of minutes' time.















This caravan seems to have been parked here for a long time.












The signs here are quite easy to understand. Just have to look carefully as they have various directions.











Thank goodness that there isn't much elevation for this hike which is mostly by the lakeside :)














































See the moo moo cows under the tree?

















































This setting reminds of the Japanese cartoon "My Neighbour Totoro" (the chinchilla) who waited for the cat bus at a bus-stop with the 2 sisters.





























The empty street of Baar.


Well at the end of the day, I think my feet would be one of the tastiest meat - tender with muscles after a whole day of walking plus nourished with Swiss meat, Swiss chocs, Swiss air and Swiss water, which is rich with minerals from the alps haha ;D