Not to confuse Bezau with Bizau ("our" village for the duration of our stay in Austria), here are a few basic facts: At about 2,000 inhabitants, Bezau is larger than Bizau, almost a little town but still proudly calling itself a village (click here for their offical website in English). As you can see on the map, while Bizau (red marker on the map, below right) is at the end of a valley, Bezau sits more or less at a point where several valleys and the roads leading through them meet:
Also, while Bizau has only one church, one elementary school, one mini supermarket, a community building where the village administration is housed and two hotels with restaurants, Bezau boasts quite a good array of shops, cafés, restaurants and places to stay as well as a proper village hall with offices for the civil servants, schools and more.You can also see on the map that between Bizau and Bezau there is a long narrow wooded ridge.
On Tuesday, the 1st of September, we decided to walk to Bezau "the long way". We left the hotel after breakfast, walking to the far end of the village (where it says "Hilkat" on the map, far right), cross the ridge and walk along the narrow valley on the other side of the ridge into Bezau.
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| From our balcony that morning |
We had done this same route in 2023; click here if you like to compare the pictures from then with the new ones.
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| Bizau church |
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| A bit further on, looking back towards the heart of the village |
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View of the village from Hilkat, just before the path leads into the woods and down the other side of the ridge
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The narrow valley framed on both sides by high ridges is very quiet and has almost a dream-like atmosphere. A handful of houses are dotted along its length, but they are only lived in at times when the people who own them work on the fields or in the woods or with their animals, and there was nobody about on that day.
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| Entrance to one of the currently empty houses |
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| Autumn crocus - it is September! |
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| Bezau |
Arriving in Bezau, we took the funicular to the mountain top overlooking the village and the surrounding area, just like we had done three years ago.
We follwed the panorama path again, and unlike last time when it was all very mysterious with the fog and clouds, it was sunny and warm, bringing out the crowds. The many other walkers took away a bit of our enjoyment of the otherwise beautiful path, and we sort of rushed along, trying to avoid the "processions" of groups of walkers in front and behind us.
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| You can see Lake Constance from here! |
Still, we appreciated the views and many a detail along the way, just didn't stop for photos and to admire everything as much as we would have done otherwise. |
| Silver thistle; a good weather indicator, as it opens with the sun and closes when rain is near. |
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| The modern chapel we remembered from our previous visit. |
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| The light inside is natural light coming in through narrow glass panels. |
Back down at the bottom of the valley, we followed the picturesque path through Bezau along the beck that runs all the length of the village. We had an ice cream while waiting for the bus to take us back to Bizau and arrived at the hotel mid-afternoon - the perfect time for a little nap after our 12 km walk.
Having dinner a little earlier than the day before, we had more time for a sunset walk afterwards.
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| Kanisfluh - what else :-) |
Wow! Sounds like a long but beautiful hike. Your photos are great. While studying the map, I spotted Ellenbogen. Have you been there? Of course, seeing my name attracted my attention! ;)
ReplyDeleteI never thought of the "Ellen" in Ellenbogen - but you're right, of course :-) (Ellenbogen is the German word for elbow, quite a funny name for a place.)
DeleteThe bus from Bezau to Bizau touches Ellenbogen on its left side, but we haven't been there properly.
What a beautiful walk, and it looks like you had amazing weather. The chapel with the light through the narrow windows is such an elegant, simple design. Do Bezau and Bizau mean something in German? The names must be related somehow.
ReplyDeleteThe weather was great and not too warm.
DeleteA while ago, I checked the ethymology for Bizau. I already knew that "Au" means a particular form of landscape, woodland along a beck or a river, with the trees often losely spaced. According to wikipedia, Biz is the ancient German form of Pfütze, which means puddle. So, Bizau literally means "puddle-woods by the stream" or something like that.
For Bezau, wikipedia says that "Bez" is supposed to mean "Bears", so there we have the woods by the stream filled with bears.
Such gorgeous views. How clever for the light inside the church. Such a simple thing but oh so effective.
ReplyDeleteWe were impressed with this simple, beautiful chapel and the clever lightining already in 2023. This time, there were too many people about for our liking, but we still had a quick look inside, and O.K. took the photos.
DeleteI'm thinking surely the similarity between the names must cause some confusion sometimes - at least for tourists...? Beautful photos - and hard to believe from those that it was so crowded!!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely causes some confusion sometimes! I like to think that the postmen and -women, delivery drivers and so on will be familiar enough with the area NOT to confuse one village with the other, but tourists probably go to the wrong place every now and then.
DeleteSilver Thistles ! I had the foolish notion they could be picked and pressed in a book.
ReplyDeleteYou said this damages the ecosystem. (In an earlier post.) How could I have forgotten ?
Bezau is the place I'd like to visit before shuffling off. I marvelled at their website !
My eyes feasted on the crocuses. In my imagination I entered that lovely vacant house.
The Funicular to the mountain top is like a dream !
You and your husband were rewarded by that view out to Lake Constance.
The blue's the blue of a Howard Hodgkin, half landscape, half Abstract Impressionism.
This morning I heard a whining electric drill somewhere in my back court.
Investigating, I peeked over a wall where a workman was replacing a large window.
A friendly young woman was smoking in her back yard. A student at our university.
Zoe told me she came from a French canton in Switzerland. A chance encounter.
I'm glad you had a look around on Bezau's website, Jack.
DeleteSilver Thistles are protected, as are all the other alpine flowers such as gentian. The most important rule for any hiker or walker in such an area is "Take nothing, leave nothing", and with the exception of a particularly beautiful yellow poplar leave I found on the ground and pressed in my diary and one small almost heart-shaped pebble I found on another path I have not taken anything away, and because it was dry everywhere, I didn't even leave foot prints.
Such chance encounters can really make a difference to one's day, can't they.