August 27, 2023
The Up Side of a Rainy Day
Off Bike Day in Interlaken
Today was a rainy Sunday in Interlaken. Luckily it was planned as an off bike day, the forecast was for 90% chance of rain, all day long…. Soo…. We searched for things to do in Interlaken on a rainy day and discovered St Beatus Cave, awesome, and did lots of laundry….
Lots and lots of laundry! We were beginning to run out of clean clothes so it had to be laundry day, luckily we are here for more than one night so things should dry.
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We took a free bus ride from Interlaken to the cave with the tourist pass from the hotel. When we got off the bus we climbed 17 stories (according to Apple Watch including the stairs in the cave) on a switchback walking path. However the cave literature says “From the car park or bus stop, a pleasant walk takes you up through the park to the cave entrance. Over multiple bridges you cross the torrent from the waterfall rushing out of the cave.” It was pleasant, as there were many bridges and lots of rushing waterfalls but it was a CLIMB!
From atlas obscura “THE LEGEND OF THE CAVE revolves around its namesake, St. Beatus, a monk living around 100 AD, who chose the cave in which to spend his pious hermitage. To his annoyance, however, he discovered someone was already living there; a horrible dragon, who shot lasers of fire from his blazing eyes. St. Beatus, however, would not be run out of his cave so easily, and held his cross up to the beast, invoking the Holy Trinity. Thrown into a hysteric fit, the dragon ran down the cliff and threw himself into Lake Thun below, causing the placid clear water to rise and boil. So the legend goes.“
The cave was rocky with narrow passages that opened up into a few roomy grottos, lots of water rushing through, several still collections of water, stalagmites and stalactites, some skinny and some larger. We saw one stalagmite that was 40,000 years old. There are times of the year when they have to close the caves because the water rushing through gets up to waist level. They have done a great job lighting the cave so you can see the stalagmites and stalactites.
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One part of the cave, the captains grotto was first entered in 1848, it took them 4.5 hours to get to the grotto. With the new path we walked, it took us about 15 minutes.
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