I have an unhealthy obsession with funiculars. I don't rightly know when this started, or which funicular spurred this intense love - maybe Prague? Or Salzburg? - but it's a fact that if I hear a place has a funicular, I will HAVE to ride it up.
Up, only. It's fun for a one-way trip, watching the city unfold below you as you're being magically whisked up a hill in a small box propelled by cables. There's just something so extraordinary about that experience - no matter what city or what views you're witnessing - that cannot be missed.
That being said, though, this one was...not my favorite. There's nothing wrong with it - you get the views, you get the big windows, you get the surprisingly slow climb up the hill. I think the thing that gives me the ick about this one is that there was nobody working the doors the day we were there, so people - being people - mucked up the works.
Instead of stopping when the car looked full to capacity, some people and their overly large backpacks crammed right in, forcing others to squeeze in and fight for space. All because they couldn't be bothered to wait an extra five minutes for the car to make its roundtrip journey. This funicular was also smaller than others we've been on, so it fit fewer people. In theory.
Ah yes - there was only one car. I don't know if it's "they only have one car, period" or if it's "they only had one car working that day", but it was obvious that some people found the wait to be unacceptable and wouldn't be okay waiting another round.
Disembarking was an exercise in patience, because the people with the gigantic backpacks somehow managed to push their way through to the other side of the car in order to exit first, because privilege.
Am I glad we did it? Of course, it's a *funicular*, it made me happy on the inside even as my outside was scowling at the audacity of humanity. Is it necessary? Not at all; the climb to the top is relatively easy, with lots of beautiful steps and places to "pull over" for views of the city on one side or views of the climing funicular on the other.
(She's speaking like she knows, how would she know if she took the funicular?) Well, it's because *someone* who shall remain anonymous (though I refer to them as something that rhymes with "hoosband") took us up the stairs before believing me when I said that the stairs were the non-funicular way up to the top. How did I confirm that, you might wonder? I left him halfway up the staircase and climbed the rest of the way to the top, thankyouverymuch.
Definitely worth a one-time trip up, and definitely glad we did it, annoying people or no. read more