This post is a collection of places I stumbled upon by chance during my rides across Europe, each one far more impressive than I expected. No packed car parks or long queues, just places where I happened to stop (or drove straight past) and immediately thought: I need to remember this. With, where possible, a bit of history thrown in, because most of these places have a story that's at least as worthwhile as the view itself.
Sometimes the best stop is the one you weren't even looking for.
The seven gems
Lake Reschen
Between the Umbrail Pass and the Stelvio, you pass it almost by accident: a medieval church tower just rising out of the water. We barely had time to properly stop, but this is exactly the kind of place I want to go back to one day. In 1950, the village of Graun, along with part of Reschen, was deliberately flooded to build a hydroelectric dam, despite fierce protests from residents. Only the church tower, dating from 1357, was left standing: as a protected monument it couldn't be torn down, unlike the rest of the village.
Saarburg
Right in the centre of this small German town, surrounded by terraces, a roughly 20-metre waterfall just drops down out of nowhere. I assumed it was an old mill, but it turned out to be a turbine from 1935 that generated electricity for the town's lighting. For centuries, the local leather-tanning trade also ran on that same water power.
Saarschleife
Not far from Saarburg, the Saar river makes a near-180-degree bend around a rock formation. From the Cloef viewpoint, you look out over the water with forest stretching to the horizon. The bend was formed around 23 million years ago, and since 2006 the spot has been listed among Germany's national geotopes.
Acquafraggia waterfalls
We were just looking for a spot to stretch our legs, and stumbled straight into a double waterfall. (Yes, I clearly have a thing for waterfalls.) Around 1490, Leonardo da Vinci described this very waterfall in his Codice Atlantico, right by Borgonuovo di Piuro, just before the climb up to the Maloja Pass.
Vigo di Fassa
During the Great Dolomites Road, we rode pretty much the entire day "alone", until I suddenly spotted a cluster of jagged peaks that reminded me of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. I still can't say for sure if that's really what these are (more likely it's the Catinaccio massif with the Vajolet Towers), but the view was phenomenal either way.
Lac de Gileppe
Closer to home than the rest of this list, but no less impressive: the Gileppe reservoir in the Belgian Ardennes. I first stumbled onto it by chance during a military exercise, back from my time in the army, and it's a place that's stuck with me ever since. On top of the dam stands a massive lion statue looking out over the water, with the two distinctive water intake towers rising out of the lake right in front of it.
Lech am Arlberg
Lech came completely out of nowhere: we were just riding through on our way to somewhere else, and quickly found ourselves lingering over the view of the village against the mountains, with the Lech river running right through the middle of it. Everything about it looks impossibly tidy, almost too pretty to be real, with wooden chalets and a church tower just peeking above the rooftops. It was only afterwards that I found out this is actually one of the most exclusive ski villages in the Alps.
This list keeps growing, by the way: there are bound to be more chance discoveries as I keep riding. Have you come across a place that really belongs on here? Feel free to let me know.
