Hey @swf thank you or sharing your story with amazing photographs. it is obviously autumn looking at the trees and hills there are predominantly yellow and red colors, I believe that is why it was much cooler on the top. This summer was very hot in Europe so if you next time decided to go may be June-July will be the best time, but of course much depends on your vacation allowance.

I can understand what you mean with going up was easier then going down, because of different weight load on your knees and leg muscles that we not used to that is really easy to feel.

I bet that during that hiking you charged your lung with a lot of fresh air, The village on the meadow looks not so little and I believe the people who live there probably enjoying their regular hikes too.

Wonderful photo gallery, thank you for taking into this journey,

Cheers from Art-supporting blog @art-venture