Zernez and the Swiss National Park
Cross Switzerland in an easterly direction until you reach a remote village in the
Engadine:
Zernez. The center is not large, but it is the gateway of the Swiss National Park, created to safeguard the precious fauna characteristic of the mountains. A ride through the state park, and leaving the car in the parking lot, you can take walks suitable for all levels and lengths.
The paths and views are similar to those that can be found in all mountain, but the character of the place is the total absence of buildings, such as ski resorts, villages, houses. Moreover, some paths are learning, and from time to time, some signs are found along the path, you can learn about flora and fauna. In theory, it should be easy to find deer, ibex, acquile real bearded vultures, but we only seen a couple in the car on the road. Rather easier to spot marmots.
Passing through the tunnel linking Switzerland with Italy, Livigno is reached, a pleasant town to buy cheaply, and be full of fuel price.
Interlaken
You are not of mountaineers or climbers but would like to keep an eye on pristine glaciers, deep crevasses, and touch the peaks above 4000 meters with one hand?
In Switzerland there is a place that allow a huge glacier at an altitude of 3500 meters, just sitting standosene .... on a train!
I'm talking about Jungfraubahn, the highest railway in Europe, in the Jungfrau region. It reaches from Milan in about 3 hours of road into Switzerland from Como-Chiasso.
The journey is in itself fantastic ending of the St. Gotthard tunnel, it tackles the climb to the SustenPass, 2262 meters, where you can see beautiful green valleys, reaching the majestic ice flows with eternal snow.
Capital of the region is
Interlaken, a pleasant town at 500 meters above sea level, with a large capacity.
From here, every hour, departing trains allow in just over 2 hours to reach the snowy peaks to August. This is a circular route that allows you to observe virtually the entire valley, passing popular locations especially for winter sports, like
Wengen and
Grindelwald. To reach the famous railway, running from about 2200 at Kleine Scheidegg, you need to change 2 trains, all clearly indicated.
The last salt is so 3454 to 2200 in just under an hour. It seems to be on board an airplane in first class, with comfortable seats and a display that explains the route and its construction, which dates back to 1890.
The last part will go entirely into the gallery, so the path is accessible even in winter.
During this route, the train makes two stops: the first can be seen throughout the valley, the second one, fantastic, this is a window carved on a cliff face of the wall (one of the peaks of Europe more difficult to climb), and offers an incredible view over the glacier below, with walls of snow tall perennial up to 30 meters. Something indescribable (perhaps makes better picture below).
You arrive at 3454, and here the Swiss have exceeded: practically inside the mountain was built the train station, hence the various routes and elevators inside, leading to the various "attractions" of the
Jungfraujoch:
- Plateu: exit outside the station, the temperature is always close to zero in summer. Unfortunately the time was not the best, and so, here's a blizzard of snow August 5. Incredible to see the Japanese are not equipped, walking on snow,
- Back inside, you enter the palace of ice: a long corridor full of ice (both walls and ceiling floor - see photo), leads in the mountains, where they were made of ice statues size.
- After crossing the area of bars and restaurants (also equipped with sticks and snacks for the unwary Japanese), also built inside the mountain, we reach the glacier itself, where you can play some atypical
The scenery is spectacular, sometimes walking between walls of ice meters high and meters, or between snowy ridges which are separated by the peaks.
- The last thing to do is reach the most scenic mountain: using an elevator that rises over 100 meters in a few seconds, you can reach the observation point higher, at 3571 meters. There really seems to fly and touch the
Finally open the clouds and a pale sun warms us a little, and allows you to admire this show unforgettable (unfortunately, it will be the altitude, the batteries of my digital have downloaded and I could not take pictures here, so I will have to return ...).
Unfortunately, the prices to climb up to here are from "Japanese": the cost of return of the train is crazier: 120 euros per person, even if, looking at the organization, the path and what they have built, we understand why is so expensive.
However minutely analyzing the hotels of the region, one can find attractive offers: for example we have stayed at the Hotel Blume
Interlaken, using the special
Jungfraujoch Package: one night for two persons with breakfast + one train about 240 euros, almost given the cost of the ticket 120 to the head, have stayed free.
If you want to see the landscape from 3500 in real time, click on the web-cam to
Jungfraujoch from this site:
www.swisspanorama.com
Of course, the real mountaineers reading this views remain bewildered why they say that the mountain và conquered: I think so too, but I would say that in this case, you can make an exception.
Here are some useful sites for those wishing to organize a vacation in this region:
http://www.jungfraubahn.ch (site of the station at 3500 meters)
http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en (train timetables)
http://www.interlakentourism.ch/ (site of
Interlaken with hotels)
http://www.hotel-blume.ch/ (hotel Blume)
So keep your fingers crossed and hope the good weather, because the success of this trip depends on that.
And I recommend you do not like the Japanese ... COPRITEVI!