Zermatt, Switzerland

It is hard to find words that do the town of Zermatt justice, so I will try to keep this short. For me, Zermatt was love at first sight. Before we even got there, I loved it—after 240km of a scenic train ride through the countryside, the anticipation made it all the better! The train went along Lake Geneva, and then through the countryside, and finally began winding it’s way up a valley to the base of the Matterhorn, where Zermatt (at 1620m) was tucked away.

The town is a mountaineer’s/Northwesterner’s paradise: every person we saw was wearing hiking boots and Mountain Hardware; there are hiking trails that go straight from the town up into the Alps, and—oh yeah—if you ever need inspiration just look up and you’ll see the Matterhorn right in front of you. Needless to say, it was quite refreshing after a month’s worth of 90+ degree days in Spain.

 

The next day—our one full day in Zermatt—was absolutely amazing. Perfect weather, bright blue skies with wispy white clouds, and no wind. We happened to choose the one day all week that wasn’t rainy and windy (a pair of British climbers at our hotel told us that there had been wind gusts in the 70mph range earlier that week). Departing from Zermatt, we hiked up into the mountains, to a series of mini ‘towns’ (that consisted of a mountain chalet, restaurant, and/or ski lift) and lakes. The higher we climbed, the more mountains we could see—360 degree panoramic views of the Alps. If I could have had my way, I would have kept climbing straight up the Matterhorn!

Above the treeline, the mountainside meadows and brush were painted with fall colors. We saw a few mountain goats grazing in the meadows, and the hillside was scattered with slate-roofed log cabins. We went to four lakes, each one different from the previous. One was full of tiny fish, one was a vibrant teal color, and another one had a playground next to it! We got up to about 2,334m before heading back down to Zermatt—8 hours and 25km of hiking later.

For dinner we cooked up some brats and pasta (yum) and snuggled up in the cozy common room of the hotel, sipping tea and reading mountaineering books and National Geographics from the 60’s and 70’s. I could have stayed in that hotel forever—the ‘hostel’ that we thought we had booked was in reality the top floor of a hotel/lodge, converted to a dormitory with cozy bunks that looked straight out the window at the Matterhorn. The basement consisted of a large kitchen and common room, in which we cooked our dinner and talked to other hotel guests—including a couple from Spokane, who had climbed Mt. Rainier twice last summer. What a small world.

On our way back to Granada we spent a day in Geneva as well. We saw the famous Jet d’Eau (which spews water 140m into the air), took a water taxi across Lake Geneva, and saw the Palace of Nations (the UN headquarters). I must say, the Swiss experience was pretty awesome, and I truly hope to go back one day (especially to Zermatt). Oh, and shout-out to Swiss Air for the awesome pastries and Swiss chocolate bars on the flight!