Zermatt – Day 2

Took two gondolas up pretty high into the mountains this morning with plans to hike back down into town.  Hike started around 10,000 ft in elevation at Trockener Steg with the Matterhorn looming large in a clear, bright blue sky.  We walked downhill getting pretty close to the Matterhorn.  No plants were growing that high so it was pretty desolate.  The surrounding mountains above us still had snow, we saw quite a number of skiers going up.

Most of the hike was taken up with views of the Matterhorn, until we descended 1200 ft or so to the Schwarzsee gondola station.  Stopped for lunch near there, then headed down another 2300 ft to the small town of Furi.  Instead of walking another hour to Zermatt, we paid for the gondola down, back to town.

Probably hiked around 10 miles today, mostly downhill on steep trails.  Weather was surprisingly good until 1pm, then started getting cloudy.  Got way more pictures of the Matterhorn than I needed.

Zermatt – Day 1

Today we went up into the mountains around the Matterhorn to do the 5 lakes trail.  What’s nice is we caught a cool underground funicular to climb 2000 ft then a gondola ride to the start of the trail.  The trail was 6 miles long but mostly downhill.  The lakes themselves were underwhelming since the water level was low (1 was even drained to fix the dam at one end), but the fall colors in the area were pretty spectacular.  Nice, relaxing hike, nothing strenuous with lots of good scenery including views of the Matterhorn even though it was mostly covered by clouds most of the day.  After dinner, we noticed the Matterhorn was fully visible in the dim moonlight so we got some (blurry) night pics.

Glacier Express

Today we took the Glacier Express train from St Moritz to Zermatt.  Known as the slowest Express train in the world it took 8 hours to go 160 miles.  The route is very picturesque with lots of ups and downs going through forests, mountains and pasture lands.  It takes a while since the route is mostly on one track lines so train needs to wait at a station in order to pass another train going in opposite direction.  It’s also a luxury train with nice, big windows and hot meal served on board.  We were cheap and just brought good for the supermarket but most others bought the meal and beverages.  

Journey itself was nice, but too long.  Not enough short stops to go outside and take in the views.  Couldn’t take good pictures due to the reflections in the windows and it was tiring sitting for so long.  Probably split the trip into 2 days, staying in one of the various towns along the way.  Also if we took local trains, some if he windows open so it would be easier to take pictures.

Zermatt itself is pretty big, still pricey, but a nice town at the base of the Matterhorn.  It was cloudy today so couldn’t see it, but hopefully we’ll get a good look over the next few days.  

St Moritz

Today was a travel day from Bolzano, Italy to St Moritz, Switzerland.  Took two trains from Bolzano to Merano then Mals; then a bus across the boarder to Zernes, Switzerland.  Finally another two Swiss trains to St Moritz which is a nice but expensive town.  Luckily the journey was uneventful despite all the transfers we had to make.

St Moritz itself is a pretty fancy town; lots of nice restaurants and designer stores.  Food is also pricey, almost double the cost back home.  Still everything is really nice and the town is surrounds one side of a lake.  One surprising thing is the town was deserted at 8pm after we finished dinner.  Not a real exciting day but St Moritz is still a nice, but expensive place to stay overnight.

Dolomites/Bolzano

Overnight it rained pretty hard, but luckily it stopped around dawn.  The area around the hut was cloudy so couldn’t see the tops of the nearby mountains.  After breakfast, we packed up and walked a quick 20 minutes to a nearby hotel with a gondola that took you down to the bottom of the trail.  It was a little pricey at 13.50 euros, but saved 1.5 hours of hiking and a drop of 1500 ft down a steep trail.  Once down we took a bus two towns over to Ortisei, which was a small town with a German feel.  After waiting for a couple hours we caught another bus back to Bolzan.

In Bolzan, we had an afternoon free so we headed to a nearby castle and gondola ride.  There was also a festival going on in the city park; not sure what it was about, but lots of families on the bikes with balloons for the kids.  Similar what you’d see in the US except for the hundreds of people riding bikes!  The castle was small, but had interesting murals that covered a few entire inner and outer walls.  The gondola took us to the top of a mountain overlooking Bolzano, but unfortunately there’s wasn’t any place to get views.  Surprisingly there was a whole community at the top that stretched over the entire mountain including farms, hotels, huts and hiking trails.

Had pizza in the town square for our last dinner in Italy, and grabbed gelato on the way back to our room.  Pretty lazy day, but good end to my stay in Italy.

Dolomites – Day 2

After waking up in our hut and having breakfast we headed down along the front of the Odle mountain range we were looking at all day yesterday.  Pretty views somewhat obscured by the forest we were hiking through.  We were heading to Brogles hut for lunch; only 6 miles and mostly downhill, but it felt much longer.  Maybe it was because the forest felt similar to the Sierra’s back in California so there wasn’t any novelty in the hike like the previous day.

After a hot lunch at the hut, we headed towards the Odle range where the trail took us up and over a pass in the range.  There was a snowstorm a week or so ago so the trail was a little snowy and icy.  It also got very steep with cables bolted into the rock walls and timbers laid across the trail.  Wasn’t too dangerous, but needed to go slow and pay attention to our footing.  View from the pass was amazing; steep drop off on the side we just came up and green, sloped fields on the other.  The difference between was two sides was pretty stark.

The Firenze hut we were staying for the night was an hour downhill, down another steep trail as usual around here.  Another nice hut just like the night before including a hot shower for 2 euros which was well worth it.  

Dolomites day 1

Today, we left Bolzen to head into the dolomite mountains in northern Italy.  We first took the train to Brixen which has a very German feel to it.  Also the majority of people in this part of Italy speak German and Italian, signs are in both as well, but they also speak English as well which makes fretting around fairly easy.  In Brixen we caught a bus to take us up in the mountains.

From the end of the bus line, we had a 5 mile hike with 2000 ft of elevation gain to the Schluterhutte; the hut we’re spending the night at.  We passed another hut on the way where we stopped for a cold drink, these huts are basically hotels up int the mountains with full bar and restaurant with hot meals served.  The food is surprisingly good with choices and quality what you’d find at a regular restaurant in a city.  After lunch, did a short 4 mile round trip hike to the next valley over. Scenery was as spectacular as expected!  Returned back to the hut for dinner and to see the sunset over the distant mountains.

Venice

Spent half a day in Venice today, was pretty cool to be in the city you hear and see a lot about.  Took the train from the mainland to the island where what everyone thinks of Venice sits on.  Rode a water bus to the south side to San Marco square which has the bell tower and church.  It was really interesting to be in a place where there are no cars and the canals are such a big part of life, saw a boat off-load filing cabinets for an office!  

Went inside San Marco church to see the intricately detailed ceilings.  After that wandered through the city, stopping at a pizza place for lunch and gelato afterwards.  Spent rest of the afternoon wandering back to the train station; walking through the old buildings and narrow alleys.

Overall, I enjoyed the atmosphere and idea of Venice; it has a very different feel than anywhere else I’ve been.  However after the novelty wore off, there wasn’t much to do or even see.  I actually kind of got bored walking around strange as that sounds, Venice seems to be built for tourists and not an actual city as didn’t see many locals around.  It is somewhat contradictory to be a tourist wanting an interesting, yet non-touristy experience.