Blogs from South-East, Switzerland, Europe - page 3

Ready and yet not ready to leave Croatia, we set our car in motion towards the Slovenian border and to Trieste in Italy. Nenad left with a heavy heart. Seeing Nui adapting and liking Croatia so much, made him so happy. With no plans to stop anywhere in Italy, we drove along E70 autostrada passing Venice, Verona, the Lake of Garda, Bergamo and Milano turning North towards Como and the Swiss border. We were a bit concerned for various reasons. One, the Swiss have not yet removed Croatia from the risk country list, meaning that we strictly speaking would need to go to a 14 day self isolation in Switzerland, which Nenad absolutely did NOT XXX fancy. Especially as our Covid-19 tests were negative, this did not make sense. Then, we had our car full with ... read more

When I was a girl, my parents and I would always spend three weeks during the summer holidays in Samedan in the Engadin region in Switzerland. Engadin is a valley at an altitude of 1,800 metres located in the canton of Graubünden in the southeast of Switzerland, about 2.5 hours from Zurich. The most famous town in the region is probably St. Moritz, where the rich and famous used to spend their holidays and still do. I can completely relate to why they picked this region for their holidays: The valley is surrounded by stunningly beautiful mountains, such as Piz Bernina, and glaciers, such as Morteratsch Glacier. There are four wonderful lakes in the valley: St. Moritz Lake, Silvaplana Lake, Champfèrer Lake, and Lake Sils. Silvaplana Lake is particularly popular with windsurfers. In general, the region ... read more

Heading north to Tirano, ITALY on the border of Switzerland, the terrain changes into towering mountains with ribbons of grapevines traversing the hillsides. This quaint town of 9,000 is a relief from the hordes of tourists back in Venice. The continual rain beats loudly all evening on the sky light of our hotel room. Since the Glacier Express does not run in November, it is onto the bright red Bernina Express train for an Alpine experience, climbing from 429 meters to 2253 meters before heading down to St Moritz. As the train climbs, you are immersed in the trees with hills covered in fall leaves. It is quiet and peaceful; like being suspended in a hot air balloon. A stop is in Alp Grum at an altitude of 2,235 meters where you can get off and ... read more

A firm favourite is the Des Alps celebrations at La Fouly. We have stayed at Glaciers camping ground for 3 years in a row now. The first was by accident and we missed the festivities, last year the girls and I went (Murray was on a work trip), so this year was the first time as a family to see the Des Alps. My parents, who have been helping out with the kids, extended their trip by a few days so they could join us and witness this unique Swiss tradition. Des Alps is the start of winter, when the cows come down from grazing in the mountains over summer time, to shelter in the barns over the harsh winters. The cows get dressed up, wearing flower head dresses and their ceremonial bells. Swiss horns play, ... read more

Today was a travel day. We were up and out early as we had to drive to St. Moritz, Switzerland. We left in warmth and sunshine making our way to our first stop, Innsbruck, Austria. It was a brief stop just long enough to visit the House with the Golden Roof, spend some money at Swarovski Crystals, and pick up some lunch to eat at a later stop. Most of my photography was through the window of the bus at the scenery that we passed by. I was able to get a few shots in Innsbruck. On our way to St. Moritz we were scheduled to take a carriage ride from Pontresina into the Roseg Valley. Unfortunately shortly before we arrived at Pontresina storms developed and the ride had to be cancelled. We got into St. ... read more