Blogs from South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 2

Here Friday in Switzerland and the city is having a food festival, with tons of people on the lake beach because it is so hot here. Dang! My plan to escape the relentless sun has been foiled! Maybe I need to go up a mountain? I am suffering from mosquito bites too. I went to a pharmacy here in Geneva and was given ointment but it is not as effective as Witch Hazel. I am hoping the itching will cease soon. Geneva has the best dressed people, even breezy summer clothes are cut well. You can easily walk to places, but the water taxis make it more fun. Finding the street food festival was a bonus. They had really good music playing, too. There’s a definite summer vibe here today and many families and friends are ... read more

Dans une vallée creusée par les glaciers, le lac de Sarnen formait, après la dernière ère glaciaire, une surface d’eau continue avec le lac des Quatre-Cantons. Entre temps, des cônes de déjections accumulés par les alluvions fluviales l’ont transformé en un lac indépendant. Et c'est là que nous nous poserons avant une grande aventure... Sur notre route : Pilatus Aircraft est un constructeur d’avions dont le siège et la principale usine se trouvent à Stans en Suisse. Pilatus est le leader mondial pour les avions turbo-propulsés à un seul moteur. Le nom de la société vient du Pilatus, massif montagneux qui se trouve à proximité de la localité où est installé le siège de l'entreprise. Le Titlis est un sommet de la Suisse c... read more

Ausflug nach Cardada (1340 m) Heute Morgen ist der Himmel bedeckt, es ist aber angenehm warm, so dass wir im Freien Frühstücken konnten. Gegen 9:00 Uhr machten sich erste zaghafte Sonnenstrahlen bemerkbar und um 10:00 verschwanden die Wolken ganz und machten der Sonne Platz. Bis zur Talstation, die oberhalb von Locarno in Orselina (395 m) liegt, nahmen wir die Funicolare, das ist eine Standseilbahn. Oben angekommen waren es nur wenige Schritte bis zur Talstation der Drahtseilbahn, die uns in wenigen Minuten auf 1340 m nach Cardada beförderte. Da ja vor ein paar Wochen ganz in der Nähe in Stresa in Italien eine Drahtseilbahn abgestürzt ist, war es ein gutes Gefühl als wir oben aussteigen konnten. Die Bergregion Cardada Cimetta bietet ein grandioses Panorama auf das gesamte Locarnese und auf die beiden Extrem-Punkte der Schweiz: den tiefsten ... read more

The absolute highlight of our "Tour the Swiss Mountains" was the visit of the internationally renowned, much famous village of Zermatt. It lies on the Southern side of the Rhone valley in the canton of Wallis. This Swiss canton (State) is home to two of the four national languages of Switzerland, German and French. Zermatt is situated in the German part, although in the village you can normally hear languages from visiting tourists from all over the world. Normally..... This Covid year however everything is different. No overseas tourists to be found, and few visitors from European countries from the Shengen zone. Nevertheless the town was fully booked, with mostly guests from Switzerland itself. Everyone from the locals wanted to profit from the fact that being in Zermatt and its mountains this year you do not ... read more

We have travelled around the world - but we have not travelled to some places where the whole world travels to. One of these places is the Gornergrat in Zermatt. Nearly all travellers say that one has to visit this special place once. It was somehow on our bucket list, but definitely not in summer when you probably tramp on the tourists. We wanted to go there in off season when it is less crowded and cheaper. When Markus had to work on a project at the entrance of the Mattertal, the valley that leads to Zermatt, by the end of october, we checked the weatherforecast and it was a quick decision. We could organise the work on a friday, we booked a hotel room for a night and I (Nina) came with Markus. Basically, it ... read more