Davos, Switzerland is the sister city to Aspen, Colorado. At 5117-feet it is Switzerland’s highest town and mountain resort. In winter skiers overrun the town of 11,500 people. The 70 hotels have 8000 beds so people rent out another 12,000 beds in their homes. During the summer of my visit the town was a quiet peaceful one. There are 90 farms in the Davos area and the focus has changed from beef to milk. A good part of the four million liters of milk a year is made into cheese. Most of our hiking here was through lovely quiet forested areas.
Switzerland offered many different foods which I generally found very good. In Davos we were served kirschwasser---a brandy distilled from cherries. Such kirsch is common in much of Europe and it is made from many different fruits. I always find it a bit potent for my taste.
It was most of a day’s ride from Davos to Interlaken via the Glacier Express. We all had taken a book to read on the trip, but the scenery was so spectacular that we all scuttled that idea. Along the route we passed through the eight-mile long Furka Tunnel, the longest narrow railroad tunnel n the world. The Rhone valley was stunningly beautiful.
The climb up to the Overalp Pass was slow affording us good views of the wildflowers growing in the fields. The scenery was breathtaking. The snail’s pace up a couple of the mountains made us wonder if we might roll backwards. The train tracks literally overhung the mountains in several places. It was a stunning eye-catching day!
In Brig we had a layover between trains so many of us headed into town for a look/see. We walked the cobbled streets and alleys admiring the many towers and church steeples. The country is full of them and all seem to be different. Maybe I’ll return one day to do nothing but photograph steeples and towers.
Interlaken has a train station at each end of the city, but only a little over a mile apart. Trains for different destinations leave from each station. Interlaken is located in the southern part of Bern Canton between 12-mile long Lake Thun and 9-mile Lake Brienz. The first steam ships sailed the lakes in 1839. Many small villages are located around the perimeter of both lakes. At 848-feet deep, Lake Brienz is the country deepest lake and four fishermen make their living from the lake. It takes a two-year apprenticeship to become a fisherman. Most of the fish from the lake is perch.
The city of 15,000 is a popular winter ski area. As in Davos, private beds add to the 4000 beds to total 70,000 hotel nights a year. The city’s 5-star hotel, The Victoria, was built in 1869. The hotel Interlaken built in 1400 is the oldest hotel in town. The hotel boasts a stay by Lord Byron in 1816 and Mendelssohn in 1832. The old wooden monastery was replaced with a stone on in the 1300s.
The city has Japanese, English, and Alpine gardens. The Japanese garden is largest and is a symbol of friendship between the two countries. Horse-drawn buggies roam the streets from Easter to October.
Switzerland is one of my favorite countries and I hope to return yet again one day.
No comments:
Post a Comment