Thursday, October 17, 2013

Zermatt, where people go and see the Matterhorn

After a 'break' of 2 blog posts totally unrelated to my summer holiday in Switzerland, I am now back to continue with days 5 to 7 of our adventure.

We spent 3 days in Zermatt to enjoy some more hiking and the fantastic views of the Matterhorn. We were lucky that we had beautiful sunny days. It started to rain heavily only towards the end of our stay in Zermatt. =)

The famous Matterhorn. This is what we came to Zermatt for. =)
On Day 5, we travelled from Interlaken Ost to Zermatt. We checked ourselves into Hotel Dufour. It is a beautiful hotel. Good-sized room with a balcony which opens up to a view of the Matterhorn. The service and breakfast were excellent. I will definitely recommend the hotel to friends and return to stay if I visit Zermatt again.
View from my room at Hotel Dufour
Once we arrived at Zermatt and checked into the hotel, we took a quick short hike to Gorner Gorge. Zermatt is a car-less place, so we walked everywhere. We do not need to worry about getting lost as all trails lead back to Zermatt.

View of Zermatt on the way back from Gorner Gorge. Beautiful, right?
My favorite day on my entire Switzerland holiday was day 6. We took the underground funicular (a freezing ride for about eight minutes), gondola and cable car up to Rothorn and hiked downhill from Rothorn to Sunnegga. I love, love, love this hike! We passed by Lake Stellisee where we stopped for a while to enjoy the fresh air, the freedom, the space, the view and watching people fishing and swimming in the lake.

The day was sunny, the wind was nippy, the views were intoxicating and so we got all happy and did not realized how tanned we got until we got back to town in the afternoon. We passed by a mirror and saw that our skin is so tanned that it was starting to burn (despite applying sunscreen in the morning). We bought more sunscreen and after-sun care from the Coop and religiously applied onto ourselves over the next few days, hoping that our skin will not peel.
Beautiful Lake Stellisee
On Day 7, we took the train up to Gornergrat. It was freezing up there and it rained a bit. We took the train back down to Riffelap and hiked from there back to Zermatt.

Two consecutive days of hiking downwards did a LOT of damage to my knees and I had 3 blisters on my right foot (my right foot is slightly bigger than my left) but the pain and sweat is all worth it. Zermatt was definitely a highlight!

On both days, after our hikes, we sat at the busy junction at the Matterhorn Museum to enjoy a big scoop of Movenpick ice cream and watch the goat parade. Old Zermatt Cafe nearby is a good place to an early dinner after burning your calories while hiking.
 
The daily goat parade. Once they passed, watch your steps, you don't want to step on their poo!
Till my next blog post, visit Zermatt! =)

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