Seduced by Switzerland

To round off our travels in Europe, we made a short but very sweet foray into Switzerland, exiting Germany at Lindau - a little island town with views towards the start of the Alps, situated on Lake Constance at the borders of Germany, Switzerland and Austria.


After a handful of train changes, we stepped out into Lauterbrunnen, a small valley town in the Jungfrau region. We'd heard great things about the place from numerous people, and we sure weren't disappointed. The hostel we stayed at was fantastic, and we got to sleep in a little loft with views across the valley. The town is set in the most beautiful green valley dotted with typical Swiss wooden houses and flanked on both sides by towering sheer cliffs. Fat cows, sheep and goats grazed on the rich pastures, their bells tinkling in the clear alpine air.

After spending a rainy day exploring the town and acquainting ourselves with some Swiss cheese and chocolates, we set out on the next clear day towards Stechelberg. The hike took us to the end of the mist covered valley, where the green pastures gave way to the mountains proper, with a cable car linking up to the mountain villages of Gimmelwald and Murren.


From here you can hike or get another cable car up to the Schilthorn, Blofeld's hideout in the James Bond movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. Since the clouds were rolling in and views wouldn't have been very clear, we skipped the Schilthorn in favour of hiking back down the mountain, passing a handful of the 72 waterfalls in the valley. As it happened, an unfortunate paraglider crashed into the powerlines, so had we gone up we would have been stuck at the summit for the rest of the day.


The next day dawned grey and ominous, but we thought we'd make the most of it anyway and got the train up to Grindelwald (another gorgeous mountain village). However it soon became clear that the warmest of our summer wardrobe was not up the task of withstanding alpine sleet, rain and wind, so we retreated into a teahouse for hot chocolate. From Grindelwald you can catch a train up to the Jungfraujoch - the 'Top of Europe' - which is the highest train station on the continent, and possibly the most expensive train leg you'll ever take.

We liked Lauterbrunnen so much we decided to stay an extra night instead of relocating to another hostel in Basel. This was our last stop in Europe (aside from London) for the trip, and we've definitely finished on a high. The whole Jungfrau region of the Swiss alps is possibly the most beautiful place we've ever seen, and we were sad to say goodbye... But on the plus side, Brazil awaits us with promises of beaches, balmy sunshine and rainforest - endless summer here we come!