It may be one of the most explored places in the world, but the Swiss alps manage to surprise and bewilder you at every step, writes Dinesh Madhavan.
The Swiss village of Grindelwald, tucked underneath the Eigermountain and hugged by an entire family of surrounding protecting peaks is an escape destination that takes you to a quaint dream world. Much explored, visited, and written about, it still is an absolute thrill to discover as some spots are left untouched by commercial tourism.
Landing in Zurich, as much as every tourist from our country does, we headed to Mt. Titlis, 10,000 ft above sea level, a regular fix on the to-do list for a tourist, via Edinburg. The two hours’ journey was picturesque. With green meadows, pretty cottages and blue green water, all we could do was gape awestruck. But the destination which awaited us was even better. It took three cable cars to reach there. Right when we entered, there was a cutout of the famous movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. After an hour (or more) of playing with snow and taking different rides in Titlis, we started our journey back to Zurich.
My friends Dan and Janine, who are adventure sport photographers from Interlaken, suggested I go to Grindelwald, a quaint little non-crowded destination, but on the Unesco heritage sites list.
Covering an area of 824 square kilometres, the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch contains nearly all of the Bernese High Alps, with their monumental rock massifs. Around 90 per cent of this area is covered with rocks and ice. The Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site stands for the splendid natural beauty of the Alps. At its heart lies the impressive Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau rock massif and the glacial landscape surrounding the Great Aletsch Glacier.
Grindelwald is breathtaking — stunning scenery with flowering meadows and the sound of cowbells. It all seems like you are in a dream. Green meadows with cottages, with a view of glaciers. I walked around for a few hours to catch every glimpse of the mountains, until our legs couldn’t anymore. Imposing mountains, a plethora of leisure activities and a wide range of hotel offerings make the Jungfrau Region (including the resort towns Wengen, Mürren und Lauterbrunnen) a highly desirable vacation destination. The three regions Grindelwald-First, KleineScheidegg-Männlichen and Mürren-Schilthorn together offer a total of 213 km of ski runs ranging from fast to leisurely, and from six to twelve kilometres in length. A total of more than 40 per cent of the ski runs are equipped with snow-making machines. Even for non-skiers, 100 kilometres of winter footpaths enable you to explore the mountains on foot.
We had lunch facing the glaciers in a pretty cafe. Grindelwald was that place which we can drool over. Pretty as a picture that can be framed for posterity. Landscapes so breathtaking that you never want to leave.
Don’t miss
You can take a gondola or train in any and all directions, then ski down and over to various old chalet restaurants that serve house made bratwurst, rösti (a traditional swiss potato hash with various additions like local swiss cheese, bacon, or an egg), spätzle (delicious and buttery small swiss dumplings sometimes cooked with cheese and carmelized onions), homemade soups, raclette (melted raclette cheese over potatoes served with small pickles), fondue, salads with my favorite dressing, locally brewed beer and many other comforting Swiss specialties.
Lace-making is still practised by women from the Lauterbrunnen Valley and in Grindelwald, the “Velogemel”, a wooden snow bike - is still produced by hand, according to the original plans dating from 1911. Traditional costume dances, flag waving and folk music are an important part of the Jungfrau Region’s cultural life.
Each year, the “Cultural Landscape Award” is bestowed upon particularly beautiful and valuable cultural landscapes in the region. Together with the support and image cultivation provided by the tourist industry, the award is an incentive for farmers to continue practising sustainable management, and thus helps to preserve the beautiful cultural landscap
The Rubi Family apartment is a modern homage to one of Grindelwald’s famous mountain guides, Adolf Rubi. The apartment is filled with trophies, artwork, hand crafted Swiss antiques, historical artifacts and actual built-in furniture from the original Chalet Alpenblume, which sat on the same site. The current generation of Rubis has lovingly preserved the family collection and designed the apartment to embody the spirit of the old chalet. The wrap around balcony offers a majestic 270-degree vista of the entire range of mountains from the Wetterhorn in the east to Mannlichen in the west.
The writer is a travel photographer perennialy scouting for unexplored territories
