Travel Log

Today didn’t demand quite such an early start so we made a sedate pace getting out of the apartment, including time to test pilot the bidet (!), and headed on the cable car up to Furi where a trail took us across a gorge on a suspension bridge and to a place called Gletschergarten - glacier garden - where there were a bunch of smooth holes sanded out of the rock. We explored and found a hidden valley with a waterfall and rocks to scramble about on. This was bliss and reminded us of Yosemite. The smell of the pine forest made for pleasant hiking, and the temperature was perfect.

Unfortunately Bess had a meltdown somewhere along the way where patience ran thin.

We did opportunistically take the cable up to Riffelberg, but it was cold and we were dressed for summer hiking and so didn’t get the train onwards up to Gornergrat. Riffelberg itself was pretty bleak so we soon retraced back down the same gondola to Furi. From Furi the general plan was to find a mountain restaurant for ice cream and then descend Gorner Gorge but we failed on both accounts. Bess was back in another mental trough and couldn’t possibly take another step. And whilst the tiny hamlets of Zum See and Blatten were utterly charming the façade is somewhat ruined by a screaming child. The restaurants were heaving as it was peak lunch hour so we kept on going, and in our haste to put Bess out of her misery we missed the turn to Gorner Gorge.

Miraculously, when we arrived at the play park all the kids, despite having clocked up some 15000 steps so far, managed to find a second wind to hang on the monkey bars and other gym equipment.

It was positively hot by the time we were back in the valley, about 25 degrees in Zermatt.

Back in town and with weary feet we recharged with an ice cream and a stop in the supermarket for dinner supplies before listening to some live music in the church square. The live music was for Swiss National Day which is a bank holiday for the Swiss every 1st August. It was a lovely atmosphere - full of families and pretty packed.

Of course, it was time for a swim when we got back to the apartment.