Chur; Bernina Express to Milan

Travel Date 24th May 2011.
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I decided to spend the evening between the two Alpine Expresses in Chur, rather than St Moritz. The timing worked out better and I thought it may be nice to stay in an ordinary small Swiss town rather than a tourist resort.

I arrived shortly before three pm and was picked up by Jacqueline, from Backpackers Planaterra, at the station. She seemed pleasant, but I did not see her again after that. The “hotel” was not a long way away, but I was pleased to be picked up because I would never have found her lodgings on foot. I have written a review on Booking.com here: Backpackers Planaterra. If you're a backpacker or looking for el cheapo digs, fine, if not find somewhere else.

Chur is a pleasant small town in the mountains with nothing particularly spectacular about it apart from the surrounding scenery. But I have to admit, that scenery is pretty spectacular.

 

I found the nearest coin laundrette, one of the essentials of travelling for me, and enjoyed wandering around the surrounding district while the washing machines did their work. 

 

Despite being in the German-speaking region of Switzerland the town seems to have a French style to it's architecture. There are a profusion of cafés and tiny squares and spaces complete with obligatory statues and fountains. I wasn't driving, so I decided to try the vin rouge ordinaire, or more accurately, gewöhnlicher rotwein, in all of the cafés near the laundrette. It became an enjoyable afternoon; I believe I had a fascinating conversation in one of the bars but can't recall a word of it.

Next morning I walked from the hotel to the station and left at 8:30 on the Bernina Express. For me, it was a better experience than the Glacier Express. For the first few kilometres we retraced the route I had arrived on yesterday, but then we headed off to the South towards Italy.

The scenery slowly became greener and less snow-covered than the previous day, but was more rugged and spectacular to my eyes. Then it got mountainous and snowy again as we reached the peak before becoming green again as we descended towards Italy. The train track engineering was impressive and at times breath-taking when looking out of the window at the rugged gorges and slopes we were passing over or through.

The Bernina Express suffered from the same window-glare problems as the Glacier Express, but I found a solution. At the end of each car, opposite the door to the toilet is a small openable window which allowed me to take unobstructed shots of the passing scenery.

For a little while I got some odd looks from passengers who seemed a little concerned at this odd bald sextagenarian hanging around the toilets, but eventually the others worked out what I was doing and I found the main problem became sharing the window with the other amateur photographers in the car. After a while I moved up a few carriages until I found another vacant window, although by that time almost every car had other photographers doing the same.

We reached the highest pass in the Alps in the only train that crosses them by going over instead of through a tunnel. The pass is known as Ospizio Bernina at 2,253 meters or 7,380 feet. It is also marked as the Wasserscheide or Watershed, defined by the Lej Nair (Black Lake) with an outlet flowing north to the Danube and eventually the Black Sea, and a few hundred metres on the Lago Bianco (White Lake) with water eventually flowing to the Po and the Mediterranean.The colour comes from "glacier milk", the suspended fine white fragments of rock ground up by the glaciers.

Shortly after this we stopped for a short break at Alp Grüm with wonderful views down to the distant valley and to the slopes at the side. Once again the smokers were very grateful for the stop.

 

The train repeatedly followed snaking circuitous tracks around steep mountains, often doubling back under or over itself as it lost or gained height. Unfortunately, one of the most dramatic loops is being totally renovated so it is covered in protective hoardings. At this loop the train does a very tight turn and goes under the track it arrives on.

After a very pleasant morning I arrived at Tirano, a town divided by the border between Switzerland and Italy. I stepped out of the Swiss Railway Station, wandered across the square and bought a ticket for the local Trenitalia train from Tirano to Milan. Departure time was a bit unclear. I felt there may not be enough time for lunch at the nearby café so I bought a chunk of baguette with ham and cheese and boarded the train. It glided away from the platform as I sat down.

The train was a few levels down from the luxury of the Glacier and Bernina Expresses; it was also fairly dirty and the air-conditioning was not working on a very warm afternoon. But it was still reasonably comfortable and the passing scenery was interesting.

Slowly we left the Alps and the mountains became hills, with terraced slopes of grapevines and orchards. Villages started to flash past, then glimpses of Lake Como, then eventually the industrial outskirts of Milan.

I spent a little time at the station, using the ticket machine to buy a ticket for the next day from Milan to Venice and also to print out my pre-arranged ticket for the following night on the train from Venice to Zagreb. Everything worked as advertised.

Train travel, compared to air travel, may be slower between A and B, but it is so much more relaxed at the points of departure and arrival. No queues for check in, no security queues, no need to be there hours before and you depart and arrive in the middle of town.

 

I was staying at the Hilton (at an incredibly cheap rate via Priceline bidding) which was only a short walk from the station, so I strolled to the hotel after that. 

Cheers, Alan, Australia

The Glacier Express, Zermatt to Chur

Travel Date 23rd May 2011.
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I spent a lot of time and frustration arranging my bookings for the two special Swiss Alpine trains. Overall I wasn't disappointed.

But there were a few flies in the ointment so I'll get them out of the way first. It was a pity, because the two journeys were very relaxed and enjoyable through some wonderful scenic parts of Switzerland.

The first problem was the on-line booking system. To an outsider trying to book on the web the booking systems for the two trains are quite separate and use different rules. Eventually, after much frustration, I arranged the bookings via Skype and email with some very helpful staff.

The next problem was carriage design. One of the things that would seem to be blindingly obvious to me, but not to the designers of the trains, is that the vast majority of the passengers will be tourists taking lots of photographs of the passing scenery. If you enclose those passengers in a sealed carriage with no opening windows and lots of reflective glare off window glass you are going to get some rather frustrated photographers. I was certainly not alone in my disappointment with the lack of any way to open a window for shots. Later, on the Bernina Express, I found a way. I'll mention that later :)

Finally, on a train that advertises it's meals in this manner:

A feast for the eyes that also appeals to the gourmet in you

Your starter, main course and dessert are all freshly prepared in our on-board kitchen and served to you in the comfort of your seat on the train. Or order our «Farmer’s Special», which naturally includes local cured-meat delicacies from our Canton. Line clear for full enjoyment: with fine dining for the body and panoramic views to feed the soul. Let us indulge your senses.

This is hardly what I expected when I decided I didn't want a big meal (as a diabetic I don't eat large lunches) and ordered the "dish of the day" fish instead of the full dinner:

The breaded fillet of fish was obviously re-heated in a microwave. The fish was rubbery and indigestible but the bulk of the "fillet" was similarly indigestible breading surrounding it. I refused to eat it. The stewards only compensation was a free quarter-bottle of wine in lieu of a refund on the far more expensive "fish". I'm afraid I've rarely attempted to eat a meal that appealed less to the "gourmet in me". At least the wine was drinkable.

OK. Now that I've got that off my chest, the scenery was as good as I expected it to be. My photos have been edited and often cropped to remove reflections and glare, but I hope they give some sense of this wonderful relaxed wander through the Swiss highlands. I'll let them tell the story.

The multi-language included audio guide was excellent. A chime would sound together with a visual indicator on the information screen at the end of the carriage whenever an interesting view was approaching. That allowed plenty of time to pick up the headset and listen to a brief but informative statement of the scene and sometimes the relevant history. That helped make the trip much more interesting.

When we reached Dissentis the train changed engines and combined with the other Glacier Express, which left a few minutes later than us from Zermatt, to become one train for the continuing journey to Chur. We all got out to stretch our legs. The smokers were blissful, after so many hours without a puff.

I used a Swiss Rail Pass for the Swiss sections of my train odyssey.

With the benefit of hind-sight, if I was planning to do this journey again I would not take the Glacier Express or worry about pre-booking. Instead I would use my pass to take the local trains that follow the same route, getting off at a station that seemed interesting and continuing later, after a few hours or a few days, on the next local train. Not only would that be more relaxed, but the windows can be opened for photography. In fact, the difference in prices may make it cheaper to pay point-to-point instead of the pass. Lacking the need for booking, I could also have stayed in Zermatt that extra day for good weather on the Gronergrat.

The positives overcame the negatives and I still had a wonderful day.

Cheers, Alan, Australia

Gornergrat Bahn

Travel Date 22nd May 2011.
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The Gornergrat Bahn is a special railway that connects Zermatt with the spectacular Gornergrat Alpine viewing platform at over 3100 m or 10200 ft.

I was surprised to find that the original track was completed over a century ago in 1898. It was the first electric cogwheel railway in Switzerland. I found the construction and engineering of the system very interesting and enjoyed riding up front in both directions. The roofed sections appear to be for avalanche protection. 

There is also a hotel and restaurant on the peak and, of course, the obligatory souvenir shop and local entrepreneurs. 

On a clear day the brochure told me that I could see 20 different spectacular mountain peaks over 4000m as well as looking down on the Gornergletscher, the second-largest glacier in the Alps. Unfortunately, it wasn't a clear day. But it was still pretty spectacular in the breaks between the mist and the drizzle.

The scale of the surroundings is hard to get across in the pictures, until you see this one with a helicopter flying along the glacier below us.

Despite the dreary weather I still found the scenery stunning, with the black, white and greys of the Alpine scenery interspersed with sudden glimpses of deep blues and greens in the frozen lakes and the glacier.

Of course, the following morning dawned with a wonderful clear blue sky, but I had an advance booking to depart on the Glacier Express early in the morning so there was no time to go up again. C'est la vie. If I ever return I will allow enough days to wait for good weather.

Cheers, Alan, Australia