On the 3rd day we took a cable car to a hill called Gurten where we could enjoy the panoramic view of Bern. Romain said that in the summer there is a big rock festival held here and some big names come to perform. I imagined how great summer in Europe will be. I would love to experience it one day.
After we enjoyed the view of Bern we drove to Interlaken. According to the Swiss people it was the place where you could enjoy the most Swiss-ish view. I understood when I went there. The view was exactly the image I had of Switzerland. The color of the mountains and the sky looked like it was painted with water color.
In Interlaken we saw Jungfrau, one of the highest mountains in Switzerland. Even in September the top was covered with deep snow. Later we drove to a small town in the mountains called Grindelwald. It was the setting for a Japanese people’s favorite animation called “Heidi, Girl of the Alps” so we saw many Japanese tourists who came with their big busses. In the town I even found a Japanese outdoor brand shop.
We spotted a parking lot in the far end of the town and decided to stay there for the night. In front of our parking lot was the north face of Mt.Eiger, a steep snow covered mountain. When we went to a restaurant for dinner, I met a Japanese chef who was working there. She told me about the labor conditions and what it was like to work in Switzerland. Because it was high in the mountains, the night was freezing and I slept shivering in my sleeping bag.
On the morning of the 4th day, the sun came out so we were able to see the top of the mountain. With just a few dollars we enjoyed staying in the most scenic spot of Grindelwald. I was happy and thought that I will never forget that I slept here in this view.
After breakfast we drove to the Susten Pass and the Gothard Pass, the toughest roads on this trip. There was so much fog in the Susten Pass that we sometimes couldn’t see anything ahead. When we climbed all the way to the mountain top, the road led to another mountain and that was the entrance of the Gothard Pass.
Gothard Pass was also a very beautiful pass. We were driving above the clouds. On the top there was a small lake and the thin icy air hurt our skin. Many military cars passed by from the nearby military base.
When we bought a sausage from one of the only stalls by the lake, the guy surprised me by speaking in Italian. Romain told me that this was the beginning of the Swiss-Italian region. I found it amusing that they spoke Italian outside of Italy. I found that usually the Swiss-Germans or the Swiss-French spoke more than 2 languages including English but the Swiss-Italians mostly spoke just Italian. It reminded me of my visit to Italy last year. I imagined that many people in Italy are very satisfied with what they got in their own country so they didn’t need to learn English and travel outside that much. Perhaps the Swiss-Italian were similar to that.
We took a nap in the car and drove to a city called Locarno before sunset. It was a city well known for the Locarno International Film Festival. I also didn’t know that Locarno was in Switzerland. As soon as we arrived in the Swiss-Italian region we were blessed by the sun that I could take off my jacket again which I’ve been wearing since arriving in Czech. I felt like I came back to the summer I left in Estonia. We parked our car at a camping site by Lake Locarno. Some people were even swimming.
For dinner we went to the city centre and ate at an Italian restaurant. We sat outside where it was still warm and many people were enjoying wine and chatting around us. It was like the real Italy. I had delicious seafood pasta which cost much less than the other parts of Switzerland. I remember paying more than 30USD for a vegetarian plate in Zurich. I already decided to give up on budget traveling in Switzerland and enjoy everything as much as I can.
We bought a gelato for dessert and walked around the lake. Many illuminations reflected on the calm surface of the water. It was beautiful. I loved Locarno very much.
On the 5th day we drove in to the mountains again to see a region called Valle Maggio. All the houses and buildings were made from stones. I wondered how much story there was behind each stonework. Each village was small but the region continued for miles to the very top of the mountain.
We went to a restaurant Romain’s father recommended to us, which was in the middle of nowhere in the forest. There was a small water fall next to it. Despite of the isolated location it looked popular because we saw cars coming from various regions in Switzerland and even from Germany.
Their only menu was polenta, mashed and steamed corn dish served with rabbit meat stew and homemade sausages and cheese. I still have no idea how they can make such a simple dish taste so spectacular. It was the wonders of Italian food. Wine was served in a porcelain bowl which reminded me of the cups used in Chinese tea. It had a more warm feeling than the ones served in thin wine glasses.
After lunch we visited a contemporary church built by an Italian architect a few years ago. The church looked like a traditional stone made building from the outside, but the inside looked like a contemporary art work using just black and white stones. Because of this unique design the church attracted tourists in the isolated village. I thought it was a great idea that can be used in many other countries.
We decided to drive a bit further into the mountains and found the loveliest little village standing on the cliff called Lavizzara. In this village they spoke a language that was very different from Italian. Apparently it was a dialect of Italian in Switzerland like the Swiss-German language. The only store in the village was a co-op that had a sign from a century ago.
We had tea at the village and drove back to the road we came on. On the way back we stopped under a shade to make some dinner. Romain was exhausted from all the long driving. He managed to drive to Lugano, a main city in the Swiss-Italian region in the late evening. I felt sorry that I couldn’t do anything to help him. I didn’t have a driver’s license.
It was most difficult to find a sleeping place in Lugano. Almost all of the public toilets were locked or broken. We found a spot next to the main road which had a free toilet nearby. We feared that the police will find us but fortunately no one questioned us because they probably thought it was an ice cream truck off duty. I found it funny that something that stands out too much could also blend it depending on the occasion.
