Zermatt & Matterhorn

Zermatt

After Grindelwald, our next destination was Switzerland's most well-known attraction, the infamous Swiss Alp, Matterhorn (or what I call it Mount Toblerone). We started heading south from Grindelwald and it took us about 4 transfers + 4 hours of train riding to get to Zermatt, the village that’s closest to Matterhorn.

Zermatt is known for hiking and skiing/ski resort of the Swiss Alps. It’s a valley completely surrounded by high mountains. In a way, it’s a more glorified Grindelwald. Zermatt is a lovely dense car-free town. The two common mode’s of transport are horse carriages and electric carts. It’s to prevent air pollution so almost all vehicles in Zermatt are battery driven. Almost anything is at most, a 30 min walk away. Once we arrived at the train station of Zermatt, we rode the hotel cart to our second fancy hotel of our trip – Grand Hotel Zermatterhof. Upon our arrival, we are greeted with drinks and sat in their patio waiting for our room with the spectacular view of the Matterhorn.

Since we spent half a day getting to Zermatt, we are in need of food. Chris is always in search of yummy food so our first stop is this little shop called Wilde Hilde that serves rotisserie chicken. It’s rated one of the cheapest and delicious eats of Zermatt. The place is small but it’s a great location because it’s on the main square by the church. The chicken was one of the best rotisserie chicken of our lives. It was moist, fresh and has the right amount of spice. Chris was so infatuated with this place he wanted to eat here again the next day but they are closed on Sundays. ☹

We then continued to roam around town. It’s mostly cute chalets, hotels, shops and restaurants. It has a lot of touristy shops selling their famous chocolate, cheese, watches and sportswear. But just like any shops in Switzerland it closes around 6-7pm and only restaurants/bars are open. So we decided to get dinner at Hotel Julen which is known for their lamb. Chris had the lamb rack and I got the lamb ragu. Needless to say, it was excellent. After a glorious meal, we get to enjoy the sunset and the last bit of sunlight resting on the Matterhorn. Since the night is still young, what else can we do when everything is closed? The bar of course! :D

Gornergrat & Matterhorn

I am not a morning person but since our room has a view of the Matterhorn I have to take advantage of photographing it at sunrise without going outside. That morning I woke up at 5:30 am. I had the most satisfying feeling of witnessing the first sunlight beaming on the tip and consuming the rest of the Matterhorn. I’ve never seen sunlight this orange or golden before. It was breathtaking. And of course, Chris was still sleeping… blissfully.

Breakfast was served in an old school cool grand dining room. Its a self serve buffet but there where well-dressed waiters everywhere always on hand to give you whatever you needed.

After breakfast, we headed up to Gornergrat, which is a ridge of the Pennine alps overlooking the Gorner Glacier south-east of Zermatt. The train ride up has the most serene view of the Swiss Alps and the Matterhorn. The Gornergrat (at an altitude of 3089m) has an observation platform accessible all year. The panorama not only shows the magnificent Matterhorn up close but also displays other Alps like the Monte Rosa and Liskamm ridge. 

Inside the dome has a lot of touristy attractions such as photo opportunities, gift shops and overpriced gimmicky experiences like the green screen photo booth.

Even though it's summer, the weather up there is chilly but still nice enough for hikes. We walked around the dome and we decided to take the train down to Riffelsee, an alpine lake, and take a small little hike. 

I've seen black sand in Iceland, red stone in Arizona, but this is my first time seeing turquoise rocks. Chris and I were really fascinated with the nature on display.

We continued our hike and we felt like we where in the Sound of Music (even though that's in Austria). We had some fun of our own exploring and a few times we encountered little prairie dogs. 

In snooping around town for meals we discovered that McDonalds's in Switzerland actually sells chicken wings. They tasted exactly like St. Louis wings so don't get too excited about it. There were also signs in the store saying that the meat was sourced from in-country but we never had a burger to taste the difference unfortunately. Not while there was plenty of amazing cheese fondue and steak to eat. Also some extremely harsh alcoholic beverages as you can see from the photos.  

At last, here are all the photos I took of the Matterhorn in different time of day. :)