To Zermatt and the subterranean lake of St. Leonard

At last! Today we will finally go into the mountains. Early in the morning we sit in our car to drive to Täsch, the most southern point of the Mattertal, coming from Visp. In Täsch we park our car and buy a train ticket to Zermatt. Although cars are not permitted into Zermatt there is a road, but that's only for V.I.P.'s and construction traffic.

And constructing is what they have been doing over the last years in Zermatt. The once small village now looks like a tourist city and the construction of new hotels is still going on.
The train moans and groans and it is too bad that many parts have been insulated from the steep cliffs (oh, Elisabeth doesn't agree with that...). After a trip of 20 minutes we arrive at Zermatt where the sun is shining brightly and the temperature is a pleasant 20°C or probably even more.

Twenty years ago, Teije has been in the village Zermatt, but it has grown incredibly and is still being expanded. It takes us more than 30 minutes to finally get a view on the Matterhorn, the most well-known mountain top of Switzerland, next to the Eiger.

We walk and walk and don't seem to get any closer. The chairlift here is functioning normally, but we decide not to take it today (by the way: Elisabeth is frightened by it somewhat, but that will change one day!)
The picture to the right is not made by us, but 'stolen' from the internet. We didn't come that close, but we made some nice walks in the neighbourhood.

At the end of the day we are just in time to take the last visit to the subterranean caves in St. Leonard. It is difficult to take a nice picture there, so we scanned this postcard. You should visit it when you are in the neighbourhood. It is a magnificent and long cave. After a short walk we step into a boat for a trip of 30 minutes over the subterranean lake. For us this is a nice conclusion of this short trip to Switzerland.

The sun is just going down when we return at the apartment. Here two pictures of the front side of the building. In the distance you should be able to see one of us standing on the balcony.

From our balcony we have a magnificent view on the valley and the sun disappearing behind the mountains.

We just have a short time left to sit in the sun, before it disappears after which it cools down quickly. Then we flee inside and enjoy the warmth of this Swiss cottage for the last night.
We haven't told much about the gorgeous routes we took today, but you can believe us, it is really wothwhile to drive around here. The trip by car has been as nice as the visits to Zermatt and the caves of St. Leonard. But it is hard to describe the sceneries here, without getting too much poetic... Only a pity that we didn't took more pictures at the time.

The sun rises early above the low pending clouds. But alas, we had to leave today. We have breakfast, linger a bit but then we really have to be off, we have a long road to go before we are home.
Soon we leave the valley and the mountains behind us and the landscape is getting flat again.
We have been only a short time here, just a quick acquaintance with Switzerland, so to say. What we liked most was the quietness everywhere; no tourists, so we could enjoy this beautiful country undisturbed. But in summer it is also beautiful and some people (sports fanatics) also like it in the winter. Too cold for us and way too many tourists.....

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Alas, we have finished this book... but more travels will follow!