Weekend in Zermatt

Matt and I spent the weekend in Zermatt. It’s about a 2 ½ hour drive from our town. The main attraction there is the Matterhorn, which is absolutely stunning to see in person. We’ve seen a lot of mountains while in Switzerland, so I wasn’t sure this one would be any different, but it was. The town of Zermatt is a little on the touristy-side, but we really liked it. It was so quiet there. The only sound we could hear at night was the nearby river. Cars are not allowed in town, so you need to park in a nearby town and take the train or a taxi. Everyone gets around by foot, bike or over-sized golf cart in town. They use the golf carts like a taxi or bus. They kind of sneak up on you as they are very quiet, so we considered the weekend a success as neither of us got pegged by one. As we were walking through Zermatt on one of the nights, we had a special treat – a trio of alphorn players. I’ve been waiting to see these guys and there they were playing on the street. They looked just like the ones in the Ricola cough drop commercials.

Matt found a beautiful hotel in town that opened last month. We really enjoyed our stay at Hotel Phoenix. The owner was very friendly and helpful and our room had a nice view of the Matterhorn. Here’s the website if you want to check it out: http://www.hotelphoenix.ch

We spent Saturday and Sunday hiking around the area. There are several different ways to get up to see the Matterhorn and other surrounding mountains and glaciers. On Saturday we took an underground funicular up to a viewing area. We took pictures of the Matterhorn’s reflection in a glacial lake right along with the Japanese tourists. How do they always know where the best photo opportunites are? Then we hiked over to a town and caught a train up to another viewing area. We hiked back down to a different town for lunch – sausage filled with cheese and rosti (a Swiss speciality that is a lot like hashbrowns). We went for a three hour hike on Sunday as well. We had beautiful views of the Matterhorn the entire time as our trail meandered through the Swiss countryside.

Millie made the trip to Zermatt, too. I love this take your dog anywhere thing in Europe. She thoroughly enjoyed the hiking, especially chasing marmots. She was on the hunt for the little critters (they look a lot like overgrown prairie dogs to me).