Travelling to Switzerland had always held an appeal for me because years before my sister and I had spent a few days in Lauterbrunnen and the area had truly stuck with me. I remembered seeing waterfalls wherever we went. We walked up the road to find a waterfall inside of a mountain and even had a magnificent waterfall in the campsite we were staying in. It was all I kept thinking about when trying to book for our trip, but as it turns out, every other tourist in the world also wants to visit the area in summer. Although I can’t blame them, it made it slightly difficult to book accommodation when thousands of others were doing the same thing at the exact same time.
Instead of fixating on Lauterbrunnen, I started to broaden my horizons and look for pretty towns close by. It was while I was searching on Airbnb for accommodation that I found Fiescheralp and its amazing views. The accommodation was an apartment with a balcony where I knew we would sit and enjoy our meals while appreciating the peace and quiet of the Swiss countryside. I also loved the fact that it was a car free area and the only way to get up to it was by cable car. That was actually the main reason I booked it in the first place, knowing how much my boyfriend loves cable cars anything to do with heights. Me, not so much, but I was willing to give it a shot! 🙂
I saw that we would have to change trains multiple times to get there, but it didn’t matter because it would be worth it in the end. Besides, we were almost at the end of our trip, so we had to make the most of every second. The last train we climbed onto was by far the best train we had ever been on. It was floor to ceiling glass windows (obviously to appreciate the view) and just had so much space. It was so unfortunate that it was our shortest trip and we only got to spend 15 minutes on it, but in that time I had already decided that I needed to come back to Switzerland and spend a month just travelling by train to all their tiny towns.
So, as it was, we got off the train in Fiesch and made our way towards the cable car station. We saw that we had just missed the cable car, but another would be leaving in about half an hour, so at least we had a bit of time to shop. One thing I can say about our lovely hostess, (who we never met) was that she gave us lots of info about the town in general and how we needed to go grocery shopping before we went up the mountain to our accommodation, as there weren’t any shops at the top.
The only problem was, we still had our big suitcases on us and the shop was incredibly small with tiny passageways which we had to share with all the tourists and locals alike. We decided that I would go in and pack the basket with everything that we would need for 2 nights and then Luch would go in and take out what he thought was too much (because I always over-cater) and then stand in the massive queue that was forming to pay for our purchases.
It definitely worked, until we realised when we got to the top of the mountain that we had forgotten to buy wine. It was way too expensive to just go back down to buy some wine, so we would have to drink coffee instead.
Checking into our accommodation was another interesting experience. We had to check in via the hotel and couldn’t find anyone at the Reception area, because they were all busy in the kitchen. Eventually we found someone, but they didn’t speak any English and I was struggling to get out one word of German; so she ran back to the kitchen and found someone to help us. He also didn’t know exactly where our accommodation was, but at least he could speak English. As it turned out, he was from Slovakia and was working in Switzerland for a few years.
We chatted about how we had travelled through Slovakia only a few weeks earlier and he helped me carry my suitcase up to our apartment when we finally found the building. Luckily the pictures on Airbnb had not been a lie and the view from the balcony was breath taking. The air was so lovely and cool on the mountain and we finally found the peace and quiet that we had so been craving.
I looked through the many tourism books and pamphlets that had been left out for us and found that we were actually just a hike away from the longest and largest glacier in the Alps called the Great Aletsch Glacier. We had to hike to it. That was a given. We settled in for the evening with our cups of coffee and some incredible soft cheese with bits of peppadews in. We had been starving for cheese since we had walked past someone’s raclette earlier and watched them slice off pieces of melting cheese on to their family’s waiting plates. Little did we know that it was actually the Swiss National Day (you think we would have guessed it with the Swiss flag being everywhere) and that everyone lights fireworks in the evening to celebrate. I’ve never been so high up that you can actually see fireworks going off below you. It is one magical moment that I will never forget.
The next morning, we were up super early and packed our backpack full of food, water and an extra jacket just in case. It had started to drizzle, so we took the umbrella we found in our accommodation with us while we walked as well. We picked a hiking trail that would take us to the bottom of the glacier, but the trail itself was filled with incredible wild flowers, waterfalls and beautiful views along the way. We stopped so many times to take photos and just appreciate what it felt like to be above the clouds.
We came to a tunnel that led through the mountain and to the other side where we hoped we would find the glacier. Walking through the tunnel that was only lit occasionally by a small orange light felt like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie. I even remember at one stage looking back the way to see where we’d come from and saw someone just standing there in their raincoat looking our way. The urge to run came and went and they disappeared back where they had come from.
Coming through the tunnel on the other side was almost like emerging in another world. It was all white flowers, crystal clear lakes and a view of the glacier we were trying so desperately to get to. The rain really started to pound us and we struggled over the rocks, trying not to slip as we went, but it was worth it in the end. The Glacier was huge and as we watched what looked like tiny ants walking across it, it was only then that we realised that you could do a walking tour on the Glacier.
About an hour later we actually ended up chatting to someone who had just tried to do the guided tour on the Glacier and had left her husband because she couldn’t take it anymore. They all had spikes on their shoes and were tied together in case someone slipped and fell in, but she had been terrified the whole time. Coming from South America, she had quickly decided that she didn’t want to die on the ice, so had left her husband and the group to return to safety. Feeling the cold wind and the rain pounding down on us, I could only imagine how slippery it was. It was then that we both decided that walking on the Aletsch Glacier was not for us. We could however stand and take photos on it and under it of course. Being careful not to go too deep just in case it decided to collapse on our heads.
We hiked back that afternoon, exhausted but elated. The next day we had planned to hike up to the top view of the Glacier and having heard it was only an hour and half hike, were really looking forward to it. Fast forward to us scrambling up giant stones that would move every time one of us would shift our weight and three and half hours later we still weren’t at the top. The hiking trail also just kept getting busier and busier as more people joined our trek. There were multiple times that I wanted to cry and go back down, but it was too late. It would have been worse to go back down, so we just stuck with it.
When we finally arrived at the top, the view was definitely worth it. If I had thought that it was incredible to see the Glacier from the bottom, you can imagine my surprise when we got to the top and it looked completely different. There were so many tourists at the top considering we had seen hardly any the day before on our hike. We had to take multiple panorama photos before trying to sit down and get some food. The restaurant had all these tables outside with a great view, but I was freezing and it was crazy busy. We didn’t see one waiter, so our decision was made within a few minutes. We were going back down again. The only problem was, I knew I couldn’t hike back down again and we couldn’t buy tickets for the cable car at the top.
We were so grateful that they actually let us travel down and pay when we got back to the Fiescheralp station. If they hadn’t have done that, I would have had to sleep at the top of the mountain, because my shaky legs would never have held my weight.
Needless to say, Switzerland still stands out in my mind as one of the most beautiful countries that we visited and we will definitely be back. Next time though, I’m taking the train everywhere. 🙂
