#gornergratbahn

[debrink]

Matterhorn ausblick von der Gornergratbahn

~ François Gos (Swiss, 1880-1975)

[carlosbritosuisse]

#hotel #MonteRosa #massiv #paradies #schwarzsee #schweizer #kanton #wallis #bezirk #visp #mattertal #matterhorn #glacier #gemeinde #zermatt #zermattmatterhorn #zermattswitzerland #zermattunplugged #geschichte #gornergratbahn #ski #klettern #snowboarding #travelblogger #influencer #cbsbrito (à Zermatt Matterhorn) https://www.instagram.com/p/CloSHCTocxm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[benbehu]

Gornergratbahn, Switzerland

[videomitch]

Gornergrat Bahn - The Matterhorn Railway

A ride on the Gornergrat Bahn, a mountain railway from Zermatt to Gornergrat station with it's amazing views of the Matterhorn.

My first collaboration with Howies Rail Videos, using footage from an amazing trip we enjoyed together.

The train, made up of two twin unit railcars, constantly grids uphill on the rack railway, from Zermatt (1605 metres) to the summit at Gornergrat (3,089 metres)

[howiesrail]

A Ride On Switzerland's Gornergrat Bahn

A ride on the Gornergratbahn, a mountain railway from Zermatt to Gornergrat station with it's amazing views of the Matterhorn.

My first collaboration with Video Mitch, using our combined video from an amazing trip we enjoyed together.

The train, made up of two twin unit railcars, constantly grids uphill on the rack railway, from Zermatt (1605 metres) to the summit at Gornergrat (3,089 metres)

[withabackpackandcamera]

October 15th, 2021

Day 14: Hiking To See The Toblerone Chocolate Mountain

This morning, we had breakfast at the hotel before walking into town to catch the Gornergratbahn to the top of Gornergrat Mountain. The weather was beautiful and sunny this morning, making for an excellent day for hiking. The tram ride up to the Gornergrat was pretty cool. Along the way, we rode through different alpine landscapes sprinkled with some fall colors and saw nice, unobstructed views of the Matterhorn. 

While Cynthia and I were on the train and before we reached the top, we decided that we would first get off at the Rotenboden stop to see Riffelsee Lake, which was known for its beautiful reflections of the Matterhorn. Because we had skipped the opportunity to enjoy the sunrise views at Riffelsee Lake this morning, we wanted to at least see the lake before conditions soured and you couldn’t see good reflections of the Matterhorn. So we jumped off and hiked down to see Riffelsee Lake. We spent time there taking photos and enjoying the morning views there before hiking back up to the station and catching the next train up to the top of the Gornergrat. 

It was decently crowded at the top of the mountain. Everyone, like us, was there to see the epic, snowy mountaintop and glacier views that stretched out for miles in every direction you looked. We explored the top and even stopped by the virtual reality center called “Zooom The Matterhorn” to see the exhibit there and to try out the multimedia VR paragliding experience it offered. It was pretty cool! 

Once we were done with the Gornergrat summit, we started our planned hike and descent down to Riffelberg, a supposed short, almost-entirely downhill hike that ended up being a whole lot longer than we expected (probably because we took a wrong turn somewhere along the way, made a bunch of stops for photos, and had to deal with tricky areas of ice and snow). Anyhow, we hiked from the summit down toward Riffelsee Lake and then, from there, all the way down to Riffelberg Station. The views along the trail were amazing! The landscape was so unique and the views of the Matterhorn were breathtaking! Because of the many times we stopped for photos, it ended up taking more than three hours to get down. By the time we arrived back in town, we’d spent around six hours of our day on the mountain! A productive and worthwhile day! Especially since we paid so much for the tickets to the top (though we did get them at half-price with our Swiss Travel Flex Passes). 

Once we were back in Zermatt, because we had activated our Swiss Travel Flex Passes for the day, we made our way over to check out the Zermatlantis Museum, one of the museums that we had missed out on visiting yesterday due to our random, last-minute itinerary changes. I’m glad we made it down in time to see the Zermatlantis Museum because it was a treasure trove of interesting history and cool exhibits. 

By the time we finished at the museum, the sun was starting to dip in the sky. Because it was already getting late and we were so close to sunset with a potentially great show in store, I convinced Cynthia to stick around Zermatt until sunset so I could rush back up to the viewpoint for a second attempt at sunset photos of Zermatt and the Matterhorn. And so I did. With Cynthia choosing to hang out at the hotel, I ran up to the same spot we visited the other night and took some photos of sunset. The scene I saw tonight was a little better than the one I saw two nights ago, thankfully. I didn’t stay to take photos for long and before I knew it, I was running back down to the hotel. Because I happened to come across a train with an earlier departure time than the train we had originally planned on boarding (this earlier train was much more conducive to our tight evening schedule), I ran into the hotel and grabbed our stuff and rushed a calm-but-now-annoyed Cynthia over to the train station to catch the earlier-than-planned train toward Interlaken, our next stop on the trip through Switzerland. 

After a crowded, standing-room-only train ride and a slightly longer-than-expected, windy bus ride that was also standing-room-only, we finally arrived at Interlaken. From the bus station, we walked and lugged our bags for several blocks before reaching our AirBnB for the next three days. Once we had dropped off our stuff, we quickly left the apartment in search of dinner. Because we hadn’t had any food to eat since breakfast, we were starving for something warm and yummy and ultimately made our way over to Aare Korean BBQ, a highly-rated Korean restaurant in town. There, we enjoyed the Kimchi Pancake, Spicy Pork Bulgogi, White Rice, and Veggie Fried Rice for dinner at 10:30pm. The food was alright but because we were hungry and were craving not-so-heavy Asian food, it was good enough. Anyhow, thinking back, it was a good thing that we made it to the Zermatt station in time to catch an earlier train to Interlaken today because doing so saved us 45 minutes and provided us with enough time on the backend to make it to Aare for dinner before it closed. Lucky! 

We walked back to the AirBnB after dinner and were welcomed with no hot water for the evening. Ugh. Because of that, we had to wash up and make hot water the old fashioned way. After cleaning up, we spent some time figuring out the next few days in the Interlaken area before heading to bed to rest and recharge our tired bodies. What a long but productive day. 

5 Things I Learned/Observed Today:

1. The first ascent of the Matterhorn, standing tall at 4478m, was completed on July 14th, 1865 by Edward Whymper and his crew of climbers and guides. Unfortunately, that amazing feat was overshadowed by the tragedy that took the lives of four of the team members as they were making their way down the mountain as a group. The only survivors were the now-famous Edward Whymper and the Taugwalder father and son mountain guide duo. The stories that Whymper later shared with the world after the tragedy were told in a way that made him look better and blamed the Taugwalders for the tragedy. To this day, people aren’t exactly sure what happened and who was really at fault because so many different accounts of the story have been fabricated and passed along since then. 

2. When you’re at the summit of Gornergrat Mountain, you’re surrounded by 29 four-thousand-meter peaks (also called four-thousanders). SO MANY! 

3. The four faces of the pyramidal peak of the Matterhorn correspond exactly to the cardinal directions on a compass. So the faces of the peak face north, south, east, and west! That’s pretty wild! 

4. The rock composition of the Matterhorn summit is African in origin and consists entirely of remnants of the African tectonic plate. Crazy how things have moved and shifted on the Earth over a very, very long period of time. 

5. Zermatt was just a simple farming village in 1847. Up until the 1920s, most of the clientele that visited Zermatt were rich Brits. And until 1927, tourists only came to Zermatt in the summer when the weather was nice. By 1975, Zermatt, the farming village, had become a world-famous resort area. How tourism can quickly change the landscape and economy of an area.

[czechthecount]

Up to the Matterhorn..

..featuring @tamingthetides and some random old lady

[gakutravel]

世界一周中、ユングフラウヨッホへの鉄道、往復24000円と高額で、長期旅中の感覚では高いと思って行くの諦めたけど... もうなかなか行く機会無いのに... そんな行かなかった後悔結構多い。 写真はゴルナーグラート鉄道 #Gornergratbahn #ゴルナーグラート鉄道 #マッターホルン #世界一周 #スイス #鉄道 #ユングフラウヨッホ #ユングフラウ #アイガー #aroundtheworld #メンヒ #nikonphotography #Swiss #🇨🇭#アレッチ氷河 #スイス鉄道 #日テレ (Swiss Alps) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNFSeuZjfTF/?igshid=13cdk1x3zmixq

[jx0]

#Gornergratbahn #深き霧まとう    #立秋    #文月        #August #Swiss #Wallis #Zermatt (Gornergrat,zermatt) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1cLEXmHb7e/?igshid=tsc6fxi63mm1

[theworldfromthesky-blog]

Photo taken from the mountain station Gornegrath, with the Matterhorn in the Background. The station can be reached by the rack railway from Zermatt with the Gornergrath-Matterhorn Bahn. Follow: @theworldfromthesky1 Website: www.theworldfromthesky.com YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/theworldfromthesky #europe #switzerland #switzerland🇨🇭 #alps #aerialphotography #dji #djiglobal #beautiful #djidrone #drone #snow #instadrone #winter #mountains #skyhilife #crosscountryskiers #fiesch #aletsch #valais #gornergratbahn #gornergrat #dronephotography #dronestagram #dronefly #djimavicpro #wallis #matterhorn https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv4b-z3n4Yt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=e5o945j8gttg

[cedricfavero]

Moonlight ski ride from the Gornergrat #switzerland #valais #zermatt #gornergrat #toursim #travel #Moonlight #event #gornergratbahn #matterhorn #klumhotel

[carlosbritosuisse]

#hotel #MonteRosa #massiv #paradies #schwarzsee #schweizer #kanton #wallis #bezirk #visp #mattertal #matterhorn #glacier #gemeinde #zermatt #zermattmatterhorn #zermattswitzerland #zermattunplugged #geschichte #gornergratbahn #ski #klettern #snowboarding #travelblogger #influencer #cbsbrito (à Zermatt Matterhorn) https://www.instagram.com/p/CloNJTuImPU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[natures-moments]

Descent of the Gornergratbahn, Switzerland

[howiesrail]

The Gornergrat Bahn, Switzerland

The Matterhorn Railway

The Gornergrat Bahn, a rack railway from Zermatt to Gornergrat, 3,093 metres above sea level, with fantastic views across to The Matterhorn.

[withabackpackandcamera]

October 14th, 2021

Day 13: A Day Full of Castles and Museum 

This morning, the only reason we woke up earlier than 10am was because we wanted to make it to the hotel breakfast. Otherwise, we would’ve just slept in to recharge our very low batteries despite all the plans we had made to wake up early to get an early start. Sometimes, waking up early when you’re weary is just not realistic. Anyhow, the hotel breakfast this morning was OK. It was a continental breakfast with a little more variety and stuff than usual. Once we were done at breakfast, we headed out for the train station to buy our Swiss Travel Flex Pass for use on 8 nonconsecutive days. 

Once we had purchased our passes, we changed the plans we had originally settled on yesterday evening. Instead of taking the Gornergratbahn today to the top of the mountains and hiking, we decided to get out of Zermatt and explore another nearby town and its museums to make the most of our train pass for the day. The original plan was to visit Sion and see all of the museums there that offered free admission with our Swiss Travel Pass. But because it was a nice day and we had unlimited free train rides today and Cynthia really wanted to check out the Chateau de Chillon (even though we had originally decided to skip Chateau de Chillon because of how far it was from the places we were planning to go), we changed our mind and took the train far past Sion to Veytaux to see Chateau de Chillon, the picturesque medieval castle sitting on the edge of Lake Geneva.

It was funny that I found myself back at Chateau de Chillon because it was actually my second time seeing this castle. The first time I saw the castle was back in 2013 when I was backpacking through Switzerland as I made my way through Europe. At the time, I didn’t have money I was willing to spend on a castle visit so I never entered and, instead, looked around the outside castle walls and took photos of the picturesque dock right outside of the castle (a photo that now hangs on my apartment wall as a canvas). So it was nice to return to Chateau de Chillon and actually enjoy the experience of exploring the castle, its architecture, and its history. And it was awesome roaming through the halls and staircases of the surprisingly large castle for a good two hours and reading all about its history, its tenants, and its importance to the area. 

We could’ve spent much more time at the castle but because we still wanted to make it to Sion in time to see some museums there, we rushed through the end of our castle tour in order to catch one of the infrequent trains back to Sion. We arrived in Sion around 4pm. With the museums that we wanted to visit set to close around 5pm, we ran from the train station through town to the nature museum first because it was the closest of the museums. Because all of the infographics and information placards were in French (and because I didn’t realize that I had been handed an English pamphlet translating all of that information), we breezed through the museum and its different animal exhibits in about 15 minutes, giving us plenty of time to hit up the art museum located right around the corner. Again, with very little time (about 30 minutes to be exact), we sped through the 8 or so different floors and exhibits of art, taking some time every now and then to enjoy and appreciate the art installations and paintings. Whew, what whirlwind museum stops today! But luckily, we saw what we needed to see and made the most of an activated travel pass day!

After the museum visits, we strolled through the streets of downtown Sion and enjoyed how different this town looked and felt compared to Zermatt. A nice addition to the day’s random itinerary. Before long, we got very hungry. We walked around looking for affordable places for dinner and ultimately stopped at La Regal’ette Creperie Bretonne. Though expensive, the crepes we ordered (the Crepe Armen (scrambled eggs, cheese, ham, and mushrooms) and Crepe Bigoudene (mozzarella, spicy salami, tomatoes, and basil)) were pretty good. 

The rest of the evening was spent taking the train back into Zermatt. Once we were home, we called it a night with plans to get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow to give ourselves enough time to enjoy some mountain adventures. 

5 Things I Learned/Observed Today:

1. During the Savoyard epoch, the Chillon region was rich and populated. The local population would pay the lord at the castle taxes and dues and usually these taxes were paid in the way of food items and drinks, especially wine. Because of its great and strategic location, the castle itself served as a crossing point and trading post for many. For example, it was an important tollgate on the route between Lombardy (in northern Italy) and France. Many merchants would cross through this area and pay their tolls and taxes in order to transport their goods, which consisted of anything from wool and linens to metal and wax objects to dried herring and salt. 

2. In Chillon Castle and other medieval castles, the primary function of latrines was for the disposal of human excrement and other waste matter. At Chillon Castle, there were two types of latrines: latrines with an internal outlet and bay-window latrines. Each had its advantages and disadvantages in case of an attack on the castle. Latrines with an internal outlet had the advantage of being completely concealed within the thickness of the wall and only offered minimum weak points for assailants; however, its disadvantage came from the possibility of it being used as a means of entry for enemies who were brave enough to climb through poop and waste to get into the castle (Chillon Castle didn’t have this issue since the outlets led right into the lake waters). As for bay-window latrines, their advantages came from its usefulness in providing a firing position for those within the castle; however, it was also a weak point in the castle’s defense system because it provided enemies with a foothold for climbing the castle walls and made for an obvious target for bombardment. 

3. Different types of body protection and armor for soldiers changed with time based on what people were hit or shot at with. For example, chain mail armor and mail hauberk were helpful against arrows and sharp-edged weapons but became obsolete once people figured out how to fire stuff at you with gunpowder. Yeah, I can see how gunpowder could spark a change in fighting fashion. 

4. For the Swiss Travel Pass, in order to get free admission into the museums that allow free entry with the Swiss Travel Pass, you must go to the museums on a validated or confirmed travel day. So if you plan to use it on a day you don’t plan to travel around, you either can’t go to the museum for free or you’ll use up a travel day. Be careful with your planning so that you can maximize your dedicated travel days without wasting any opportunities. 

5. Sometimes, the train guy (maybe he’s the conductor?) stamps holes into the date you wrote down for designated travel. That’s probably how they keep track of what days you’ve used on your Swiss Travel Pass if you have a non-electronic, paper ticket.