Switzerland has been voted, once again, as the happiest country in the world (and since we're on the topic of awards, my post about Slovenia was selected as blog post of the day. Yay, go me!).
https://steemit.com/travel/@haylienonearth/slovenia-stole-my-shhhh-don-t-tell-anyone
After visiting Switzerland myself, it wasn't hard to see why it has won such a title. If I lived there, I would be as happy as a pig in muck. I'd be sitting outside my wooden house, eating my bodyweight in chocolate, yodelling to my herd of mountain goats.
Our first stop in Switzerland, was Zurich. By chance, the night we arrived, there was a festival themed around love. Thousands of people joined together, drinking and dancing as hundreds of floats, with DJ’s playing music drove through the streets. It was a pretty cool atmosphere. The morning after, was much more placid, I'm happy to say. After all, I am approaching 30 and I favour the quieter nights in life!
We then headed by train to Lucerne. Lucerne is an old medieval town, built around a lake, with a stunning backdrop of mountains.
It is one of the cleanest places, I have ever been. The same can be said for all of Switzerland. They really seem to care about our planet. They are so hot on recycling, I think that the world needs to follow their example.
We spent a good few days here. We mixed in hiking, sightseeing through the old town, chilling by the lake and also a day road tripping through the Swiss Alps.
The old town has a beautiful medieval wooden bridge, covered in bright flowers. As you walk along, you can smell them, it truly is a delightful experience.
After a stroll along the bridge, I highly recommend a few beers by the lake to watch the sunset (Quollfrisch is a cheap Swiss beer and is very tasty)!
The best places to take photos, are like anywhere, up high. There are many easily accessible hiking trails (some are not so demanding either), to get you to the high points, without actually going up into the Alps. These trails give you incredible views of the lake. I liked this particular one, as we had to walk through a Swiss farm to get to the viewpoint.
We were staying with great hosts, who hired a car and drove us through the Swiss Alps, this took around four hours in total. Mostly because we kept stopping to take photos. There are too many great photo opportunity spots to count. So many glaciers and waterfalls, just waiting to be snapped. We would of stopped the car every two minutes if we could have, but you kind of just have to pick the best of the best. It was great driving through with people who had driven them many times, as they knew where all the best lookout points were.
I didn't think life could get any sweeter to be honest. Until, that is, we spent the next few days in Murren, a traditional Swiss mountain village. Which you have to access by cable car. It's so tucked up out of the way. It's the most magical experience to stay up there, in the Alps. No photograph will ever do it justice, you just have to see and feel it with your own soul. The air is so fresh, it's like breathing for the first time. Every time I would glance at the mountains, they would look better than the last time I had looked at them. I loved them in every light. Sunrise, midday, sunset and everything in-between.
I've never stayed somewhere which connected with my soul so much. If I were a town, I would hands down be Murren. I could easily call it home.
We walked to Gimmelwald, which is a carless village not far from Murren. Again, it is hidden high up in the mountains, and I think you will agree with me, that the views are stunning.
We drank fresh mountain water from the drinking fountain and it was like nothing I've ever tasted. It reminded me of that scene in The Waterboy where he drinks the water and he's healed.
We came across this cute little honesty shop, with no shop tellers, it's based on the trust that you will leave the money for the goods you take. I loved the pureness of it.
After leaving the Alps, we stayed in the town of Interlaken. Our accommodation was a wooden pod in a campsite, which was on the riverbank. We called it 'the love pod'. Well, it was rather cozy!!
The weather had been so kind to us up until that day. We ended our stay in Switzerland, watching a thunder and lightning storm, from inside the love pod, drinking beers whilst eating junk food. Bliss.
Overall, I knew that Switzerland would be beautiful, but in real life, it is truly spectacular. It is definitely one of the more expensive places to visit, but it is so, so worth it. It's landscape is still mostly untouched and it's magical. It absolutely oozes charm.
Peace out
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46.560437 lat 7.892997 long Murren Switzerland it's magical check it out! D3SCR