The Charm of Chamonix!!

Inside a Swizz train coach, I occupy a window seat, through the pane my eyes graze over alps while images of Zermatt in the past occupying much of present in my mind. The affair with Alps continues from Zermatt to Chamonix (pronounced as Sha-mo-nee).

Geography: Chamonix is placed beautifully in the middle of french alps close to swizz border.

Language: French, English

Currency: Euro

Getting There: It's 2 hours from Geneva by bus. Mont Blanc express train is from Martigny in Swizz. It's about 2 hours fro another beautiful French town Annecy.

What's famous here: Mont Blanc, Aiguille Du Midi, Montenvers

My Story:
The 2 hour ride from Geneva to Chamonix din't seem like what clock showed. Along with me, some students from England were asking curious questions to a lady who's home is Chamonix. She works in Geneva and she visits Chamonix every week, who else is better to guide us about French alps.
she has descended Aiguille Du Midi 45 times. I have mentioned before that I have this disease of wanting to climb every mountain I see. I got inevitably inspired by her to trek Aiguille Du Midi. A big thanks to her.

At night 10 pm when I got down from the bus and looked around, I was stunned to see panorama of mountains circled around me. The ice caped peaks were still glowing in the dark. I had goosebumps within minutes of lading in Chamonix. Never before I have been beautifully intimidated by mountains as here.
I snuggled down into my bed in an old lovely Chalet hostel.

Sun rays were fighting its way to touch earth in the early morning fog as I sipped hot coffee sighting snow caped mountains from the dine table in hostel. The climate seemed perfect for my intentions.

However huge a mountain is when you view it from a distance your chin doesn't go up, but here in Chamonix you have to lift your chin up to check out the massif. I'm trying to shape your imagination to the best extent in saying that the mountains are very close to us and the vertical ascend is pretty steep.

My Hostel in Chamonix

Village of Chamonix

Village of Chamonix

Village of Chamonix

After a chat with the hostel person asking for suggestions and things to do, tips and tricks of the place, i was all set to ascend the alps (again).

On the way to Cable car station

I reached the station of cable cars that can take me to Aiguille Du Midi. These are one of the highest cable car systems operating in world. We need to take 2 cables cars to reach the top. The first one covers 80% of distance and the second one, designed to just ascend very steeply in the final 20% of the climb.
Take a moment to realize that you are in one of the highest places on planet Earth.

Aiguille Du Midi

Unbelievable Scene 

You get a clear view of Mont Blanc from Aiguille Du Midi which is just right opposite to you.It is the highest peak in Europe.

Mont Blanc

I spent some hours in the top moving around the peak and experiencing pureness of such nature. There are no second thoughts, I will be trekking down to the bottom from here. It showed 3 hrs walk to Montenvers in the sign board. In minute weather changed and It had just started to snow very lightly.
Inhaling the adventure at every step, surrounded by massive massive alps I was in love with this page of my life. We get amazing views from the top, rivers can be spotted, roads and valleys from one of the highest mountain ranges, this is truly satisfying. I took a break where i could meet some fellow walkers, some of them told me that they were doing this for 5th, 7th time and I could really feel why people do this descend many times. This honestly is one of the best hiking paths that I have taken.

Trekking View

Trekking Path

From the top

Through some snow, rocks, around boulders, mud and forest, I reached Montenvers. You get to see Mer de Glace, the largest glacier in Chamonix. There is also a museum which explains the formation of  glacier and its life cycle.
The Grand hotel in Montenvers is running from 1880, so there's quite some things unique to this place. Train from Montenvers started from early 1900's, so it was a old historical track that i will be setting foot on. A tiny vintage train brings us down by giving fabulous views of the village. I was tired and hungry, I found a lovely restaurant to feed myself and spent some time looking around.
I raced back to hostel to refresh and was back on streets to feel the evening vibe of the village. Evening grew and lights were lit, silhouette of mountains descending on the valley.

Valley

Panorama of Mountains

Picture perfect

Village of Chamonix

Village of Chamonix

Village of Chamonix

The streets were graceful in escorting me from one to another and letting me discover its charming secrets. I found a pizza shop which had lovely benches out in the cold, and i couldn't resist to try it out. Back to chalet hostel, recollecting the unbelievable day, I slipped into sleep.

During my breakfast on the next day, my hostel guy told me that he will give me a card. If we stay in Chamonix, all the hotels and hostels can give us a card which is valid in Mont Blanc express till the french border(Vallorcine), it is free of cost. Mont Blanc express is a train that connects Martigny in Switzerland and Chamonix in France. It is one of the most scenic routes in the continent. We need to change trains in Vallorcine when the train crosses the borders of countries.
I took the train and was speechless at the sight of scenery.

Route of Mont Blanc express

Train stops in plenty of villages which presents vivid colors and images that does not fade in our minds for a long long time.

Vallorcine

Vallorcine

I got down in Vallorcine, walked around the village. I Walked back to Le Buet which is another village near Vallorcine. You never get tired of hiking because of the new friend that would you have made here, the nature.

Between Vallorcine and Le Buet

Between Vallorcine and Le Buet

I took Mont Blanc express back to Chamonix, it had started to rain a little. Chamonix is a perfect place that has something for everyone, from kids to the old people. From Skiing to hikes to treks to sightseeing, there is plenty to do and experience here.
From here I take a bus that goes to Lyon through Annecy.

On the way to Annecy

Each place I go, takes a permanent place in my heart. Every place has its own special sunrise and sunset and it can be experienced only by being there.

Tips:

• Mont Blanc express train is a spectacular experience that can be taken from Martigny is Swizz to Chamonix in France.
• Cable car is good but while coming down i highly recommend you to trek down from the top.
• Take travel card from the hotel you stay, the travel is free in Mont blanc express till the France border.

-UR
uday.s7@gmail.com

I have Finally seen Paradise- Zermatt!!

Every Travel is a little madness!!
It liberates me like a bird getting out of a cage.

Geography: Zermatt is in the middle of Swizz alps. Nearest airport is in Geneva. It is 3.5 hours train ride from Geneva.

Language: German, French, English

Currency: Swiss franc

Getting There: You need to take a train to Visp. From Visp get on the bus that goes to Tasch. From Tasch its a 10 min train ride to Zermatt. Sometimes you get direct train to Tasch from Geneva. This is the route: Geneva->Visp->Tasch->Zermatt.

What’s famous here: Matterhorn, Gornergrat.

My Story:
Me and my travel buddy, our bags and our shoes, our tickets and maps..off to Geneva.
Zermatt is 3.5 hours ride from Geneva. The route from Geneva to Visp already started to arrest us with its massive mountain ranges, lakes and colorful vegetation. We continued the journey to Tasch from Visp in a bus.

Humongous chain of mountains, fairy tale bridges, alpine trees, river streams running in parallel to us, a scene beyond expectations laid out to be absorbed by us. A short 12 minute train got us from Tasch to Zermatt.
We got down from train with smiles. Zermatt is a no cars village, so you experience pureness of nature with no dilution. Started to walk in the direction of the hostel. Such pleasing views escorting us all along as we crawled from one street to another.

 And suddenly our first sighting of Matterhorn happened.
 Majestic and Gorgeous.

Dropped our bags in hostel and freshened up to get out. Chalet houses, colorful balconies, small roads, artistic shops, the village seemed just too perfect. It is impressively naive to any sort of disturbance.

We had early dinner and started to roam again. There's something very heartwarming and intimate about Zermatt, a tiny little place in the shadow of Alps. It's like the place hugs you when you arrive.  It's a wonderful feeling.
It got dark, we literally covered every single street in the ville, explored tiny roads that were leading nowhere. When lights are lit Zermatt has a different look all together, beautifully glowing in between alps. Some streets gave us an entirely different view in the dark. I can recall a street where we were greeted by a huge mountain in the dark, we stood there staring at it.

In a place like Zermatt, the relation between time and space becomes less relevant as it tends to freeze and you feel infinity.  We were not far from experiencing it. Chit chatting our way back to hostel late in the night awaiting the next rotation of Earth.

Sunlight through the window, sight of fall colors of Swizz before breakfast. We had picked up few spots from our previous day's exploration to check them in light. To simply stand there and absorb the meaning that place tries to convey is magical. Streets and tiny ascends, grass and cogwheel tracks, we covered them all.

It was close to 11 AM and my friend, she had to return due to an emergency. Zermatt and me were disappointed to continue and missed her for the remaining of the trip. Anyways, there are plenty more to come cos 15, 20  years later we would be chatting that the lunch in Zagreb is the best or buses in Capri are perhaps are the cutest....someone who steals window seat from me all the time and who won't flinch when I propose craziest of ideas.There are mountains and oceans waiting for us.

I purchased ticket to Gornergrat in cogwheel train. The plan was to reach the top of the ridge and stare at Matterhorn and come back half way in train and hike down the rest.
Train started to stammer and steadily pick pace to ascend Alps. This stretch is one of the highest cogwheel routes present in the entire world, the views are incredible. Got down at the top of Gornergrat to witness 32 mountains surrounding me.

 The mere relevance of me in that place and at that time, tamed my soul.
Moved around the top to explore different views, to simply inhale the air, to simply see everything around. I decided to hike the entire path from the top instead of half.

 I met Riffelsee Lake that got Matterhorn stunningly close through its reflection. Unreal sight.

God has sprinkled magic all over this place, I could see snow capped hills behind me, lake on my way, waterfalls somewhere far to my left, chain of mountains to the right and colors of fall when I see down from the top.

It was 12 kms from the top to the foot of Zermatt, I deserved a heavy meal. And I did find one.

Next Morning was as bright as you can imagine, pristine as much as it could be. I knew I had half a day to find the corners I had not been to and to hike as much as I can brushing shoulders with breeze. I decided to reach the opposite side to where I had been the previous day.
There is something about mountains that seduces me, I love to simply trek every single hill or mountain I see. If it's a disease, I hope there's no cure for it.
I started climbing one such hill, after one hour I reached a flat spot where there were centuries old stable. i walked past and had indescribable views.

I stood there, I sat there and had tears looking at what was around me.I had no reason, i felt nothing at all, it was a state beyond satisfaction, beyond content where my conscious mind could probably recognize but could not grasp the feeling. I felt so lucky to be standing, breathing in a place like this. For a brief amount of time I felt, this is it, is this the adventure I was waiting, it was question and answer at the same time.

I came down from the other side of  the hill, that showed me another track to hike, I continued.

I walked until I looked into my watch that yelled at me to return to train station.
I'll be continuing the Alps affair from Zermatt to Chamonix.

Zermatt is special, It has raised purity of my conscience.
It has increased my hunger for travel. Travel!! initially it might just be like old vacation, but as you go further you start discovering a new world, a world that we only read about or listen about and you start realizing where you are. You realize you have nothing but it is only now that you have everything.

Tips:

• Best time is undoubtedly fall. There is nothing like it, a very small enclosed yet so humongous place.
• If you are planning for Chamonix from here, there is train from Martigny to Chamonix called Mont Blanc express. Martigny is few stops after Visp when you are returning to Geneva.
• Just hike to any hill you see, any path you see, any lanes that you see, it will not disappoint you.

-UR
uday.s7@gmail.com

Capri's Crescendo of bliss!!

       An island lover's sacred dream is never too greedy when his destination is Capri. This is my second time to the old country that never fails to impress. As i write this, i'm still wobbling in the hangover of Capri.

Me and my travel bud, wearing our adventure skin, took off bending our light towards Napoli. There are convenient shuttles from airport to port in Napoli which we took to reach Mollo Beverello.
Humongous ships greeted us in the port. As high as skyscrapers the very sight of huge piece of iron floating in water was amazing to see. We hopped into our ferry, it slowly drifted away from land taking us deep into Mediterranean. We danced to the tunes of waves as Naples vanished out of sight. After an hour, We see to the left there were no islands close by, we see to the right there were none again, and all of a sudden as if a freaking huge pebble popped out of the ocean we could see a gorgeous trail of cliffs so close to us in the front. it came as sudden delight to our senses and there were smiles all around.
We had reached Capri-port Marina Grande.
To the right of the exit, there were ticket counters for bus, we had to reach Annacapri from the port. Anyone who comes here would not fail to admire the concept of small buses tailored to drive through small roads winding uphill and down.
We had to ascend from Marina Grande and with every turn the bus took we got insane view of hills stretching its arms inside the sea. A 20 min ride brought us to the pretty village. At the main street of Annacapri, We dropped our jaws cursing the people who made that street, for not letting us find words to describe how pretty the place really was. It was art, fashion and quaint architecture all speaking in unison.

Main Street in AnnaCapri

Capri had surpassed our imagination already.
The paths were tiny and the entire place was like a maze. We took some time to find out the house we had booked, succedding finally. After refreshing quickly we were back into the maze. On the way, we could not ignore a single shop in the street, they were beautifully desinged asking us to look at them again and again. This is the main street in Annacapri captivating our attention and not letting us go. It was colourful and artistic.
We decided to walk from Annacapri down to Marina Grande, mind you its quite some distance. There was a separate path for hikers, cutting through hills and running along boulders. It was already dark and the path was dimly lit. We were getting a fabulous night view of Capri from the top, carpet of sparkling lights spread all over. For about 40 mins we were talking some awesome shit throughout the hike and made our way down to the port. It gave us a great feeling when we looked back at the trail that we came through.

We learnt that Piazzetta is another 30 mins of walk uphill from Marina Grande, switched the gears and off we went. With little sweat dripping from our foreheads and little hunger growling inside our stomach we reached piazzetta. The entire walk was superb and i could say it was really one of the highlights for us in the trip.
Piazetta is the city center, it has all the big garment brands that you can imagine. Its a place made to people watch and be watched. We strolled absorbing the atmosphere chit chating, people watching and found a lovely place where we had our first Gelato in our trip. Slurping it, moved around in search of a nice restaurant to fill our growling stomach. After some confused contemplation between which restuarant to choose, we had a delightful Italian dinner in a fabulous restaurant.
Small bus got us back to Annacapri from Piazetta.
Capri's Reflections of our imaginations were prettrier than the imaginations itself only giving us hints of procrastinating its true exhibition of beauty.

I'm sure Sun was in the same eagerness as we were to show ourselves to Capri. After a quick breakfast, we were asked by a fellow tourist if we were willing to take open roof top cab with her until port, with no delay in deciding....hell yeah!! Breathtaking views along with morning sunlight tickling our senses got us all geared up. But to our unexpected uninvited shocker came a message that Blue Grotto was closed due to rough waves. Each morning they check if the waves a conducive for boats to enter the Grotto, it wasn't so on that day. We opted for an island tour and started to float in clear waters.

Island Tour

Mountains and clear waters are made for each other. You cannot fit nature in a picture, You should have seen cliffs in harmony with clear waters embracing sunlight with your own eyes.

It was a bliss standing in the corner of the boat watching them at right distance.

We came across the entrance of Blue Grotto, Green Grotto,light house, the villages in different part of the island with one main attraction waiting to descend upon us.

Boat went into small pockets of tiny bay's and cliffs in front of us were shielding the view that it awaits to dispense as our eyes were straying over the prospect.
It was an glorious sight as cliffs moved out of frame and The Faraglioni stood in the middle of clear waters. It took time for me to grasp the moment completely as i had never seen such insane form of nature right in front of my eyes.

 We were in the sea, I could a cliff popped out, theres a door in the cliff and we were about to enter that door. It was fantasy getting translated into reality. And my friend, she was in abysmal pleasent shock looking at high drama happening around.

We went through the door of Faraglioni and completed the perimeter of the island.

Majestic Faraglioni

We took a Funicular ride to Piazzetta from the port. Piazetta gave fabulous views and was full of people.
We can see many places where art blends with architecture but this is one place where art and architecure blends with fashion. There is fashion in the way its built and that is an unimaginably rare phenomenon.
After a slow peaceful lunch, we planned to go to the chairlift in Annacapri that takes us to Mt. Solaro. Line of chairs moving one behind another hanging in mid air. It was so playful yet so conscious in what it was giving us. It was a joyful experience sitting in chair in midair and moving slowly uphill.

Chair Lift to Mt. Solaro

Mt. Solaro is the highest point in Capri displaying the gorgeous Faraglioni from as high a bird can see. We trekked down the hill from the top to Annacapri in little jungle like path to our house for a break.

Back to the streets for some shopping and strolling. Back to Piazetta, some gelato and checking out restaurant for dinner.

We hoped that sea would be kind to us the next day to let us inside the Grotto.
We were ready early the next morning to check out Villa San Michele. The street came to life with crowd pouring in. After the visit, we vacated our house and dropped our bags near Marina Grande. Now then....We took a smaller boat taking us vertically much closer to sea, horizontally much closer to the mountains and emotionally much closer to our existence in Capri.
We waited for an hour outside the Grotto, saw many boats taking turns one by one to enter the little wonder. It was finally our turn to go. We hopped into the boat and the skipper rowed the boat in front of the entrance. We ducked a little while entering and the magic started to unfold. It was unbelievable what we were witnessing.

 The small aperture through which we entered squeezed sunlight and torched it to the waters lighting the floor completely blue. Capri now had trespassed its modesty and exhibited its flamboyance ferociously. We circled the cave as skipper explained about the Grotto. No photo can truly justify the sight inside the cave. We came out with numbness to reality experiencing love at first sight. This is how petals in mist would feel. Soaked in bliss.
We raced back to Marina Grande to take island tour again. We wanted to sit back and enjoy without taking pictures this time. An hour in the sea inhaling the gushing feel. By the time we finished the ride, i could feel the undercurrent of laughter that the place was emitting for its triump in winning us. We had some time left before our ride back to Naples. Visited Augustes Gardens and returned back in time. Spent sometime near the port, there was a small beach kind of area where we stood staring at the loyality of blue diamond that keeps coming to caress the shores feet. It was tough to get into the ship leaving Capri.
Got back to Naples having nice little conversation, reached our hostel and decided to go out. Our trip was not yet over, at 10pm we could see lot of people in the busy shopping street. It was here where Pizza was born, we would'nt forgive ourselves if we get out without tasting Pizza here.

Each minute in Capri were droplets of desire dripping on crystals of ashtonishment dissolving our yearning for island aura.
We walked, we sailed, trekked, took a open cab, took small bus, took boats, ships, flights, it was a full circle of a highly satisfying trip.
The craziness has melted and concealed passion now remains for Capri.

-UR
uday.s7@gmail.com