I present my report dedicated to my first trip to Switzerland. It was my first solo trip in my life, which lasted six days and in terms of impressions and delight these were the brightest six days in my life. The trip was not without extreme and adventures, since on the very first day it turned out that my car was broken and the trip could end at any moment, but nevertheless everything worked out, although a couple of times I got so upset that I thought I would have to call a tow truck.
From this trip I brought about 5,000 photos and visited many interesting places, both those known to the mass tourist and those whose existence is known to few. In this photo story I will try to tell and show in detail what I saw and where I was.
I had not planned to take a vacation in August, since I had only been working for three months by that time and had not had time to get particularly tired, and I don’t like to travel at the height of the tourist season. But it turned out that my company has vacations in August and everyone is required to take vacations at that time. I learned this news two weeks before the vacation began, and it was too late to plan anything in advance. My brother was unable to join my trip, since he had an internship in August, and the friends I would have been happy to see with me on this tour were also unable to join me, since they already had their own plans. Thus, it became obvious that I would have to go on vacation alone, after which the question arose – where?
I didn't want to spend a lot of time on the road, so I started looking at neighboring countries. Switzerland was the closest to me, the border with which is located 50 kilometers from my town. I knew little about Switzerland and this country seemed boring to me through the prism of my stereotypes. I thought that everything there, like in Germany, was paved over, and civilization had penetrated even the most remote corners of the mountains. To figure out a couple of potential destinations, I went to the ru-travel community and read all the posts tagged "Switzerland" over the past two years. The posts disappointed me - there were the same places, a concentrate of tourist pop: a castle on the shores of Lake Geneva, Bern, Lucerne, Zurich, a couple more cities, a couple of popular resorts and that's it. It seemed that Russian tourists never stray from the beaten tourist paths. Scrolling through the reports, I did not see a single place that I would like to visit. However, I did add one to my list - the town of Zermatt and the nearby Gorgengrat peak. The places are pop, but very beautiful, and did not disappoint. I did not extract any more information from the posts of Russian-speaking bloggers about Switzerland, since they were mostly devoted to cities, and I was not interested in cities. Here my readers came to my aid, recommending several really interesting places that I included in the planned route.
I had only one day to think about my vacation program. As soon as my vacation began, a girl I knew came to visit me for a few days and I showed her the best places and cities on the shores of Lake Constance, so I had no time for the Internet at all. She left on Wednesday evening, and my departure was scheduled for Friday morning, so I had only one day to plan my trip. On Thursday morning, I woke up without knowing anything about Switzerland, and after spending three in the morning on the Internet, I put together an excellent travel program, which in the end turned out to be so wonderful, diverse and well-thought-out that I was proud of myself. I booked hotels at three in the morning, seven hours before departure. By the way, the prices for them turned out to be, contrary to my fears, the same as in Germany - 40-50 euros per night.
And so Friday came and I, taking with me a supply of food, water and alcohol, set off on my journey.
After passing fifty kilometers of German territory, I reach the border. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, so the border with the EU countries exists, but cars are stopped there very selectively. By the way, I forgot to take my passport with me, but in the entire six-day trip I saw the police only once, and no one stopped me at the border.
And here I am in Switzerland. The northern part of Switzerland is almost no different from the south of Baden-Württemberg, the same architecture, the same fields and towns.
The area is extremely boring, although Lake Constance is nearby, but its Swiss coast is extremely dull, unlike the German one.
Very soon the landscape becomes more diverse – the foothills of the Alps begin.
The further south I go, the higher the foothills become.
After half an hour of driving, real mountains already appear on the horizon and an impatient anticipation of meeting them reigns in my soul. After all, until now I have only been in the Crimean Mountains and near the Neuschwanstein Castle. And all this is not quite the same caliber. This trip should introduce me to real mountains with snow-capped peaks, glaciers and heights that I have never been to before.
The weather is nice, the ride is easy and joyful.
The landscape becomes more interesting with every kilometer of the journey south.
It soon becomes difficult for me to concentrate on driving as the beauty passing by outside the windows becomes difficult to tear my eyes away.
On the go, I’m learning to do two things at the same time – drive a car and take photos.
Soon, picturesque forested cliffs begin outside the windows.
The Swiss autobahns are beautiful. The transport system of this small mountainous country is perfected to perfection and is a joy to use.
Fines for speeding in Switzerland are huge. At first I was afraid to go faster than 120 km/h, as is the norm on the autobahns, but then, seeing that the locals were going 140 and 150, I stepped on the gas pedal harder. I did get a fine for this trip, but it happened on the way back home.
At the beginning of the journey, I was not yet tempted by the mountains and such landscapes evoked a storm of the most enthusiastic emotions in my soul.
The towns lying at the foot of the mountains seem completely toy-like.
If you remove the mountains from the background, the landscape will not be much different from the area where I live. But the presence of mountains completely transforms the picture.
I pass a city whose appearance shatters all stereotypes about Switzerland. If it weren't for the mountains in the background, it could easily be mistaken for one of the outskirts of Dresden or another East German city.
However, this is the city of Chur, the capital of the canton of Graubünden. In fact, the city is beautiful, judging by the pictures on the Internet, but from the side of the autobahn it looks like you see in these photos.
The main city landmarks are two high-rise towers.
From time to time along the road you come across beautiful little churches...
… and even small castles.
Swiss perfectionism.
Soon the tunnels begin. The closer to the mountains, the more often you will encounter them on the way.
The motorway was surprisingly deserted, considering it was a weekday and this was the only transport artery in the area.
Source: travel.ru
