Switzerland was in my wishlist to visit since a couple of years ago. Some friends moved there and had invited me, and a Toastmasters Conference provided the perfect excuse to spend a few days visiting this beautiful, small and extremely expensive country. 10 days had to do it, starting in Zurich visiting Elena and Hendrick, and ending in Winterthur with the Toastmasters conference.
When I organized the days in between, I selected several cities to visit and only one mountain spot. After having seen them, I regret I had not put more mountain destinations in the agenda. Switzerland is really well organised for the travellers, and even solo travellers as me. Trains are expensive, but somehow affordable with some planning ahead, and you can get anywhere (even to the actual mountains) thanks to their dense network, which works like a Swiss clock.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do… and so we did as the Swiss do: we went hiking to a mountain. In this case, we started with Mount Pilatus in Luzern: which was my first experience with the Swiss Alps, where mountains welcomes thousands of visitors, especially from Asia, who want to get as high as possible, with the least effort… And they can do it: it is just a matter of money. Most mountains have a cablecar which takes you to the summit or to any intermediate stop, for a ridiculous amount of money. In the information office, you receive a map with all the possible routes, which are clearly marked on ground too.
We took the cablecar to an intermediate station and walked up to the next one. The main goal was not climbing to the summit, but getting to see the Lake Lucerne. We succeeded, and enjoyed lunch in a remote part of the track with amazing views. When we reached the upper station, we also had some fun riding the longest sommerroddelbahn (a dry toboggan, where you ride a wheeled cart) in Switzerland, before the rain took the scene and we had to go back by cablecar.
The day after, it was time to visit Zurich, although the day was not very pleasant (cloudy, cold and even rainy), and that did influence my perception of the city: just another German-like one, except for the huge lake (Zurichsee), which provides the city with an extra dose of charm. Our walk included Banhofstrasse, with all the extremely-expensive shops were lined up; walk up to Lindenhof to enjoy an interesting view of the city, and the mandatory visit to the main churches in the Fraumünster, Grössmünster and St.Peterskirche, which has the biggest clock in Europe (where else!?).
In the evening, we climbed Uetliberg, which is one of the mountains surrounding Zurich, with a good view over the city. Actually, we took a train to the summit, and we walked down back, climbing one mountain per weekend is already a lot.
After Zurich, I headed to Lausanne, a beautiful city by the Geneva lake. It has a nice city centre with plenty of slopes. It was a grey day and I devoted the morning to the Olympic museum, which I do recommend to everybody. During the afternoon, walking around the city, suddenly the sun found some space among the clouds, and locals started to enjoy every minute of sunshine as they could, like that girl who spontaneously sat on the grass with her coffee-to-go for a few minutes before resuming her way back to work or school.
Then, I took a train towards Interlaken, and this was probably the most beautiful train route from all the ones I saw. The tracks were on the upper part of a hill that started in the lake and that was full of vineyards, the sun was setting, and the local commuters had that face of tiredness and relax of those who finish a long working day.
Interlaken was the highlight of the week there: a small town between two lakes, and really close to the some of the highest mountains in Switzerland, and with all kind of activities to do (hiking, climbing, skiing, paragliding, …).
There are hundreds of hiking routes, so I decided to follow an advice I got in Zurich, and went for the Valley of the 52 Waterfalls: 6 km in a valley with the cliffs, typically formed by a glacier, and with waterfalls everywhere.
At the end of the valley, I took a cablecar to Schilthorn, a peak at almost 3000 metres where I could enjoy the breathtaking of three mountains over 4000 metres (Tiger, Münch and Jungfrau) emerging from a sea of clouds. This place happened to be under construction when a James Bond movie asked them to record part of it there, and the movie investment was the last boost it needed.
On my way back, I took a different path, stopped in Mürren and walked back on the upper part of the cliffs through the trees, in a route of 7 km with a significant slope down.
Before arriving to Winterthur, there was time for a stop in Lucerne, this time with a more city tourism approach. Lucerne is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Switzerland, and I do agree on this evaluation: difficult to compete with a medieval town in such a wonderful location, amid high mountains, and at the lakeside… Lucerne is an easy spot to visit, as the size is not very big, but its city centre, the Musseg Wall and the Chapel Bridge do deserve some time to wander and enjoy.
The last stop was Winterthur, which hosted the Toastmasters conference. Winterthur is a city north of Zurich, whose main highlights are some art and photo museums (which i could not visit as the only free day was Monday) and the revitalised Sulzer factory which is now home of offices and plenty of different businesses.
Although I had saved Monday to visit the city, we ended up in a small tour to two interesting spots near the German border: the Rheinfall, Europe’s largest plain waterfalls, and Stein am Rhein, a cozy and well-preserved medieval town near the Lake Constance, which made it a perfect climax for this interesting trip to a new country.
When taxi is not even an option to get to your accommodation from the airport, you already know you are in a very special place. This is the case for Venice, a city occupying completely over 100 islands, where cars have no access, and transportation looks to the water: private boats, vaporettos (the Venice equivalente to buses), water taxis, or romantic gondolas.
As the agenda for the weekend looks quite busy with little time for sightseeing, I decide to get up early and explore the city for a couple of hours before breakfast, and a couple of early bird colleagues join me. This happens to be a great decision, as this city of 60,000 inhabitants hosts an average of 100,000 daily visitors, which remove part of its charm, and none of them are there before breakfast. The city is almost ours.
In the early morning, Venice is an empty city. The narrow streets are only populated by some young people who come back from crazy party nights out, runners seizing the few hours without intense heat, some people unloading boats with goods for the bars and restaurants, and photographers looking for the best light for their postcard pictures. They are not the only photographers you see, as the still calm Piazza San Marco hosts a number of brides and grooms photo sessions, especially Asian ones.
When we arrive to the Gran Canal, an image strikes us: a huge cruise is being towed by two tugboats through the canal. Later we will see several posters announcing a referendum for limiting the access of those huge boats to Venice canale. Our local colleague explains us that Venice is considering limiting also the number of tourists a day, by asking for an access fee.
If you are planning to go to Venice, take just one advice: avoid the tourists, even if you are one of them… it is worth it.
We could not stop looking to the elderly couple sitting in front of us in our hotel in Udaipur during our first breakfast there. We do not consider India as an easy destination for grown-up but young people as us, and were surprised of their presence there. Of course, we started talking to them, and they told us they were staying in Udaipur for a few weeks in their several months long trip in India. We did not know what was more surprising: them staying for a few months in India, or more than 3 days in a small city as is.
The reason to stay long in Udaipur became clear to us after we explored it. It is a nice and modern town, which gives more space to the tourist to decide (space in the most physical and straightforward meaning of the word), and with beautiful surroundings, while having a stress-free time. A good holiday destination, and perfect rest place for this couple who live in Canada, but were originally French and German, and who have been all around the Globe.
Leaving the hotel, we went down through the street which was a ghat, a street leading to the water of the lake. Surprisingly enough, we found a group of around 200 people, dressed up with their colourful dresses in what seemed to be a religious celebration. People were happy, and the children asked us to take pictures of them (and also with them).
All this happened near the Pichola lake next to which lies Udaipur, and which has several palaces around and in the middle of it. One of them is one of the most expensive hotels in the world, and it is literally in the middle of the lake: the only way to access it is by boat. A boat similar to the one we took to see Udaipur from the water, and see what else had the lake to offer (not much after all).
The evening was the most entertaining one in the whole trip. Thanks to our friends from Canada, we booked a traditional dance spectacle and it did exceed our expectations. The dancers danced with huge pots on their heads, with rhythmic and precise movements while juggling with their hands. Apart from the dance, we also enjoyed a small theater play, and a puppet show. The theater plot was about one of the Hinduism Gods, Shiva, and is one of the ways, Hinduism traditions were made popular to everyone. After the spectacle, we spoilt ourselves with a nice dinner in an amazing rooftop restaurant at the lakeside.
There are many ways to visit and live India, and there are many Indias. Delhi is not Varanasi, Varanasi is not Agra, and Agra is by no means Udaipur. It is now up to you to decide what to see. At least, you can decide.
Jaipur is the market of India. The main streets in the city form a huge bazaar: shops after shops, making your life easy to buy anything you think of. As a tourist it has a couple of spots within the city border, but the main reason to come here is the Fort Amber (what else) a few kilometres away.
I have observed a phenomenon in many parts of the world, and Jaipur was not an exception: similar businesses tend to concentrate in closer areas. You can find a street where you can only buy fabrics, another one full of shoes, some others full of kitchen accessories… There must be a good reason for all this, but theoretically, as my friend Luis says when promoting his website: you do not want to have your direct competitor so easily reachable by your customer, do you?
While wandering around the streets behind the bazaars we stumbled with the Maharaja’s Palace, which had a big poster announcing the 18th birthday of the Maharaja. Some research on the topic showed us that although the Maharajas in India have no more political power, they still have influence, respect, and especially wealth. Near this palace, we found the Hawa Mahal, a beautiful building with significantly colourful windows, facing a main street in Jaipur. The purpose of this building was no other than allowing the women from the Court enjoy the life and processions in the city without being seen. Things change for good.
The actual main attraction in Jaipur is the Fort Amber, probably the most remarkable fort in India, not only for its location, but also for the decorations inside. You can reach the fort entrance either by walking, or riding an elephant (although there are a lot of voices against the treat that have these animals), or even by some jeeps… We went for a walk and was not that tough.
Jaipur is not a must in India, but a needed and welcome stop in such a long trip. This happened in several places (we had plenty of time to rest), and hotels with nice rooftops are always a safe bet to recover energy before our next and last destination in India…
After the oasis in Khajuraho and Orchha’a, Agra meant going back to the India we had known a few days before: big city, traffic, and noise. Agra was the capital of the Mogul empire for a century, and the heritage of that time makes them be a popular destination for travellers all around the world: the Taj Mahal. One of the non-argued Wonders in the world, and which can be a reason on itself to put India as your next destination.
The Taj Mahal is considered one of the most expensive and beautiful (from a material perspective) proofs of love in the history of Humankind. It was ordered to be built by the Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his wife. A colossal white marble building that can be seen from several spots in Agra, and which looks fascinating from all of them. If you see the video, you can see one of the most hair-raising moments of the trip, when you cross a gate and the Taj Mahal appears in front of you… It is hard not to immerse into the picture-taking hysteria around you. When getting closer to the building itself, you are jealous of not being able to take the same famous picture as Lady Di with an empty complex, although we did a homage to it.
As this was one of the main drivers to come to India, we carefully planned our stay in Agra around Taj Mahal. We stayed just 1 km away from the least crowded gate in a hotel with a swimming pool with views to the Wonder, we made sure not to be the day it closes, and we were before the daybreak to make sure we could avoid the hordes of visitors, and if possible, we could see the magic building change its look minute by minute, as the sun lights it from different angle. Some piece of advice for you regarding this: if the day is foggy (quite frequent), there will be no such thing as those changes, and it may not be worth to get up that early. Moreover, instead of queuing to be the first ones, you can easily be there 30 minutes after they open the complex, and you will avoid queues… If you are not a morning person, don’t thank me for this advice.
The century of ruling the Empire from Agra left the city a few more stimulating spots apart from the Taj Mahal. Its fort is one of the most refined ones in our stay, as it incorporated styles and tastes from different dynasties, which combined the red and the white stones with a noteworthy result. Also, if it was not for the proximity of the Taj Mahal, the known as Baby Taj would be a major highlight in Agra.
Before leaving to Jaipur, also by car, we asked the driver to stop in the Fatehpur Sikri complex, which is in the outskirts of Agra. This complex lies in a high hill, and it is formed by a fort (yet another one!), and a mosque. The fort is a concatenation of buildings and vast halls, with very few people inside. If I were more into art or architecture, I may have discovered the subtle differences with the other forts in India… but it is not the case. On the other hand, the mosque was a terrific choice. Its entrance, facing a vast valley, and steep steps gives you the feeling of entering a rural major mosque, full of tourists, and probably because of that, full of activity.
A pleasant way to finish our visit to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, which we will for sure remember regardless of how many years go by. A more than justified Wonder of the World.