It was time to leave Aarberg in northwestern Switzerland, and travel south. Canton Fribourg, predominantly Catholic and French-speaking, lies across the zone between the German and French speaking parts of western Switzerland. Our first stop is the town of Gruyeres that gives its name to the famous cheese of that name.
The medieval town of Gruyeres has always been a rural town, and the region is still predominantly agricultural. But in recent years, it has become very touristy, with its scenic main drag featuring upscale shops. A major attraction is the Gruyeres Castle that was once occupied by the Savoys, a feudal territory that comprised what is now parts of western Switzerland, southeastern France, and northwestern Italy.
Next stop is another upscale resort town, Gstaad. With its high-end retail shops, one can only imagine what it is like during the height of the ski season with its rich and famous visitors. These touristy places are nice, but as far as I'm concerned, if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. I much prefer the working, more "normal" parts of the country.
Then it's through yet more spectacular mountain scenery, some snow now on the higher peaks, and down to the Rhone Valley and vineyard country. The vineyards that cover the steep hillsides and reach down to the highway are an impressive site, once again reminding us that, in Switzerland, nothing is wasted. Even land that isn't used for commercial or agricultural purposes is used to beautify the landscape.
We reach the town of Aigle where we visit the Badoux winery. We are treated to an informative lecture and a delightful session of sampling its great wines.
Now in southwestern Switzerland, we head back east along the Rhone River to Visp, and take a narrow one-lane mountain road up to our hotel in Unterbaech, a scenic mountain village surrounded by more picture postcard quality scenery. When ascending that one lane road with hairpin turns and precipitous drops along the sides, we are fortunate that Urs, our driver, not only participates in "bus driver rodeos," but wins them.
The rule in Switzerland is that when meeting another vehicle on a one-lane road, the descending vehicle must back up to a wide spot and let the ascending vehicle pass. That works fine except when the descending driver is from outside Switzerland and doesn't know the rules - or when meeting a driver of limited competence. On one occasion we watched in trepidation as a vehicle had trouble backing up numerous times along the edge of the precipice before reaching a safe wide spot in the road to allow our bus to pass.
Our schedule the next day is for Zermatt to view the Matterhorn. As it was predicted to be cloudy, our guide, Hans Bernet, elects to defer that to another day, a distinct advantage of having a guide who knows his way around and is flexible.
So next day, instead of Zermatt, we descend from Unterbaech down to the Rhone and head for the town of Brig, site of the Stockalper Castle.
Brig on the Rhone is another historically strategic location. Historic routes from Brussels to Rome, Paris to Venice, and London to Istanbul all passed through this area of the Rhone Valley. The Simplon Pass connects Brig with Italy on the other side of the pass.
The path across the pass was an arduous trek used for centuries to connect north and south across the Alps. It was during the 1600s that a silk merchant, Kaspar Stockalper, born to a wealthy family and aided by wealth acquired through marriage, invested huge sums to build the Simplon Road.
Stockalper became at a young age a notary and local commissioner. He spoke German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, and Greek. At an early age he traveled to Burgundy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, making contact with important trading houses. He early on recognized the strategic importance of the Simplon Pass.
With construction of the Simplon Road across the pass, he organized (controlled) the movement of goods and people across the pass, thus further increasing his fortune. Anchored by his monopoly on transport of goods over the Simplon with its bridges, toll stations, warehouses and guesthouses, he increased his fortune through speculation and trade. His trading empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the English Channel, and from southern Spain to northern Germany. He owned properties from Milan to Lyon.
With his vast wealth, he built and supported monasteries, churches, hospitals, and schools. Stockalper built his castle at Brig between 1658 and 1678. In contrast to Castle Chillon and other castles of Europe designed for military purposes, the Stockalper Castle was designed as a residence and place of commerce - and an ostentatious display of wealth.
During the Napoleonic occupation, between 1801 and 1805, the Simplon Road was improved. Napoleon needed it to transport his artillery pieces between the Rhone Valley and Italy.
The road was periodically further improved, and in 1950 cantonal authorities created a plan whereby the pass could be kept open all through the year and not closed to traffic between October and late April like most Alpine passes at that altitude. It is today considered one of the most scenic drives in Europe.
Another way to get to Italy from Brig is through the mountain rather than over the pass. The Simplon Tunnel is a railway tunnel that connects Brig to Domodossola, Italy. It consists of two single-track tunnels built nearly 20 years apart, considered an engineering masterpiece. It was featured in "From Russia With Love," a James Bond movie based on the 1957 novel.
So it is not just Switzerland's spectacular scenery and geography that is captivating; it is the locus of a lot of interesting history.
We didn't see the Matterhorn that day. But weather permitting, we would see it another day.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
The medieval town of Gruyeres has always been a rural town, and the region is still predominantly agricultural. But in recent years, it has become very touristy, with its scenic main drag featuring upscale shops. A major attraction is the Gruyeres Castle that was once occupied by the Savoys, a feudal territory that comprised what is now parts of western Switzerland, southeastern France, and northwestern Italy.
Next stop is another upscale resort town, Gstaad. With its high-end retail shops, one can only imagine what it is like during the height of the ski season with its rich and famous visitors. These touristy places are nice, but as far as I'm concerned, if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. I much prefer the working, more "normal" parts of the country.
Then it's through yet more spectacular mountain scenery, some snow now on the higher peaks, and down to the Rhone Valley and vineyard country. The vineyards that cover the steep hillsides and reach down to the highway are an impressive site, once again reminding us that, in Switzerland, nothing is wasted. Even land that isn't used for commercial or agricultural purposes is used to beautify the landscape.
We reach the town of Aigle where we visit the Badoux winery. We are treated to an informative lecture and a delightful session of sampling its great wines.
Now in southwestern Switzerland, we head back east along the Rhone River to Visp, and take a narrow one-lane mountain road up to our hotel in Unterbaech, a scenic mountain village surrounded by more picture postcard quality scenery. When ascending that one lane road with hairpin turns and precipitous drops along the sides, we are fortunate that Urs, our driver, not only participates in "bus driver rodeos," but wins them.
The rule in Switzerland is that when meeting another vehicle on a one-lane road, the descending vehicle must back up to a wide spot and let the ascending vehicle pass. That works fine except when the descending driver is from outside Switzerland and doesn't know the rules - or when meeting a driver of limited competence. On one occasion we watched in trepidation as a vehicle had trouble backing up numerous times along the edge of the precipice before reaching a safe wide spot in the road to allow our bus to pass.
Our schedule the next day is for Zermatt to view the Matterhorn. As it was predicted to be cloudy, our guide, Hans Bernet, elects to defer that to another day, a distinct advantage of having a guide who knows his way around and is flexible.
So next day, instead of Zermatt, we descend from Unterbaech down to the Rhone and head for the town of Brig, site of the Stockalper Castle.
Brig on the Rhone is another historically strategic location. Historic routes from Brussels to Rome, Paris to Venice, and London to Istanbul all passed through this area of the Rhone Valley. The Simplon Pass connects Brig with Italy on the other side of the pass.
The path across the pass was an arduous trek used for centuries to connect north and south across the Alps. It was during the 1600s that a silk merchant, Kaspar Stockalper, born to a wealthy family and aided by wealth acquired through marriage, invested huge sums to build the Simplon Road.
Stockalper became at a young age a notary and local commissioner. He spoke German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, and Greek. At an early age he traveled to Burgundy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, making contact with important trading houses. He early on recognized the strategic importance of the Simplon Pass.
With construction of the Simplon Road across the pass, he organized (controlled) the movement of goods and people across the pass, thus further increasing his fortune. Anchored by his monopoly on transport of goods over the Simplon with its bridges, toll stations, warehouses and guesthouses, he increased his fortune through speculation and trade. His trading empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the English Channel, and from southern Spain to northern Germany. He owned properties from Milan to Lyon.
With his vast wealth, he built and supported monasteries, churches, hospitals, and schools. Stockalper built his castle at Brig between 1658 and 1678. In contrast to Castle Chillon and other castles of Europe designed for military purposes, the Stockalper Castle was designed as a residence and place of commerce - and an ostentatious display of wealth.
During the Napoleonic occupation, between 1801 and 1805, the Simplon Road was improved. Napoleon needed it to transport his artillery pieces between the Rhone Valley and Italy.
The road was periodically further improved, and in 1950 cantonal authorities created a plan whereby the pass could be kept open all through the year and not closed to traffic between October and late April like most Alpine passes at that altitude. It is today considered one of the most scenic drives in Europe.
Another way to get to Italy from Brig is through the mountain rather than over the pass. The Simplon Tunnel is a railway tunnel that connects Brig to Domodossola, Italy. It consists of two single-track tunnels built nearly 20 years apart, considered an engineering masterpiece. It was featured in "From Russia With Love," a James Bond movie based on the 1957 novel.
So it is not just Switzerland's spectacular scenery and geography that is captivating; it is the locus of a lot of interesting history.
We didn't see the Matterhorn that day. But weather permitting, we would see it another day.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
