weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

After all these drives through Italy and its eastern neighbors, we finally arrived in my native Switzerland, ready to enjoy the relaxing prospects of no more long drives. Instead, we ventured into a mountain area in the southeastern corner of Switzerland that we hadn't visited for many decades and stayed there for a few days. On other days, we undertook leisurely drives into various other areas of Switzerland, some of them coupled with visiting friends and relatives.

In this first set covering Switzerland, I concentrate on the canton Grison in the southeastern part of Switzerland famous for its mountains, crossed by many mountain passes, and villages with charming decorated stone houses located in high valleys.

We start out with 4 images from the very top of the FLÜELA PASS at an altitude of 2384 m / 7822 ft. This pass connects the small but strategically located town of Zernez in the famous Engadin valley with the Val Müstair/Münstertal in the southeasternmost corner of Switzerland. The trickle of water I am showing in two of the pictures is heading east and will soon empty into the Inn river, which will flow into the Danube and eventually into the Black Sea/Mediterranean, while a similar creek a few hundred meters to the west will start its journey heading west down the other slope, merging into the Landwasser river which will continue into the Rhine river emptying eventually into the North Sea/Atlantic. This reminds me of a cute children's story that talks about two raindrop-buddies falling from the sky just inches apart, with one eventually ending up in the cold North Sea while the other enjoys the mild temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea.

The fifth picture shows one of the solid stone houses in the small town of ZERNEZ (pop. 1100) on the western side of the Flüela Pass, with an attached wooden balcony, flower-bedecked facade and neatly decorated around the windows and door - a pleasant traditional feature in these mountain villages.

Pictures 6-8 bring us on the eastern side of the Flüela Pass to the VAL MÜSTAIR/MÜNSTERTAL and I show another set of two joined houses with typical decorations in the beautiful little village of SANTA MARIA. In Müstair we met up with one of my classmates from my primary school years that I hadn't seen for many decades. We also made a short trip back into neighboring Italy to drive the 48 hairpin switchbacks to the top of the STELVIO PASS / STILFSERJOCHPASS at an altitude of 2757 m / 9045 ft, the second highest pass in the Alps, covered by images 9 & 10.

Further informational links:
SWITZERLAND/FLÜLA PASS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%BCela_Pass
SWITZERLAND/ZERNEZ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zernez
SWITZERLAND/VAL MÜSTAIR - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_M%C3%BCstair
ITALY/STELVIO PASS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelvio_Pass


Notes
TRIP INFO: Set # 1 provides a brief introduction to this series. Please use the link below if you would like to review this intro:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-797460-1.html

SUMMER TRIP INFO: Set # 7 provides more information on this second trip of the year to Europe
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-797711-1.html

EARLIER POSTS of this series: Access my topic list at UHH, the new posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-topic-list?usernum=45105

Thanks for visiting, I recommend viewing the downloads and look forward to your comments and questions.

.

1 - Grison/Susch-Zernez - Lake Schottensee (Lai da la Scotta) on the southwest side at the very top of the Flüela Pass, at right the Flüela Pass Hotel

(Download)

2 - Grison/Susch-Zernez - Lake Schwarzsee (Lai Nair) on the northeastern side at the very top of the Flüela Pass

(Download)

3 - Grison/Susch-Zernez - Small creek at the top of the Flüela Pass, at rear Piz Arpschella

(Download)

4 - Grison/Susch-Zernez - Panoramic montage with the view from the Flüela viewpoint N7 to the Piz dal Ras in the center, at right the Aval Grialetsch river joins the Susasca river on the way towards the river Inn, at left the Flüela Pass road

(Download)

5 - Grison/Zernez - Typically decorated old stone house in this Lower Engadin valley town, strategically located with the crossing of major trade routes since ancient times - above the entrance door the year 1511 is indicated as construction date

(Download)

6 - Grison/Tschierv-Val Müstair - Piz Daint (2968m/9738 ft) overlooking the Ofen Pass

(Download)

7 - Grison/Müstair - Village of Müstair viewed from the northeast, at rear center Piz Lad (2808m/9213ft), to its right the sharp peak of Piz Mezdi (2992m/9816ft) and at right Piz Praveder (2768m/9069ft), all close to the Italian border

(Download)

8 - Grison/Santa Maria-Val Müstair - Detail of beautifully decorated old but solid houses in the center of town

(Download)

9 - Italy/Stelvio Pass - After having already driven 3 dozen switchbacks, another dozen lie ahead of us to the top of this mountain pass at 2764m, the total narrow ascent with some 48 switchbacks is heavily populated with motorbikes and bicycles

(Download)

10 - Italy/Stelvio Pass - View from the top of the pass at 2764m: at left the snow-covered Mount Ortler, with 3905m the highest mountain in the Alps east of Switzerland, at center the sheer triangular facade of the Thurwieser Spitze (3652m)

(Download)

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

For your reference:

Map of Switzerland indicating in the lower right the location of the places shown in this set

(Download)

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Beautiful photos, beautiful country! I like these a lot!

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

More beauty, Joe!

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Another great series, Joe.

NMGal Loc: NE NM

Wonderful set. Love the stone houses.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thanks Chief for looking in on my short mini-series, glad to hear that you enjoyed these images. We were very lucky last year and visited a number of interesting places, quite a few of them off the main tourist tracks, driving on your own gives you that chance, as you well know. I don't know whether you have seen the previous posts or just noticed this one now, but I just want to mention that particularly the Dolomites mountain area in Italy, and the Plitvice National Park in Croatia were quite picturesque and - if you haven't seen them, you might want to go back to them (posts #10 & 12). I don't normally want to push people to see my pictures, but I think you would enjoy these two settings. Best regards - Joe

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thanks Mike - the older my face gets, the more I appreciate the beauty around me!

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Earnest for your appreciation.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Thanks, Joe. I haven't seen them, but will look them up!

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thanks Barbara, the canton Grison has all these wonderful mountains and many of the houses have these were special decorations, and the flowers in the summer make them even prettier.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Bubalola Loc: Big Apple, NY

Beautiful, Joe! Love #4!

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thank you Eugene - that #4 is a panorama picture that I stitched together from 2 different photos, and I get this "circular effect" - I like the shot but it is not really true to the view: the river at the right side comes in more or less at a straight angle to the river at left, but here it looks like it is actually just one river. But I do like the effect of the picture.

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Beautiful set Joe.

Don