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The grand finale of this wonderful vacation was a ride on the Bernina Express, a four-hour scenic train ride from Chur, Switzerland, to Tirano, Italy, crossing the Swiss Engadin Alps. We went over almost 200 bridges and dozens of tunnels. And the scenery … well, see for yourself.
Tomorrow we take a car from Tirano to Milan, and then onto our first plane ride, headed for home.
Time to start planning our next vacation, I guess.
Today we rode on the Bernina Express which, like yesterday’s ride on the Glacier Express, is a “Panorama Express.” It connects Chur, Switzerland, to Tirano, Italy by crossing the Swiss Engadin Alps a route designed for sightseeing, a route which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2008. You go over 196 bridges, through 55 tunnels and cross the Bernina Pass at 7,392 feet above sea level.
Like many of the trains we’ve seen, this one is electrified. Unlike some, this one does not use the cogwheel style to navigate the steeper gradients. This train route, which has been around for almost 120 years, does a few picturesque loops in choice places. But the scenery is grand everywhere, as you’ll see in the next video post.
Since we’re winding down — tomorrow we head home — I should take a customary moment to brag on the trip designer. My lovely bride put this whole thing together, from schedules to excursions, to places to sleep and many of the restaurants. As ever, she put together an amazing trip.
I just carried the luggage. And sweat through the heatwave.
Here’s another one of these amazing views on the Bernina Express route. This is a panorama, so you know what to do.
(Click to embiggen.)
At one of the really high up places the train actually for precisely eight minutes. You can get out on a landing which is high up in the mountains, and enjoy this view.
This route is a four-hour train ride. It is designed for tourists and isn’t the cheapest ticket. The people across from us did this the entire time.
When we exited the train in Tirano, we were in Italy, at the central train station, which is surely sufficient for the task, but hardly as grandiose as you might picture when you think of central train stations. The web told us there would be cabs aplenty waiting outside, but that wasn’t the case on an early Sunday evening.
Our hotel was a few miles away. Too far to walk. What to do, what to do.
Just across from the station there was tourist and newspaper kiosk. I walked over there. The guy said he spoke a little English, and he spoke a good amount of it.
He called every cab company in town, but everyone was busy. He helped us pirate the neighboring restaurant’s wifi, which bothered one of the waiters, but our guy — and I deeply regret not asking his name — did not care. Then, while still selling things to people as they passed through, he called the hotel and had them arrange a ride for us. They told him 10-15 minutes, and 15 minutes later, the ride showed up. If it wasn’t for the kiosk guy, we’d still be standing outside the train station instead of this beautifully restored rustic B&B. The The Contrada Beltramelli is probably the nicest place we’ve stayed on this trip, and the food is easily some of the most outrageously good food of the whole vacation. Plus! Despite part of this structure dating back to the 17th century, the rooms have air conditioning, helpful in this heat wave.
And while we’re leaving for home tomorrow, there’s still more to see. When you’re done exploring the Contrada Beltramelli’s site photos, come back here for some nice video highlights from today’s train ride. The views are definitely worth your time.
Before we caught the train out of Chur, we took a little walking tour of the Old Town. (Pronounce it “Coor.”) Two churches were on the agenda, but one of them was closed for visitors. St. Martin’s Church, however, was a highlight.
St. Martin’s square marks the historical north-south route through the inner city. The fountain, decorated with the signs of the zodiac, and the statue date to 1716. Much of it is still original. Also, it provides you cold water, which is a treat on a hot day like this.
Next to the fountain there’s a relief for the visually impaired, that gives a perspective on the entire city. St Martin’s is in the back of the shot, in the center of the relief. You can see the patina on the steeple.
It looks like this.
The Romanesque church was built in the 8th century, mostly destroyed 600 years later in one of those city-defining fires. Using parts of the original building, it was rebuilt in late Gothic style. It’s the largest late-Gothic church in the region. and was a critical part of the ancient town’s Reformation.
I doubt this door is original.
Wikipedia has a list of 116 churches named after St. Martin (there are five saints named Martin, our guy here is St. Martin of Tours) around the world, and this one isn’t even on the list!
After that fire, the tower was completed in 1534, complete with a watchman’s room and Renaissance dome. It stayed like that for 350 years, then got a neo-Gothic upgrade, which didn’t go over well in the neighborhood. Then came the current roof design in 1918 as part of a larger renovation. the tower was given a pointed roof as part of the church’s overall renovation.
I like the little details. This leaf is hand-carved in each of the congregations pews.
Off to the side, where musicians or choir members sit, are some other stylistic carvings.
At the end of the renovation, now 100-plus years ago, the nave received stained glass windows by Augusto Giacometti depicting the Christmas story. So these are relatively new parts of the church, still.
On the walk back to our hotel, and the train station, we passed some picture windows in the stores that had some antiques of their own. This looks like a National Cash Register (of Dayton, Ohio) Model 79, a nickle-plated number that they debuted in 1897. They’ll fetch you a pretty penny at an auction today, but what a beautiful showpiece.
Anyone want to guess what this is?
Figured it out yet?
Yeah?
No?
This is a cylindrical calculator. It will work out multiplication, division and more using graphically displayed logarithms. And if you need precision, you’re set up. This calculator is accurate to six decimal places. This is a smaller model, a 10
I’ve never seen one of those before.
You’re going to see some more sites you’ve never seen in the next post. I’ll be sharing a few of the views from our last train ride, today’s experience on the Bernina Express. Don’t miss it!
We rode out of Zermatt on The Glacier Express, a panoramic train through the Swiss Alps. The whole route is a 181 mile experience, bypassing the local stops, and maximizing the views with great big windows. They call it the “slowest express train in the world.”
We didn’t take the whole journey, but stopped in Chur, which gave us most of the scenic views. We ambled our way to the Hotel of Three Kings, where we stayed on the second floor, after temporarily breaking the elevator. (All the luggage went in, something shifted and jammed the doors. The attendant had the special trick key to solve the problem. The rooms didn’t have air, which is important just now, but they did have fans, which were helpful. Chur — pronounce it “Coor” — is Switzerland’s oldest city. We’re only here for the night. We have one more scenic train ride to take tomorrow. But, first, enjoy a few of the views from the Glacier Express.
Tomorrow is our last train ride, taking us to our last stop on this grand adventure. We’ll ride the Bernina Express. Come back and see the views.
Our starting view for the morning — at least after a one-stop train ride.
Click to embiggen.
That’s Interlaken, which is where we rented bikes today. We ditched the in-laws — leaving them sitting happily by a lake from their balcony view — and rode all over Switzerland. Including by the same lake.
We took a wrong turn, because we don’t know the roads here, of course. And so that added a climb we weren’t anticipating. We don’t climb a lot at home anymore, living just 43 feet above sea level and all. But we found a lot of barns. Here are a few.
It looks like a livestock area, but we didn’t see too many animals.
Here’s one that looks abandoned. Or close to it?
OK, last barn, a closeup.
Look at this beautiful waterfall!
Those photos were all from this beautiful valley.
We’re riding rented gravel bikes — for some reason — on a single track there. We’d started with e-bikes, but those weren’t going to get the job done for the course we’d planned. And the guys didn’t offer us roadies. Maybe he didn’t have any, I’m not sure. Anyway, gravel bikes, for the uninitiated, have a similar geometry to road bikes. They’re slightly heavier, offer a bigger tire for gravel and such. The difference is the difference. You notice it. It behaves fine, just not quite like what you’re used to. And that’s the story I’m sticking with throughout the day, on both downtown roads, the highway, and these single track paths.
The next time we go through a valley like this, I realized, I am going to have to ride ahead for photos like this. But these are good too.
At the foot of the day’s big climb, I did something I’ve never done before: I broke the chain on my rental bike. I tried to switch into the smaller gear on the front and suddenly found myself freewheeling and fighting to get unclipped before I fell over. When I stopped, the chain was behind me. Behind me came a Frenchman, and I asked him if he would share this news with my lovely bride, who was a bit ahead of me — no phones! — and he did. After a time, she came back for me, and we found a train station and rode back to the town where the bike shop was. I freewheeled the thing, like a balance bike, back to the shop. They repaired it with no fuss, but the delays ruined our intended plans. So our second ride was called Plan B.
Also, it was 90 degrees today, and we didn’t have enough water. Fortunately, we ran into a couple of public fountains. Public fountains are awesome. Douse your head. Slam a lot down into your belly, then have some more, because you’re a rule breaker. And then fill up your bottles, hoping the next fountain isn’t too far away. Because public fountains are awesome.
Not that we were staring at the lakes and waterfalls and making ourselves thirstier or anything.
It’s a beautiful area to ride in, even on this made up route that we improvised. And the drivers here are much, much more respectful here than what you get in most any place in the U.S. Plus, the color of this water …
We just got to ride alongside that lake for a good long while.
Totally worth it, she said.
And, look! Proof I saw it all, too!
Too bad I ruined the intended ride. Then again, who can climb big climbs anymore? Maybe I did us a favor?
Tomorrow: We go to Jungfraujoch!
