Heaven on Earth: Gimmelwald, Switzerland
By Michael Lofgren | Published Wednesday, March 17, 2010

After traveling around Europe for three months, the one place I keep telling myself I need to return to is Gimmelwald, Switzerland.

Located high in the Swiss Alps, this town of approximately 130 residents is full of charm and relaxation. There are several places to stay in Gimmelwald – some B&Bs, but most people stay at the Mountain Hostel. At the hostel, people of all ages come together and talk about their travels, where they’re from and hiking. For only 26 CHF ($24.25 USD), the Mountain Hostel is a great value.

One long hike involves hiking from Gimmelwald up 5,200 feet to the summit of Schilthorn. At the very top,there’s an observation deck, a restaurant and a way down – a cable car back to Gimmelwald. The observation deck may look familiar, as it was used in the 007 movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Short hikes can include walking to the town above, Murren, where you can mail postcards and purchase groceries and Swiss chocolates, or exploring Gimmelwald and sampling some local cheese or sausage. There’s a saying, “If Heaven isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald.” I completely understand and agree.

I just finished printing out 800 pictures from my trip to Europe and they look great! Thank you Snapfish! Flipping through all the pages brings back so many wonderful memories.

Yesterday, I watched a Rick Steves program on Sorrento and Capri, perfect timing to reminisce on a wonderful time there.
“Until next time, keep on traveling.” -Rick Steves

Thanks for following me around!

2010: Asia?

I got into Santorini around 1 and had nothing planned. I met another guy in my hostel room, who was originally from Los Angeles and had been living in Hong Kong for the past 5 years working for Leimen Brothers. He didn’t have plans either and we thought it would be fun to rent quads and drive around the island, as that is how most of the tourists were getting around. For 20 Euros ($28.69 USD), we both rented a quad for the day and hit the streets. Feeling hungry, we found our way to a Mexican restaurant, which was surprisingly good. I didn’t have much expectations, considering we were in Greece, but the food was pretty good. After lunch, we drove over to Black Sand Beach. We had a drink and started started heading back to the hostel. As we were heading back, the sun started to set and we pulled over and watched the sunset.

The next day, we exchanged our quads for ones with a little larger engine, as we were being passed by everyone. We headed to Oia, which is where most of the famous pictures of Santorini and Greece come from. The blue and white buildings are built into the side of the island and look amazing with the beach right below. We walked around Oia and decided to go swimming. We went down a closed off path to the beach right in front of Oia and swam for a while. After tyring ourselves out, we got back on our bikes and wanted to continue to explore the island. We headed to Ancient Thira, which are the remains of a very old town on Santorini, located high up on the top of a mountain. We had a great time driving our bikes up the mountain and had a great view of the island.

We were almost back to the hostel when all of the sudden my bike started to slow down and I couldn’t get it moving faster. I quickly pulled over and tryed to start it back up. No luck. I was out of gas and the bike wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. Luckily, we were in town and at the bottom of the hill to where we rented the quads. I left my quad there for the night and would worry about it in the morning.

The next day, we pushed my bike back and hopped for the best. They didn’t seem to care that much, as probably running out of gas is nothing compared to destroying the quad. We had already seen everything on the island, so we headed to a travel agency to see what else there was to do on the island. He mentioned a 6 hour tour, that goes out to a volcano, a hot spring, and an island called Thirassia. The tour was 25 Euros ($35.87 USD) and would provide a guide and a nice boat ride. The tour was fun, as we met some other travelers from Canada and the US. While on Thirassia, we had had lunch and had some moussaka.

The next day I was supposed to take a ferry from Santorini to Crete and this is what I wrote as soon as I got on board:
I am sitting here on my Hellenic Seaways ferry, “Flyingcat 4″, and just boarded 7:45PM. The ferry was very late, as the original departure was at 5:45PM. This wouldn’t be much of a problem, but I expect we will arrive around 9:30PM and buses stop running at 9. I would take a taxi, but the port I arrive at is 1-1/2 hours away. I was only going to have one full day and planned on hiking the Samaria Gorge, but in order to do the hike I would have to catch a bus from my town around 6 or 7 in the morning. At the moment, I have no idea where I will be sleeping or if I can even do the hike. Frustrating! Assuming I can get into town tonight, I will be arriving around 11PM. Thursday is free (hopefully do the hike), Friday I take a ferry at 11AM back to Athens, arrive in Athens at 5PM, and Saturday fly out of Athens around 10AM.

Update: I arrived at the port and started looking for other backpackers. I asked several people if they were heading to the same hostel and finally ran into a group of 4 other backpackers from Australia who were heading to the same place. We found a taxi who would take all 5 of us to Rethymni, about an hour away. The fare was 90 Euros ($129.13 USD) and we arrived around midnight. I quickly headed to bed and needed to be up at 6 in order to go to the gorge.

I arrived in Delphi on time, around 1 and had 2-1/2 hours to see everything and catch the 3:30 bus back. Delphi is now a bunch of ruins, but at one time was home to the Oracle. Delphi was said to be the center of the world and where people went to worship the god Apollo. On the way back, we could see from the freeway the huge fire that was destroying Athens. Lots of planes were circling and dropping water, trying to keep the fires contained as much as possible.

The next day, the hostel offered a free tour that covered some interesting sights, such as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Parliament Building, and Panathinaiko Stadium. The tour was only 3-1/2 hours and we finished around 1. With the weather being so hot, it is hard to walk around in such heat and needed to relax for a couple hours. After it cooled off, I headed to the National Archeological Museum, which houses many ancient artifacts. Lots of pottery, sculptures, and artwork on display.

I had received 5 additional tickets to different ruins around the city and wanted to be sure to visit them all, considering I paid for them. I went in a big circle and hit up Keramikos, Dionysus Theater, Temple of the Olympian Zeus, and the Roman Forum. Most of the ruins were just that, ruins. Nothing much to see and was hard to imagine what they once looked like. I did visit the New Acropolis Museum, which houses the edging that goes around the outside of the acropolis and other artifacts found near the acropolis.

That night, I met a group of 3 friends who had been traveling around Greece for the past couple of weeks and were from the US. Once was from La Jolla, another from Orange, and the other from New York. On the roof of the hostel was a bar, which provided great views of the city and cheap beer. After a drink or two, we went out to dinner at what looked like a popular locals place. The guys I met ended up treating my self and another girl from our hostel to dinner, as they were once backpackers and knew how it was to travel on a budget. We just needed to promise that one day we too would help a fellow backpacker.

The Blue Grotto could only be accessed by boat during the day and there was a long wait to get in. Tour boats were pulling up filled with tourists wanting to get in plus the line of people arriving by bus. When it was finally my turn, I paid the 11 Euro or so ($15.68 USD) entrance fee and had to wait for our turn. After what seemed like 10 minutes of waiting, we were soon inside the Blue Grotto. It was very pretty inside, but I don’t know about the high entrance fee. I tried to take some photos, but they didn’t come out well.

After doing the Blue Grotto, I headed to Monte Solaro. For 8 Euros ($11.40 USD), you could take a ride to the top of the mountain. This sounded nice and relaxing, as the heat was not very pleasent at around 90°F. The ride was great and the view was amazing. I could see around the entire island and get got some good pictures. It was still hot, so I wanted to visit the beach. I headed to the beach, which was the closest one to the B&B, but there were just too many people there. It was just unpleasant, so I left. I went into town and looked for dinner, but everything was expensive and all the grocery stores had closed early, as it was Sunday. I went back empty handed and had some cookies and water for dinner and called it a night.

I had heard good things about trips around the island and called a boat company that I found off of TripAdvisor. He only offered private tours, but for 100 Euros I could take a two hour cruise. This wasn’t what I wanted, so I took the bus down to the main port and looked for another company. I inquired at all the boat rental companies, but no one offered group day trips. Everything was for an hour or two or I could rent my own boat. Not feeling up to spending 600 Euros for a day trip, I went ahead and walked around the island for the day. I felt as if I was in Beverly Hills, as there are only expensive stores, such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

In the morning, my B&B took me back to the ferry port I took the morning ferry back to Sorrento. I was planning on going hiking, but it was just too hot. I instead went to the beach with a few people from the hostel and relaxed. However, while in the water I put my big toe on a sea urchin and got 3 pricks. I will survive. I took the train back from Sorrento to Naples. I unfortunately had to make the 20 minute walk back the hostel, something that I was not looking forward to. However, I made it safely and had a pizza delivered. I didn’t want to do too much, as I had to catch an early bus to the airport to Greece in the morning, so I spent the night uploading photos and videos.

I met some people from my hostel and the next day went to Pompeii. Admission was 11 Euros ($15.68 USD) and an audio guide was 5 Euros ($7.12 USD). We saw two bodies that had been caught in Mount Vesuvius’s path and many buildings that were well preserved after almost two thousand years. After about 4 hours of walking around Pompeii, we enjoyed some gelato and I headed on to Sorrento.

After a day of being at Pompeii, I arrived in Sorrento. I met another girl in my hostel, which was not much of a hostel. They have a cooking school and also some bed and breakfast rooms, and a single dorm with 6 beds, which most of those beds are taken by students. She and I were the only two travelers that night and we went out for pizza.