Spectacular Mountain Passes In Switzerland
Posted On Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at at 2:56 AM by Alvin
On the eastern side of Switzerland where insurmountable mountains rose to great heights, one could only travel from one side of the mountains to the other by going through a number of man-made passes consisted of a series of sharply curved roads and numerous never-ending tunnels and on one occasion, we even had to take a car-train for a half-hour journey from Realp to Oberwald ! We motored on four main scenic mountain passes :
1. Furka Pass (From Andermatt, Switzerland To Tasch, Switzerland);
2. St. Gotthard Pass (From Andermatt, Switzerland To Biasca in Italy);
3. Simplon Pass (From Brig, Switzerland to Domodossola, Italy); and
4. Great St. Bernard Pass (Martigny, Switzerland to Aosta, Italy).
These passes all had their own beauty, drama, landmarks and micro-climate and Mandy and I could recount memorable stories on each and one of them. For instance, we would remember Furka as the pass where we had to turn back half way up, like the cars before us, as the weather conditions changed and the way forward closed ! That was where the very kind mountain workman advised us to take the car-train. St. Gotthard was the pass where we enjoyed (!) the pelting rain hitting the car roof as we drove through grey and dark green moonscape with 6 feet of snow piled up high on the road side radiating its mysterious blue hue, eerie and fascinating ! On the Simplon Pass, we had slightly better weather patterns but nevertheless, we witnessed huge waterfalls made more angry and energetic by the hours-long rain; and of course, we would never forget the Italian lunch we took in Domodossola, Italy at the end-point of Simplon Pass; a novelty having left this country 20 years ago, as we found a busy Osteria serving Menu del Giorno of Lasagna and fish as its specialty ! We had clear blue sky on the Great St.Bernard Pass as we drove pass clear mountain streams, beautiful frozen lakes, landscape patched with half-melting snow, making interesting and photogenic patterns as well as persistent hikers soldiering on, up against harsh head-winds. Phew ! Definitely road trips of a life time !
