Seats, Cells, and Italy for Lunch

I wake up early and go find myself a bench with a view of the Matterhorn for breakfast. I sit for hours before I eventually tear myself away to go get packed and head for my train. I’ll admit I’m sad to leave the magic of Zermatt behind… until I realise I’d need to take out a mortgage to buy lunch in a cafe and that point I high tail it out of there.

My base for the rest of my time in Switzerland is Chur (pronounced ‘whoor’ apparently. I kid you not) in the East of the country. At this point I have no idea which language I’m supposed to be speaking and have resorted to some weird mix of French, German and Italian, none of which is convincing anyone. Switzerland has 4 official languages German, French, Italian and a wonderful little language called Romansh which has 6 different dialects despite being spoken by less than 40,000 people. My journey for the next couple of days has me weaving in and out of Romansh territory although sadly it’s hard to find any sources to learn enough of the language to get by.

After one of the most scenic train journeys I’ve ever taken, I spend my night in the cells of Chur’s former prison, now converted into the town’s newest hostel. A friend who grew up in the region has armed me with itineraries and things to do and so I spend the next few days hopping on and off train platforms and hanging out of train windows with a camera in hand. The alpine air and smell of pine making me smile. I take the Glacier Express route across the length of Switzerland and the Bernina Express route down to Italy for a quick bit of lunch (see note about lunch in Switzerland requiring a loan 😂) before once again hanging out a window. It’s a beautiful introduction to Switzerland and one that has me absolutely head over heels for the country.Read more