Day 55 Which country are we in?

One of our plans for this trip was to sometimes avoid the quickest way to our destination and to occasionally choose the slower ‘scenic’ route. After experiencing lots of difficulties last week with our well-planned train connections, this week we decided to try a new tactic … little planning but high hopes. Armed only with a map, a Eurail pass and a tentative plan A, (B, C and D were there for back up) we realised before we had even started that this was going to be a day with a degree of difficulty of 9.9.

We began at 6.30 am with a brisk 1.5 km walk to the ferry which may not sound very far, but when you are carrying 13-15 kg on your back and a few more in your daypack it’s quite far enough. The ferry arrived in Como at 7.27am and we knew it would be tight to get the 7.43am train from the station, which was still another 1 km walk mostly up hill from the ferry wharf. We proudly, if not rather exhaustedly, arrived with about 3 minutes to spare only to realise that the train was late and did not actually come until 8.03am.

We left Como (Italy) at 8.03am and arrived at Bellinzona (Switzerland) at 9.00am where we changed trains and left Bellinzona at 9.09am to arrive at Locarno at 9.40am. At Locarno we had an hour or so to kill so we sat beside the exquisite Lake Maggiore. At 10.50am we stepped onto a narrow gauge scenic train known as the F.A.R.T. train (we are not sure why). After chatting with an 86 year old ex WW2 German soldier who tried to convince us to retire as early as possible (who could argue) three small train carriages then took us over the mountains and back into Italy arriving at Domodossola at 12.35pm. We again changed platforms and headed off on an Intercity train via Brigg (Switzerland) arriving in Speiz at 2pm. Again we changed to the other side of the platform and at 2.09pm caught a regional train to Zweisimmen, arriving at 2.56pm. Once again we changed platforms and at 3.05pm we boarded another narrow gauge train known as the Golden Pass, which continued to take us over the Swiss/Italian Alps. We passed by beautiful green hills, pine forests and brown timber chalets which all had the same green shutters, window boxes with geraniums and lacy curtains – wow we were in the Swiss Alps! We passed by humble villages and an exclusive winter ski resort called Gstaad where Liz Taylor and David Niven both own chalets. After an incredible picture postcard descent winding down about 2000 metres we arrived at 5.16pm at the glorious town of Montreux on Lake Geneva . From there we changed to catch the Intercity Express, which departed at 5.19pm and arrived at Geneva at 6.30pm. From there it was (thankfully) just a short walk to our hotel.

Our journey took almost exactly 12 hours door-to-door and included 7 trains, 6 changes, 1 ferry, and 2 long walks with packs. After starting in Italy, then going to Switzerland then back to Italy and then finally back to Switzerland we arrived in Geneva (a city greatly influenced by its next door neighbour, France). At the station we noticed that we were surrounded by hundreds of colourful and noisy football fans, who did not look or sound Swiss, Italian or French. After some confusion wondering what country we were in we soon discovered that the second match of Euro 2008 was scheduled for that night at 8.30pm in Geneva. The teams involve were Turkey and Portugal. You can’t help loving Europe!