Another photo used by SBB website

Today, I found that the photos on the homepage of SBB website have been changed. This week, the promotion is for Canton of Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland. Again, there is one of my photo used, the one on the right bottom corner as shown in the screenshot below.

The original photo in my Shutterstock portfolio is shown below.

This photo features the sanctuary and pilgrimage church of Madonna del Sasso in Orselina above Locarno city. It is one of the place of interest in Ticino and can be reached by taking the funicular from the city center.

There is a view platform, where you can have magnificent view of the Maggiore lake and the city, as well as the mountains on the other side of the lake.

My photo found on SBB Homepage

Today, when I visit the SBB website, the photo shown on the upside of the homepage immediately catches my eyes. This photo features a small pond in Canton of Wallis in Switzerland as you can see above. It is so familiar and I realize that it should be one of my photo which I took last year near the small town Belalp in the vicinity of the Aletsch glacier. I checked carefully and confirmed, indeed, it is my photo, slightly cropped from the original one as shown below in my portfolio on Shutterstock.

I am very pleased since there should be millions of people visit the SBB website and so many people can see my photo. Such a great feeling and absolutely an encouragement to me.

Travel with the train in Switzerland

The railway system in Switzerland is well developed regarding its density, the coordination and integration with other modes of transportation such as bus and ship.  The largest railway operator in Switzerland is the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS), which operates the majority railway lines (over 3000km) in Switzerland. There are also some local operators such as the BLS, which mainly manages the Alpine route on Bernese Oberland. However, you can simply buy the tickets on any of the automate ticket machine at any train stations for the all the railway routes in Switzerland, except for some local cogwheel trains running to the mountains.

For tourists not living in Switzerland, the most convenient and favorable ticket would be the Swiss-Travel-Pass. This  gives you unlimited access to the Swiss Travel System for 3, 4, 8 and 15 days and also entrance to over 480 museums and exhibitions. Basically, you can take all the regular train, bus, ship within Switzerland as many as you want within the validation period of the ticket.  Also, for most of the cable cars and cogwheel trains running on the mountain, you can get up to 50% discount if you have the Swiss-Travel-Pass.

To plan your trip, you can visit the SBB website to check the timetable of the transportation. Simply put in the start point and your destination and choose the wished departure or arrive time then search the available connections. You can put the exact address, e.g. your hotel, and you will find the connections including the bus/tram from near your hotel to the train station. The timetable is usually very accurate, you can just start your trip at the time which is shown to you. If there is any unusual delay, it will also be shown in the search results.

As an example, you can see the search results below: from a hotel in Zurich to the Gornergrat train Station in Zermatt.

You can see 4 connections shown below according to the given departure time 8 o'clock.

Example search results where you see the available connections closest to your given time (8 o'clock)

Now you can choose one of the connections suitable for you, or search  earlier/later connections. If you click on the '+' symbol before  your chosen connection, the detailed information is then shown as you can see below.

Detailed transfer information

So, travel with train is just so convenient in Switzerland. Furthermore, the view along the railway is so beautiful, especially the special lines, e.g. Glacier Express, Bernina Express.

Winter hike under the Matterhorn

Matterhorn (4478m) is one of the most famous peaks of Swiss Alps. It is located on the border between Switzerland and Italy. The nearly symmetrical shape like a pyramid as you can see in the photo above makes it a symbolic peak in the Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps.

When you walk out from the train station of the touristic town Zermatt, which is in a car-free zone. due to environment protection reason,  the Matterhorn immediately comes into your eyes.

Just on the other side of the small street, you will find the cogwheel train station (Gonergrat Bahn). From there you can take the train all the way to Gonergrat which is a rocky ridge at above 3100m south-east of Zermatt.  There you can find the Kulm hotel at the end station, take a short walk to the view platform behind the hotel. If the weather is good, you will have clear and magnificent view of the Pennine Alps including the Matterhorn.

The hiking trail starts near the train station near the slope for skiing. The trail is well pressed and easy to walk.  From Gonergrat, you walk all the way down to Zermatt in about 4 hours. If you don-t have so much time, you could also just walk until the station Riffelberg where you could find a restaurant. Take a rest and have a lunch there and enjoy the nice view of Matterhorn and the Alps would be quite cozy. After that, you can take the train back to Zermatt.

The famous north face of Eiger

The Eiger is one of the most famous mountain in Swiss Alps. It is nearly 4000m high (3970m) and located on the Bernese Oberland east to the Mönch(4107m) and Jungfrau (4158m). The north side of the Eiger rises more than 3000m above the valley near Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen.

The 1800m high north face of the Eiger with rock and ice is very steep, which is barely covered by snow. Due to the technical difficulty, the north face is considered to be one of the most challenging and dangerous ascents of the Alps. The first ascent  of Eiger through north face was in 1938 by an Austrian-German expedition. Since 1935, at least 64 climbers have died during the climbing of north face.

                         View of the Eiger north face in summer near Kleine Scheidegg.


For tourists, the best view point of the north face is from the resort Kleiner Scheidegg, which can be accessed by taking the cog wheel train form Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen. If you would like to do a hike or want to have a closer look to the north face, the hiking path 'Eiger trail' is highly recommended in summer.

You can take the train further to the station Eigergletscher. From there, the route is:
Station Eigergletscher 2320m - Punkt 1725m - Alpiglen 1616m

 This is an relative easy route which is almost descending and takes around 2 hours. You can also do it in another direction.

It is also possible to make the hiking longer by starting at the station Wengernalp. From there you walk to Eigergletscher with additional 2 hours of ascent. But you have the possibility to have a close view of the Jungfrau and Mönch.

Wengernalp 1874m - Haaregg 1990m - Moränenweg - Station Eigergletscher   2320m   

                               View of the Eiger north face in summer on the hiking trail.

                                Signpost under the Eiger north face shown the first ascent route.


If you are interested about the first ascent tragedy of Eiger north face, you may want to watch the movie 'North Face' (Nordwand).

                                                                       

 The following books could also be interested for you:

Opening

As a freelance photographer and traveler with full of passion, I finally made my blog and am writing the first article.

I don't have a clear plan for this blog yet. The idea now is to share my personal experiences about photography and travel and share my photos.


Welcome to my blog and I appreciate your visit at any time!

Best regards.