mountains & medicine.: Up the Gondola: Gimmlewald and Murren

After we walked the length of Lauterbrunnen Valley, we arrived at Stechelberg, another off-season-sleepy, small alpine town. From Stechelberg, Ashley, Ben, and I rode the Gondola up the cliff to the charming town of Gimmelwald.

view from the gondola: the lauterbrunnen valley

the town of stechelberg far below

the gondola cables

grimmelwald! ashley + alps.

I’ll admit—I was pretty darn excited about Gimmelwald. I am an enormous fan of Rick Steves (I’m convinced his walking tours are the absolute best way to see a European city), so when Ashley told me he recommended this tiny town, I knew it was probably pretty spectacular.

In many ways, Gimmelwald seemed like it belonged in a different time period. Despite Rick’s raving, the the was really, really tiny- only one zig-zagging street throughout the entire town. There were a couple of B & B’s, a hostel, and a tiny hotel, but not a person insight. For the most part, the town seemed to be asleep, deserted, and to be honest, not too exciting.

Although it was only four o’clock, we were already starting to lose daylight and grow hungry for dinner, so we hiked along the mountain ridge towards the next alpine town, Murren, breathing in the fresh mountain air and talking approximately 9 million photos of the outstanding views.

snow-capped mountains

me, ben, alps.

looking down on the town of
grimmelwald.

jagged peaks

i was pretty impressed with the cow's balance- the mountain
side was steep!

happy on a bench!

Unlike Grimmelwald, Murren was much more developed (although the roads will still only wide enough for a bicycle). There were several ski chalets and hotels, souvenir shops and cafes. We were hoping to eat dinner in Murren; however, light was quickly fading and nothing seemed to be open, so we decided to head back to Interlaken, eat an enormous dinner, and call it a (wonderful, wonderful) day.