We promised one of our friends to visit him in Andermatt where he moved from Zurich a while ago. Honestly, until last Sunday we didn't understand this move. Why would you move from Zurich to the middle of nowhere? Let me explain, Andermatt is located deep in the mountains of Central Switzerland far away from any major cities, and knowing our friend this move seemed so strange to us. Finally, we managed to visit him on Sunday and now we get it.
It took us almost three hours to get there as we got stuck in traffic in front of the Gotthard tunnel. Andermatt is located in the canton of Uri, and as our friend says it is on the wrong side of the mountain. When you cross the mountains you will arrive in the canton of Ticino which is the canton with the most sunny days in Switzerland. On the other hand, Andermatt is often cloudy and we could experience it first hand when we were there.
It's a popular vacation place which is surrounded by slopes, so you can enjoy skiing in winter, and tons of hiking trails in summer. We knew all of that, but what we didn't know is that Andermatt is so different to any other vacation places that we visited. It is a lively place with many restaurants and bars that are open even on Sunday.
It's a charming village with beautiful wooden houses and typical Swiss decorations. There is the old as well as the new village, and we visited them both.
Let me take you around!
We agreed to meet up in an Italian restaurant which was not thrilling at first because I can go straight to bed when I eat pizza for lunch, but in the end we had a great time and their pizza was really good. Of course, our friend didn't make a reservation and came too late (which is typical for him), but we were lucky to get the last available table. There was a large group of people who took almost the entire restaurant.
This visit was special because we went there to meet his baby girl for the first time. I was hoping he would bring her to the restaurant, but I had to wait a bit to meet her as she stayed with her mom at home.
When we finished the lunch we went for a walk in the village before going to their place for some tea and cake.
There are two rivers flowing through the village. The first one is called Unteralpreuss, and it crosses right through the heart of Andermatt. Our friend was telling us that kids enjoy playing in the river in summer. I can't really imagine that as it's summer already and it was 8 degrees Celsius, so the water must have been so cold.
It was cloudy all day, but from time to time we could see the mountains of the Urner Alps surrounding us. Andermatt is located at 1437 m above the sea level, so at times we were in the clouds. We agreed that we will come again when it's sunny to enjoy the views.
We walked up the hill to the Mariahilf chapel that is only a few meters from the ski lift to the Gemsstock. But you need to wait a bit before we go inside...
First, we'll look around...
This year is very humid, so the grass is still so green, and I can imagine that it's a delicacy for those cows. They seemed happy.
In winter, these grass fields turn into the slopes.
On one side slopes, on the other side village...
I found it magical even though it was so cloudy, and those moments when we could see the mountains were cool. It was difficult to get the photos because the clouds were moving so fast, and it was the question of a couple of seconds before the mountains disappeared again.
The chapel was built in the 18th century to protect Andermatt against avalanches. I was surprised to see how beautiful it was as I didn't expect such decorated chapel in the mountains.
Our friend told us that once he saw a 'performance' (ceremony) here which was funny not only to us, but to other people in the chapel too. Then he said that the 'big dude' (the priest) lives in the village next to the church, so we left before he would manage to offend anyone in the chapel.
We continued back to the village...
Look at those rocks! He promised us that he will take us in that direction next time because we didn't have a lot of time as we wanted to play with the baby before her bedtime.
If you take this road you will get on top of Gemsstock once you conquer the elevation gain of more than 1500 meters 😊
By this point I got used to the fact that we were in the clouds. However, when we were in the restaurant I found it so strange. When I looked out of the window I saw those small white clouds passing by the restaurant and I had no idea what it was. At first. I thought it could have been snow or smoke from chimneys which sounds silly, but I really had no idea it was the clouds.
After a short while we reached the old village. It's not a big village, so the walk wasn't that long either. The house on the left is typical for this region. It looks like fish scaled on the façade.
On this fountain we can see the bear with the cross from the coat of arms of Andermatt. Yes, you can drink water from this fountain.
The first mention of the townhall dates back to the 15th century, but the original building was destroyed in the village fire in the 18th century, and rebuilt only one year after the fire. Today, there is a shop on the ground floor, and the rest of the building serves as the regional court.
The Ursern Valley Museum is situated in this beautiful building from the 18th century. You can learn here about the culture and history of the region. It doesn't look like any other building in Andermatt because it was the seat of the Russian general Suvorov who decorated the façade. Locals calls it the Suvorov house. Our friend was very excited about this building as his wife comes from Russia and recognized the decoration.
Look how pretty it is. I can really understand why they chose this place.
Then he took us to The Church of St. Peter and Paul. We already talked about the performance and the big dude, so we hoped that he wouldn't come with any other 'extravagancies' 😊 Let's go inside!
The church built in the beginning of the 18th century is one of the most important churches in the canton due to its stunning baroque decoration. The main altar is a magnificent artwork. I love the wall decorations too.
We were slowly heading towards the new village, and you might ask yourself why I took this particular photo as those buildings are not so pretty, but look what is in the back. It was the most of the mountains that we saw that day.
This house looks like from a fairy-tale. And we have similar shutters in our new house 😊
It doesn't matter in which direction you look there are mountains everywhere. Well, if there are no clouds.
There are so many churches for such a small village. I didn't take a photo from this one because it was reformed, so the interior is simple with no decoration at all.
Another fairy-tale house...
Then we came to a small park along the river. If I lived here I would spend a lot of time here...
From the park it was only a short walk to get to the new village. It's a super modern place with traditional features. My husband was so impressed that there was a champagne bar next to the place of our friend. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the architecture - our priorities are very different 😊
Their building has a small yard right in front of the mountains. How amazing is that?
And this is the view from their apartment. When I think about it I wouldn't mind to live here, but I'm happy with our new house for now 😊
Thank you for reading!
See you next time...