Day 3 – Tuesday 24th July 2019
It was another early start today (it’s the best way to guarantee you’re going to be able to see everything before it closes as some things take quite a bit longer than you might think they will!)
Catching a train from Interlaken East to Lauterbrunnen takes about 20 minutes, where we changed to a bus and travelled for another 20 minutes to Stechelberg where we started our ascent up to a famous hangout of a Bond villain…
In order to get to the top we had to zig zag up the mountain using four gondolas/cable cars in total, which took about half an hour. Even if there are things you want to see in the towns before the top of the mountain I would leave these until last because the top gets very busy very quickly – the earlier you go, the better.
You must be wondering by now, what is at the top? Who is she talking about? Well let me explain, Piz Gloria is located on the summit of the Schilthorn which was the location of the mountain-top hideout of the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld from the James Bond movies. Bond manages to escape the complex by skiing down the mountainside dodging many attempts to kill him on the way.
I’ve actually never seen this movie (good old Wikipedia helped me out with the description back there), but I still really enjoyed the experience. There is a James Bond exhibition which includes the Skyline Viewing Platform; a 360 degrees restaurant that rotates so you can see all the views (how cool is that?!?!); the 007 Walk of Fame and much more. As I say, even if you aren’t particularly into James Bond film, this is still a fantastic place to go because it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that few people get to do.
On the way back down we stopped off in Birg because there is a Thrill Walk that mum and I did, think tight-rope bridges, glass platforms and tunnels on the edge of the cliff (safely of course). We managed to get Abby and Dad on the glass platform that looked down into the valleys below, they’re not quite as adventurous as us so I think of this as a good achievement for all of us.
It was early afternoon by the time we got down the mountain, so we still had plenty of the day left. I had read about a place only a 10 minute bus ride from Lauterbrunnen called Trümmelbach Falls, so we decided to head over there and have a look. They are Europe’s largest subterranean water falls and the world’s only glacier waterfalls that are accessible underground by lift, galleries, tunnels, paths and platforms. The sound of the falls was so loud you could hardly hear yourself speak, but they were breathtaking to watch because they were just so powerful. There is a trail that you can follow through the falls which takes you to all the best viewpoints but be warned, there are quite a lot of stairs!
I think I can say this for everyone, but I know I had a fantastic day up in the cooler mountains and down underground in the refreshing falls.
I hope you are finding this helpful, I can’t wait to share the next few days of adventures with you.
Happy travelling!
Zoe and David x
Written by Zoe
Not-So-Trendy Travellers 