As our Trip Members skied down the Matterhorn, Trip 35 had come and gone through the beautiful city of Zermatt! We ate our way through La Spezia and our next stop is Venice!
Zermatt was truly a hidden gem, as it is a hidden village tucked away in the Swiss Alps, only accessible by train. In Zermatt, there are no cars, only small electric shuttles that take tourists to and from the train station. But that’s not all, we learned that more than 50% of the people who live in Zermatt live and work for tourism.
At Matterhorn, we thought to ourselves that it is true that the journey is the destination, as we sat in awe of the view of the snow peaked mountains and river runs as we rode the gondola up the mountain. In the evening, we celebrated Michelle’s birthday with a delicious dinner at the Snow Boat, followed by some fun dancing at an underground disco!
What a way to end our stay in Switzerland. The disco was full of laughs, insane dance moves, and a lot of fist bumping as we danced across the dance floor and sang every rhyme to all the songs. The energy was electric.
Once again, we found ourselves back on the train and reunited with our amazing bus driver, Yako. In the blink of an eye the Swiss chocolates and cheeses turned into spaghetti and meatballs as we entered the beautiful Italy! La Spezia was filled with terraces, restaurants and gelato at every twist and turn as we spent our first night exploring different restaurants in this new town. We ended off the evening by enjoying some delicious gelato. Food and adventure: what a dream!
There truly is no other words we can find to describe La Spezia other than absolutely picturesque. Trees with beautiful flowers lined the streets as we overlooked the blue Mediterranean sea. Scents of basil, pesto, and sauce mixed with the ocean air, and that’s when we truly knew that we were in Italy. The Cinque Terre was vibrant with color and with life as we walked through the streets. Some of the group hiked from Monterossa to Vernazza and experienced some of the most beautiful views Italy has to offer. We observed these beautiful beach towns from above, carved into the mountains, resting on the waterfront. We were led by a few of our Trip Members, as the rest of the group followed behind. While we did this, the rest of the group lounged on the beach. After our hike, we joined them for a few more hours in the water, before ending our day with a beautiful family dinner, overlooking the ocean and the lights in the mountainside.
Ciao means Hello and Goodbye in Italian, and that is what we say to you, as we pack our bags and are on the road yet again! Venice, here we come!
Until next time,
The Westcoast Blogger
Do you want to explore beautiful Switzerland and Italy? Learn more about our 22-day and 30-day European Discovery teen tours! To browse all of our programs, click here.