A walk through Zermatt

We had a very short night, as the alarm clock rang at 5:30 am. At least it was worth waking up so early to catch a glimpse out of our window where we saw the sunrise over the Matterhorn.

Sight from the window of our bedroom in the youth hostel.

Did you know that the Matterhorn is partly African? It happened 100 million years ago, when
rock masses from the African and European continent were pressed together to form the alps. 
This mountain is 4,478 m high and the first ascend was on the 14 July 1865, more than 150 years ago.

Sunrise over the Matterhorn.

On the way to the Gornergrat, we discovered plenty of curios and funny things. For example the little carts called "Elektrowagen". As Zermatt is a car-free town, the inhabitants there doesn't have the normal cars you normally expect. If you want to learn more about these electric buses, click here.

Thats how a post van looks like in Zermatt!

Did you know that you can buy Edelweiss by the florist? These are the typical Swiss flowers, often used as symbol of the alps. They grow between 1'800 and 3'000 meters and are protected (so never pick them up in the wildness).

Evelin admiring the Edelweiss at the florist.

On our way we also saw many typical chalets.

Typical chalet.

Village square in front of the church. On the left side you see the parish hall in white.

On our way we also had a big surprise! We saw some blackneck goats! These are the really typical goats of the Valais. The special thing about them, is that they are like cut in two parts: half black (from the head) and half white (from the bottom). 

In Zermatt, there is the tradition of the "Geissenkehr". A herd of Blackneck goats passes through the Bahnhofstrasse in Zermatt each morning and evening!

Our surprise of the day: