Walks, Hikes and Wanders #23: Through the Forest to the Village

The day after our Diavolezza and glacier hikes, Mr. D and I decided to go off on our own and explore the trails between Pontresina and St. Moritz.As we walked down from the hotel to the trail, we stopped on the bridge to look at the Flaz River that runs through town. It had rained heavily the night before, so the water was flowing very swiftly.

Near the Bahnhof (train station) we turned off onto the trail, and were almost immediately confused by this directional sign.

 

Where was St. Moritz on this sign? We set off in what we thought was the correct direction, and after a few minutes came upon another sign that did have St. Moritz on it, so we were on our way. Below, you can see the trail as it wound through the forest. It's typical of many Swiss hiking trails, wide and relatively free of roots and rocks.

After about an hour, we came to this beautiful little lake, Lej da Staz.

In another few minutes, we came to the top of this hill, and looked out on the St. Moritzersee. Isn't this a spectacular view? The view was so spectacular, in fact, that we found an empty bench along the lake shore and stopped to eat our lunch.

It was after lunch that this hike turned into a walk, although I think almost any walking done at 6,000 feet above sea level should probably be classified as a hike. 

We wanted to get from the lake shore to the village farther up on the hill, and we looked for the quickest way. We followed some signs, which led us through a large parking garage and brought us to this:

Maybe this really isn't a hike anymore...

The village of St. Moritz is not your typical Swiss village. There were lots of upscale retail establishments; think Prada, Rolex, Chanel, etc. We were more interested in soaking in a little more Swiss atmosphere, and and we were able to find some among all the glitz. Here are some of the more typically Swiss scenes that we encountered.

The beautifully embellished building above is  Handelmann's Conditorei. A conditorei is sort of a combined restaurant and pastry shop. It just so happens that Handelmann's also has a window around the corner where they sell gelato. YUM! What a civilized way to end a Swiss hike!

P.S. I'll be back to mountain hiking in the next post.