HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, ZMUTT

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TRAIL – this one looks back across the valley to the places we visited yesterday.  The trip begins at the newest lift in town: the refurbished Sunnegga underground funicular.

Back in the day a simple chairlift carried you up the hill; in the 1970s it was replaced with an underground funicular that tunneled inside the mountain, with protection from winter storms.  However, by the first decade of this century, the train needed either a makeover or a complete replacement. Zermatt elected to replace: they improved the roadbed, upgraded the carriages, and sped up the ride.  In 2014 you walk through a high-tech, carpeted tunnel with dazzling graphic panels where once a grey, gunnite-like cement coated the hollowed-out rock. A nonstop series of overhead flat screens beam slick  commercials as you march along.

The new ride is smoother, faster (from 1600 to 2288 meters in about 3 minutes) and safer. Families, dogs, bikes, and strollers crowd into the cars; an electronic voice warns, “Bitte, ansteigen…”; the safety gates lock; and up we go.

Sunnegga

Sunnegga (“the sunny corner”) has been called “the Riviera of Zermatt” because it often provides a sunny “hole” in a town that knows the meaning of cloud cover.  This sunny spot deserves includes a small lake and beach known as Leisee, which has earned local fame as a recreation center.

Leisee beach publicity photo (© Portman from the official Zermatt site) 

Heading down past Leisee, we wander through more incredible flowered meadows to find a lunch at Findeln.

  

Findeln

Findeln – an ancient summer grazing hamlet just below Sunnegga – deserves a blog post of its own. As it has evolved into a premium dining center,  Findeln has inspired the Tourist Office to invent a new name for the path: the Gourmetweg. This calorie-laden trek winds past a string of mountain restaurants and leads eventually back into Zermatt.

Photo from the Chez Vrony website

The most sought-out watering hole in Findeln (and perhaps in Zermatt) is the world-famous Chez Vrony, where proprietors Vrony and Max Cotting-Julen raise their own cattle to produce their personal version of the Valais’ famed dried beef (as well as the hamburgers). Between seasons, they also make their own cheese in the cellar.  Or you can select a fresh mountain trout from the restaurant’s holding tank. Summer or winter, it’s a memorable chance to lunch-and-lounge on a sheepskin-covered chaise in the sun and enjoy an incomparable view. 

If you can’t get a seat at Vrony’s, there’s the newer Restaurant Paradies at the top of the hamlet with a small menu that’s elegantly prepared. Chef Gaston Zeiter puts his own stamp on delicious classics such as Zermatt’s famous Kaeseschnitte – adding fresh herbs, cubing fresh-baked bread, and stirring in a superb blend of local cheese and ham. Since it’s the topmost site in town, it offers unequalled views of the Matterhorn and the Zmutt valley to its right.  As we dine, we point to the living map below us, remembering yesterday's walk.