TRAVEL STORIES: VALS, SWITZERLAND

I never seem to post a lot of my small trips or bigger ones on this blog, eventhough I am a big traveller and normally take photos of almost everything in sight I find pretty or worth capturing. However, this time on our last excursion I decided to take my Nikon camera with me to the mountains to capture all the magic of the Swiss countryside. We were celebrating our three year anniversary (me and my boyfriend), so I decided we should do something for ourselves and mutually enjoy it. Well, what better option than the use of the thermal baths? Switzerland is known for its amazingly beautiful mountains and lakes existing between them. Water from the mountains is something this country is not lacking. So, it comes without surprise that these are very famous thermal baths next to the mountains.

The village we visited was Vals. In order to get here, we took a train from Zurich to Chur and then another train from Chur to Illanz. Final trip was a small bus taking us around the mountain and leaving us in Vals, a small village you kind of see in films like The Sound of Happiness or in photos when you arrive at the airport of Zurich. Small wooden houses along the way and so much snow made this place seem dreamy! And I have the photos to prove it...

Hotel 7132 offers this amazing experience which you can try as a one day thing, like we did, if you live close to the area. Our trip was 3 hours long, but it was totally worth it. The hotel outside is very modern, minimalistic with gray surfaces and sharp shape. One you walk inside the thermal baths you can feel the warmness coming for the hot pools and the sounds of water splashing. I don't know about you, but the sound of water calms me and when it is followed by a hot temperature, I forget about all my other problems and focus only in what my body is feeling...relaxation.

Most of the people who come in this area tend to opt for the mountains to do either ski or snowboard. We didn't try it this time as we are planning on going on a ski trip to Davos next month. So, after our little experience at the thermal baths we had nothing else to do than wonder around the village and find a place to eat. That's when we found this cute little restaurant beloning to an equally cute hotel. Everything inside Hotel Glenner is where you want to go if you want that alpine architecture and the cozy/amber astmosphere inside.

We had our minds set on tasting some fondue, since this restaurant is famous for it, but we were a bit unlucky as they were serving it during dinner (we went in the afternoon). Nevertheless, we were not dissapointed! We tried some delicious local soups that warmed us and then the most delicious quiche lorraine I've tried in German part Switzerland. Last we tasted some traditional smoked sausage with lots of bread and butter. A lot of fat you might say, but hey if the temperature drops below 0 you cannot rely only on spinach. I already feel ready for our next trip!