The Swiss Alps are more beautiful than I imagined; and that is saying quite a bit seeing as how I grew up next to the Rocky Mountains. We drove from Venice to the small Village of Torbel, which is a Swiss Village, literally on the edge of the mountain. Torbel is a small beautiful place in the Alps. It took us about 10-15 minutes driving up from the city of Visp, to reach this mountain village. The road up to Torbel was one lane, with mirrors on the edges of the road curves, so you could see a car coming towards you. It was actually a bit scary for us driving up and down, and we were very thankful there wasn’t snow on the ground. Watch this Timelapse video of us driving the road to Torbel.

The village of Torbel has been around since 1034, if not earlier. This is the first record of the village. It has a population of 498 people, 88% of which were born in the village of Torbel. The language spoke in Torbel in 99% German. I found it so interesting that the houses were made with slate rock slabs forming the shingles of the homes and barns. Homes were held up with a rock slab of slate resting on a 1-2 foot stilt. Please see the interesting pictures below. This village has such and incredible view of the Alps. As our family walked around the village, we found it so fascinating to see the sheep, goats, and gardens all along the steep mountain side. Below is a video tour of our rental home and the walk we took to get to our house, after parking our car. We found out that this home we rented has been in the owner’s family since the 1750’s at which time the family had nine children, which lived in the kitchen and parlor area. This reminded me of my pioneer heritage.

Torbel, Switzerland

We also took a day trip to Zurmatt and saw the Matterhorn. It is a very majestic peak. From our village of Tarbell we drove about 35 minutes to the city of Tasch, we then parked our car and took a train up to Zurmatt, which is a car free city. I want to note how expensive Switzerland is. We found a McDonalds on the Main Street of Zurmatt and for the eight of us to eat (and we did not order everyone their own fries and drinks) it was over $100! My suggestion for big families visiting Switzerland: try to eat your meals at home and don’t spend too long in the country. Italy was much more reasonable. One more funny price comparison, Justin bought some ramen noodles at the grocery store (Coop is what the main grocery store is called), each ramen was $2 as compared to the US where they are $.33 each! We also discovered Switzerland is famous for fondue. We were able to pickup fondue up at the store and bring it back to our home to warm up. It was fun to eat while watching the World Cup and celebrating my daughter Brooklyn’s birthday. However, Switzerland fondue does have a very strong smell and taste, which our family wasn’t accustomed to.