The Ibnu Al Battutah's Apprentice: Interlaken, Switzerland

Part I: Mission to conquer the Alps

The main aim of my journey was clear: to conquer the Alps with the easiest and safest way. I'm not a Tibetan nor Patagonian who can physically resist the high altitude atmosphere. Hence, I had chosen to climb up the most famous range in Europe by taking train to the top. The target was Jungfraujoch. Indeed, it was a tough journey for me. It wasn't only because of I had to face the extreme condition but also the coming technical matter regarding traveling option. Flew with Ryanair, I landed at Friedrichhafen flughafen in the morning. As I can't rent a car, I changed my plan to Jungfrau by zug (train) as suggested by the airport staff. The final destination on that day was the Interlaken which is the gateway to Jungfraujoch. From the flughafen (airport), I took a zug to the nearest Friedrichhafen port. Here at the port I traveled to a bigger town across the 'see' (not 'look' but lake in English) named Konstanz to reach another Bahnhof (train station). It was a nice ferry and the lake is definitely big. Konstanz is a big town which is near to the German-Swiss border. After having short sightseeing at Konstanz town, I continued my travel to Zurich, again by zug. It was early afternoon when I reached Zurich HB (Zurich train station). Here is the link for the Switzerland's train service. While waiting the right train to Interlaken, I had my lunch at a Pakistani restaurant, Bombay Karahi just few meters away from the station. Thanks to the Pakistanis who gave me info for that restaurant. He worked at the grocery in the Bahnhof . I wasn't prepare to find any halal restaurant in Zurich because it wasn't in my initial plan. My journey continued for another 2 hours. Guess what. If I traveled by car I might pass through Lucern. However, as the plan changed, the train took me to Bern first which is further to the west, before it took me to Interlaken.

Ticket pass enclosure. How nice!

The ticket pass. Do you undertand German? I just guess few words. Don't worry. As far as I know, all the ticket salesman manage to speak English fluently.

My alternated travel route. Friedrichhafen - Konstanz - Zurich - Bern - Interlaken.

On the way to Interlaken. Too many lakes. Switzerland is famous with lakes within the mountains.

Nice view eigghh? That was Thunersee I guess.

Now I was almost arrived to Interlaken. This is one of the lake.

It was quite late afternoon when I arrived at Interlaken. Altough I planned to sleep during the journey but I can't because of mesmerizing landscapes as well as excitement feelings. Interlaken is not only a town by the lake but also a town between two lakes, the Thunersee and Brienzersee which refers to the Thun stadt (town) and Brienz stadt. Being at Interlaken means you're already arrived at the foot of the Alps. The surrounding were outstanding and phenomenon. Too many lakes at the highlands. When I visited this place, the snow was still melting. Though there's no flower to welcome my visits, the big snowy mountains gave me a warm welcome. It reminisced me the Mount Kinabalu in Sabah. However, being at Kudansang, there is only one big mountain standing still before you but here in Interlaken, you'll see many big mountains surrounded you. It was awesome! The hotel that I booked was just few meters away from the Bahnhof. It was perhaps the oldest hotel or building that I had ever stayed. It was hard to believe the building was built in 1666! A very old hotel. I had visited few old places like Cappadocia but I hadn't stayed in the old hill hotel. The timber that form the structure was still tough. Though it was an old hotel, the facilities were up to date and to most thing I liked about it was its croissant. It was the best ever croissant I had eaten without any cream nor jam. It was a tiring day and I slept early to gain new energy for the next day trip - move forward to the top!