Visiting the Swiss Engadin
Because 10,000 visitors were expected for the annual cross-country ski marathon in the St. Moritz area last Sunday, we decided to explore further to the east of the Engadin, the southeast part of Switzerland which is home to those who speak the Romansch language. Were we ever lucky as we discovered an idyllic, unspoiled, sun-filled area with incredible mountain vistas and views. We stayed in Guarda, walked 17k to Scuol, a small ski town and couldn’t wait to return to the much smaller, more unspoiled Guarda, which is situated partway up the mountain on a glacier created terrace. Guarda's architecture includes scraffito, etchings on the outside walls and homes that often have the barns in the basement. The Engadin is a long, mountain valley in the Graubunden Canton that follows the route of the Inn River and is known for its sunny weather. As in all Switzerland, there are wonderful walking/biking paths tough better cross country skiing areas are closer to St. Moritz. We spent the night in the lovely PizBuin Inn and the next day walked one station back towards St. Moritz. We had reservation for dinner in an old-fashioned dining car on the train trip back to Zurich where the spectacular views provided a great backdrop for dinner. We had traveled with just Larry’s postal card and not enough cash for the excursion and Larry couldn’t remember his pin number. Waiting for the train in Samedan we asked if we could get money without knowing the code and were surprised to find we could for a token service fee. They didn’t even ask for a photo id!