When we got into our room in Pontresina, there was a sort of background hum that I assumed was air conditioning. However, I couldn’t find any control or vents, and then I noticed that there were some windows open. The noise was the headlong rush of the Roseg River, a few hundred yards from our windows. We had dinner (blah) at our hotel.
Monday morning, we had our free buffet breakfast, then went into town, to the tourist information office. The young woman there suggested several possible hikes, but the one that looked best to us was one that had already seen recommended both by Rick Steves and Mary Joy’s cousin Albert. However, I had assumed that we would have to start with a bus or train ride, but the tourist office woman suggested that the 3½ kilometers (about two miles) to Punt Muragl would be a pleasant walk. And so it proved. The weather was perfect, and the walk was a gentle stroll on a path through fields, along the valley floor. We came to the funicular at Punt Muragl (the only transport that has yet refused to give us any discount at all for our Swiss Pass) and rode up to the top, at Muottas Muragl (2568 meters, around 8500 feet). If these names do not seem to be Swiss German, it is because they are not. The Engadine is in the part of Switzerland where the official language is Romansh, a Latin-based tongue which is spoken by very few people, almost all of them concentrated in Switzerland’s Canton Graubuenden. Pontresina is therefore “Puntraschigna” on the hiking signs.
From Muottas Muragl, you can see up the Inn valley past the resorts of Celerina, St. Moritz and Silvaplana and their various lakes all the way to Sils Maria (famous as Friedrich Nietzsche’s summer home, where he wrote “Also Sprach Zarathustra”). It was a spectacle in green and blue, surrounded by snowy mountain peaks. Instead of taking the really strenuous hike up to the hut where the Italian artist Giovanni Segantini lived, painted and died, we wimped out and took the “Panoramaweg” (“Panorama Way”) hike: first, down a little and back to the head of the Muragl Valley, then gradually up, out and around the high hill overlooking the Bernina River as it flowed toward the Inn. The trail begins above the tree line, through rocks and even a little snow. It eventually moves into a pine forest, with frequent waterfalls and glimpses of the valley and its towns. After a final steep climb (and about three hours of hiking) the trail crosses a cow-filled meadow to the ski-lift and restaurant of Alp Languard. We had an okay lunch (a polenta made with saffron and cheese) at the restaurant, then took the chair lift down the 585 meters (about 1950 feet) to Pontresina. Neither of us had ever ridden in a chair lift before. Mary Joy claims to have had her eyes closed and her hands clenched around the bar almost all the way down,
but I don’t really believe that. I found it pleasant and almost relaxing.
Once we were down to earth again, we went looking for a nearby church that was mentioned in the guidebooks. Santa Maria is a very old church, with 13th-century and 15th-century frescoes, as well as a small organ.
After a short nap, we went off on a short hike up the valley of the Roseg. This was disappointing because it was almost entirely in trees, and we couldn’t see anything else. There was a “Vita Course” running in and out of the trail, with various exercises and exercise equipment (balance beams, etc.). We saw two young guys going through this course, and Mary Joy tried a few of the exercises.
We had a light dinner (barley soup, with tiny pieces of bacon and carrot) and dessert at the restaurant of the Hotel Steinbock. It was terrific. The waitress, it turns out, is originally from Tuttlingen. She has become a professional waitress because she enjoys the people contact and different languages, and her trade is in demand wherever she wanders.
Monday morning, we had our free buffet breakfast, then went into town, to the tourist information office. The young woman there suggested several possible hikes, but the one that looked best to us was one that had already seen recommended both by Rick Steves and Mary Joy’s cousin Albert. However, I had assumed that we would have to start with a bus or train ride, but the tourist office woman suggested that the 3½ kilometers (about two miles) to Punt Muragl would be a pleasant walk. And so it proved. The weather was perfect, and the walk was a gentle stroll on a path through fields, along the valley floor. We came to the funicular at Punt Muragl (the only transport that has yet refused to give us any discount at all for our Swiss Pass) and rode up to the top, at Muottas Muragl (2568 meters, around 8500 feet). If these names do not seem to be Swiss German, it is because they are not. The Engadine is in the part of Switzerland where the official language is Romansh, a Latin-based tongue which is spoken by very few people, almost all of them concentrated in Switzerland’s Canton Graubuenden. Pontresina is therefore “Puntraschigna” on the hiking signs.
From Muottas Muragl, you can see up the Inn valley past the resorts of Celerina, St. Moritz and Silvaplana and their various lakes all the way to Sils Maria (famous as Friedrich Nietzsche’s summer home, where he wrote “Also Sprach Zarathustra”). It was a spectacle in green and blue, surrounded by snowy mountain peaks. Instead of taking the really strenuous hike up to the hut where the Italian artist Giovanni Segantini lived, painted and died, we wimped out and took the “Panoramaweg” (“Panorama Way”) hike: first, down a little and back to the head of the Muragl Valley, then gradually up, out and around the high hill overlooking the Bernina River as it flowed toward the Inn. The trail begins above the tree line, through rocks and even a little snow. It eventually moves into a pine forest, with frequent waterfalls and glimpses of the valley and its towns. After a final steep climb (and about three hours of hiking) the trail crosses a cow-filled meadow to the ski-lift and restaurant of Alp Languard. We had an okay lunch (a polenta made with saffron and cheese) at the restaurant, then took the chair lift down the 585 meters (about 1950 feet) to Pontresina. Neither of us had ever ridden in a chair lift before. Mary Joy claims to have had her eyes closed and her hands clenched around the bar almost all the way down,
but I don’t really believe that. I found it pleasant and almost relaxing.Once we were down to earth again, we went looking for a nearby church that was mentioned in the guidebooks. Santa Maria is a very old church, with 13th-century and 15th-century frescoes, as well as a small organ.
After a short nap, we went off on a short hike up the valley of the Roseg. This was disappointing because it was almost entirely in trees, and we couldn’t see anything else. There was a “Vita Course” running in and out of the trail, with various exercises and exercise equipment (balance beams, etc.). We saw two young guys going through this course, and Mary Joy tried a few of the exercises.
We had a light dinner (barley soup, with tiny pieces of bacon and carrot) and dessert at the restaurant of the Hotel Steinbock. It was terrific. The waitress, it turns out, is originally from Tuttlingen. She has become a professional waitress because she enjoys the people contact and different languages, and her trade is in demand wherever she wanders.
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