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Background

This post is in continuation to my previous post A day trip to Zermatt(Switzerland).In the starting of October 2004, we had covered almost all the popular tourist places in Switzerland. This was the time when parents of one of my colleagues visited Swiss to meet her. That colleague is my wife now so, I can say that my in-laws visited us in Swiss :-)

The overall mood was to cover as much of Swiss as we could. Since we had covered most of the ‘conventional’ places, our Manager suggested Zermatt as not many tourists visit it.

We did some research over Internet and found the place quite interesting. The main attraction there is Matterhorn, one of the most famous Swiss peaks. To add to the town’s charm was the Glacier Express, a train from Zermatt to St. Moritz, that travels between the alps and covers spectacular views. So we decided to spend a weekend in Zermatt.

Started from Geneva

Started very early morning from our apartments in Geneva. After riding a bus and then train and around 4 hour journey, we reached Zermatt around 10am.

Our youth hostel was right next to the station so we checked in and settled our baggage there and confirmed our rooms.
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I have not been to many forts and am essentially not a fort fan but I had been to my share of them like Agra Fort, Delhi’s Red Fort, Jaipur’s Amber, Udaipur’s City Palace and few more. Probably there are a lot of them which are yet to be visited like ‘Chittor’ but most of them have some basic attributes. This start with the complexion, size, the usual rooms for prayer-ladies-guest-etc, jharokhas, courtyards, sheesh-mahals, paintings, raj-era photos, weaponry and so on. While the ones like City Palace in Udaipur are much better preserved and run (being private), places like Red Fort in Delhi are more closer to being called ruins. So when we started to go to Mehrangarh, the mood was peppy (more for being out then anything else) but not too excited. Jodhpur is 2nd largest city of Rajasthan but one needs to maneuver all kinds of vehicles to move through. And after a while, we got close to the fort and wow, what a sight. Amber in Jaipur has a great view from the road but this one really looked like a large-high-cell, standing atop mightly. The contrast of small blue houses amid the backdrop of this large dinosaur was difficult to grasp and as we got closer, you sort of start to get the feel of being in a gigantic company with a large door-way welcoming you.

Welcome to Mehrangarh Fort.

As you get in, you realize that its been built on a high-land and adding its own height, it really gets very tall.
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This is a city where the past is the present, where Gods still linger and monarchs are worshipped , where myths and legends merge to create history , where romance is about wars fought and won, where art is a way of life , where stones speak and the silence of the scultures speak of a glorious past, where winged creatures are not birds , but Gods , where the spirit of Renaissance still lives on the streets , celebrating the exuberance of life. Its the root of civilisation and ironically, you run away from civilisation the moment you set foot here , as you step into the bygone eras .

This trip for me was personal and special. I ‘ve poured over the stories from classical mythology , learnt by rote the names of all the Gods and Goddesses, dreamt of Zeus and Venus, got intoxicated by Bachchus and smitten by Cupid and read all the exploits of the Ceasars and imagined Nero fiddling … and I completely got lost amidst the art and architecture . It was hot and humid and extremely crowded .

There was art in every nook and corner. Statues and sculptures screamed for attention as pretty fountains dotted every street . Each piazza has a history behind it, be it Piazza Navona or Piazza Venezia or Piazza Di Spagna . In Piazza Navona are three fountains: Fontana del Moro, Fontana di Nettuno and in the centre of the square Bernini’s magnificent Fontana dei Fiumi. Four allegorical statues portray the Nile, the Ganges, the Danube and the Rio de la Plata, symbolizing the four corners of the world.
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This must be a great inspiration for fellow ghumakkars : My friend is driving an autorickshaw for charity across india starting from cochin ending at kathmandu. This is her blog >> http://laidbackness.wordpress.com/

Read the Sms’s from all the teams here :

http://rickshawrun08w.theadventurists.com/index.php?mode=sms&sub=archive

her auto team is called Stevie wonder driving school

There are some really funny ones in there from other autorickshaw teams.