This article serves as a general
introduction to Europe’s alps and provides some brief notes and comparisons of
the alpen places we visited (see Jane's fantastic planning map above!). It covers geography, a little history, languages, diet, economics and prices, climate, best times to travel, and cultural variations.
i.e. It may serve as a general primer if you’re considering a holiday there.
Let’s go…
So, let’s start at the beginning. What are the Alps?
The Alps
The Alps (French Alpes; German Alpen; Italian Alpi; Romansh Alps; Slovene Alpe) is a mountain chain system, the largest in
Europe. It was formed by the crustal plate of Africa pushing northwards, and
scrunching up the plate on which Europe sits, forcing sedimentary rock from the
bottom of the ocean up into the impressive peaks which we see today; climbing
up to four kilometres into the thin air.
You can still see the layers of hardened sand from the ocean floors of
the ancient past, about 140 million years ago (they tell me).
The Alps include such memorable
literary and motion picture peaks as Mont Blanc, the Eiger, the Münch, and the
Jungfrau, the bigger mountains in the middle made of slate and darker rock, while
there are southern and northern parts which are made more of limestone and
dolomite (hence the Dolomites in Italy).
The Alps extend across eight countries and
we were there to visit Winter Olympic sites by way of a theme; we flew into
Germany (München), then made our way to Austria (Innsbruck), then into Italy
(Cortina, then Torino on the other side of the country), into France (Grenoble,
and Annecy), Switzerland (Mürren)
and finally back into France (Chamonix).
Most of the places we visited used to be
little principalities. For example Cortina was once run by the Venetian empire,
some German and Austrian parts considered Bavaria, the Italian dolomites part
of the Tirol region, while Liechtenstein and Switzerland… well, they were just
impenetrable to armies, so seem to have almost always have been principalities
in their own right and have somehow negotiated becoming tax havens to the
world.
The Savoy family seem to have had a major impact around parts of France,
Switzerland and Turin in the 15-1700’s, giving one of my companions the notion
that the term “Savoire Faire” must have been coined from “doing it like a
Savoy” (it’s not, incidentally; savoire faire means literally “to know how to
do”, and means having the ability to act appropriately in social situations ~
thank you dictionary).
Langauges
In terms of language, the area is quite
fluid. Driving into Italy from
Austria, people are still saying “Hallo” and “Grüß Gott” (“God’s Grace”, a greeting I understand that Berlin Germans
think makes you sound like you’re from the country), and then slip seamlessly
into Italian… the lucky bastards.
They’ll claim there are distinct language sub-sets in each region, no
doubt, but if you ask me (and you did), the regional expressions are a kind of
soft mish mash of German, Italian and French, especially as workers go to get
jobs in neighbouring countries and the like.
Switzerland has distinct German and French
parts, and even Italian bits (I’m told), and these areas were jarringly obvious
as we zipped about on their extremely efficient train system; i.e. the train
line from Munich to Bern being very German with beer drinking and “Ja’s”
abounding, while around lake Geneve it becomes really French and – dare I say
it – a little more stylish.
As a final note on languages, we tried our
hand at speaking all the local lingos, to various degrees of success, and found
that many people – especially in the service industries, hoteliers and waiters,
etc. – would all speak excellent English.
A great trick for me in engaging people was
to start in their language, and clarify right off the front foot that I was
Australian, my speaking their language was only so so, and did they speak
English? (a handful of phrases to learn in three languages). This had the benefit of asking them to
speak English politely, establishing that you weren’t actually from England or
the UK (important to some, like the French), and letting them off the hook if
they couldn’t speak English… at which point you could communicate through mime
and your primary school Italian, highschool French, and/or WWII movie and
Inspektor Rex German!!
In terms of proficiency and attitude, the
Germans and Austrians were almost universally fluent, or their poor English was
better than many others. The Italians
were generally non-English speaking, but would be so pleased you were trying to speak their language,
they’d jolly you along in Italian with mime and laughs, making the whole
experience extremely enjoyable.
The French would probably just hand you the English menu after you said
“bonjour”; though my French did improve markedly during the trip, there’s the
general vibe that no matter how good you become, you will always be “other” and
not one of them. And the
Swiss? Well, they’re so cosmopolitan
they wouldn’t even blink, because they’d only just been talking to a delegate
at the bank from Burundi, and they’d been speaking four different languages all
day.
Of course, this is all gross
generalization, and as they say in the classics “generalisations are always
wrong”.
Diet:
As observed in the Swiss language comments
above, everything is much closer to everything else compared to here en
Australie.
I was surprised to see that when we were in
Grenoble that we were only an hour and a half from Lyon (previously reviewed
here); I’d been lead to believe Lyon was the olive oil/cream equator in France –
i.e. head north of Lyon and they use cream in their cooking, head south and
it’s olive oil. Now I’m not so
sure… Grenoble is southish of Lyon, but then Grenoble was quite cosmopolitan
with the food and might have been more “olive oily”, but if so it would be the
exception in the Alps.
Alpen food is very cold climate in
focus. Steaks, schnitzels, pork
knuckle, cured meats, sauccisons, cream, butter, and cheese (fondue anyone?),
with frites, and soups, and warm vegetables, and sauerkraut. And bread. My goodness, the bread! Pretzels as big as your head. Sourdoughs, ryes, fantastic! French baguettes for only 1€05
(that’s about $1.60 AU); the best bread you ever ate. Croissant and a coffee as a breakfast duo, the croissants perfect folds of butter? 2€50 at the right place: compare that
to inferior croissants but better coffee in Fitzroy for $9 AU.
2€ for the best pain au chocolate I ever ate at a market (see economics
and pricing below).
The Swiss are rightfully proud of their
milk, made with yellow cows that eat herbaceous plants instead of boring old
grass, which gives the milk a real depth and yellow fat content… no doubt the
reason for their cheese and milk chocolate being so good. The French treat salad as a first
course, which can make subsequent meat dishes trying, and know virtually
nothing about snacking (in my opinion).
And the Germans and Austrians are all about beer, barbecued meats and
sausages, pretzels and lederhosen.
Economics and Prices:
As we moved across the mountains, Italy was the cheapest country
we visited (and for me the most enjoyable) by a mile, followed by France, then
Germany/Austria and finally Switzerland.
In fact, as we approached Switzerland the prices went up, generally
speaking, making “Swiss fringe France” quite expensive.
Having said that, Switzerland (despite
their 40 Euro road tax for us to drive fifteen minutes to the airport and drop
off the car) had prices like Melbourne.
Melbourne must be the most expensive place to eat and drink out in in
the world. Don’t ask me why. Possibly Australia’s exorbitant taxes
on booze (and fags – European ciggies are about 7€ a pack), food
having to be shipped long distances, and/or our wages. It could also be that it’s swings and
roundabouts, because what you gain on cheap food and drink in Europe, you lose
on transport with expensive road taxes, tolls, petrol, parking, trains and city
taxes.
When I commented to someone about Italy
being the most affordable place we visited, I was informed it all had to do
with the economic crash;
“You know how it went – first Greece, then
Spain and Portugal, then Italy”.
I once heard Australia’s Alan Kohler (the
ABC economist) quip: “the beer drinking countries are doing alright, the wine drinking
countries not so well. And if you
want to know why, try going out for lunch and drinking a bottle of beer, and
then the next day have a bottle of wine with lunch, and then see which one you
feel more fiscally responsible after…”
I only steal from the best, clearly.
Climate, Activities and Timing Your Tour:
The Alps are famous for their snow, having
hosted numerous winter Olympics, and being mountains with snow and glaciers on
the top of them even during the height of summer. Each place we visited was primed for adventure sports, and in
warmer months accommodate spectacular hiking, mountain climbing, bike riding
and some newer sports I’d never heard of including “canyoning”; which involves
putting on a wet suit and jumping into a river of snow melt, and then repelling
down cliff faces or just jumping off waterfalls into the pools below (no
thanks).
The most glamorous skiing
area we visited would have to be the valleys around Cortina, which is renowned
as being “icy and pricey”.
Chamonix was very glamorous as well, while Mürren is home to the James
Bond lookout from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. But every single town had its charms (Grenoble particularly),
and there were dozens of small ski towns we drove through in the hills, so if
you like skiing, you are set.
None of the party I traveled with ski. Including me.
We were there during the shoulder season,
before the summer holidays, and had consistently fine weather; 30 degree
days, with glaciers overhead, and the occasional cool evening. In fact, despite
it being spring, the only really cold and wet day we had was when we went to Annecy;
the summer get away for the surrounding region with its lake and paddle boats.
Generally speaking, our trip was also great timing as there weren’t many
other tourists. If you’re planning a trip to Europe you could do
far worse than travel around the Alps in late spring since it appears that
Rome, Paris and Barcelona have all been taken over by crowds on busses bearing
selfie sticks, while there the mountain flowers are starting to bloom and everybody
is taking a break between tourist peak period times up in the mountains.
So there you have it; an opening salvo
snapshot of tourism in the Alps.
So watch this space over the coming days and weeks, and I’ll bring you
what dirt I can on the above places.
Next episode? ‘Munchin’ in
München’.
Auf wiedersehen (for now!)
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