by Judy Bracken
We were so excited to start out on our first European ski trip! Elaine, Armand and I had no trouble on our smooth overnight flight from SFO to Zürich. Roland had arrived earlier to visit his cousin. There was a jolly meeting with the other 80 skiers arriving from all sorts of places. Somehow our FWSA trip director, Debbie Stewart, managed to coordinate these large groups. We filled up our two buses and continued our journey for about three hours, arriving in Davos in time for dinner and long awaited sleep!
The five-star Hotel Seehof had spacious rooms and was close to the resorts. Included was a scrumptious breakfast and dinner almost every day, with a welcoming and friendly staff. Dinner dishes each night were creatively cooked and served, including famous Swiss made cheeses and sauces, served with fish or meat. After skiing we had time to put on our bathrobes and visit the downstairs spa, complete with a whirlpool, sauna and steam rooms. We learned quickly that the European way is to wear nothing while in the saunas!
Skiing at Davos was spectacular, especially the views. From our hotel, it was just a few steps away to get on the steep funicular to the midway point of Parsenn, the largest and most popular of the six ski resorts surrounding the town of Davos. Skiing here was much different than our home resorts. We took very steep trams or funiculars to get up to the big bowls and most ski runs. Then multiple forms of transport take you further up the mountain, including t-bars, chairlifts, gondolas, trains, and more trams. Descending to the bottom was often a long, winding road with small cabins dotted about. Nothing was crowded, and free buses take you from one resort to another.
If there was fresh snow, skiing off piste was really good, but otherwise the groomed runs were not very interesting. There are few trees up at the high slopes, and it’s white everywhere with breathtaking views of Matterhorn type peaks as far as the eye could see (on the two sunny days of the week). Other days were blustery with some white out conditions. Ski runs are numbered, not named, and the lollipop markers help you find your way down. Everyone takes long lunches in private huts placed all about the mountains. You are waited upon, and can order anything from goulash to apple strudel. The lift passes were half as much as US, although food and everything else was quite pricey. We were told that there had been no snow for some time, and we were lucky to get some fresh powder!
Our NSC group did not go on the optional day trip to Lucerne, but we enjoyed the evening sleigh ride and fondue dinner. We boarded six to each horse drawn sleigh, snuggled under blankets, then over the river and through the woods we went. The snow was falling gently in the dark night, and listening to the sleigh bells ringing as we meandered up a canyon, passing chalets and weathered barns seemed like a fairytale. We arrived at a cozy house where we enjoyed a meal of salad, traditional Swiss fondues and wine.
This was my first European ski trip, and it was fun to be with a group of likeminded, fun loving folks from all over the western US. It seemed we had a party every other night, and despite the jet lag all week, most of us managed to eat, drink, ski and be merry most of the time! We had no idea this would be our last ski of the season…
For the second week, 48 of us continued on to Portugal, where the weather was gorgeous every single day. We started hearing more about the coronavirus spread heating up. Even so, we enjoyed Lisbon and our humorous tour guide Valter, learning so much about Portuguese history and culture. One of our best meals of the trip was a six-course lunch at Museu da Cerveja (museum of beer). Then there were delicious pastries, and shopping galore. On the drive to Porto we stopped at Obidos, a tiny village surrounded by castle walls, then to Nazare, home of beaches with the biggest surf in the world. We were treated to an amazing seafood lunch, after which we soon arrived in Porto.
We again had a wonderful day tour of Porto, complete with a substantial Portuguese lunch and a port wine tasting. On our free day some people walked or biked along the River Douro or saw more city sights. It seemed the Portuguese people bent over backwards to please their visitors.
At the same time, news of the coronavirus was getting serious. Flights were being cancelled and European travelers were banned from coming to the US. Most of us had to alter our flight plans to get home. It was the end of our eventful trip, and we were grateful once we boarded our planes and landed on our home turf at last.
