by train, bus and boat. - Chiral Dynamics 2009

Mont Blanc Express
To the place of origin
of Saint Bernard dogs.
Who isn’t familiar with them? The muscular,
good-natured St. Bernard dogs. Who hasn’t
seen a picture somewhere of Barry, the most
famous of all St. Bernards, complete with a
small cask around his neck?
In a little over an hour, the St. Bernard
Express will take you up to the height of
the Great St. Bernard Pass, at 2 469 metres
a.s.l., the place of origin of these famous
rescue dogs. It is now nearly four
hundred years since the Augustinian monks
in the hospice up here started rearing these
dogs and training them to search for and
rescue lost mountain travellers.
First of all, the railway takes you from
Martigny to Orsières. There, a bus that
awaits you will take you to Champex-Lac,
La Fouly and – from mid June to mid
September – even to the hospice on the
Great St. Bernard Pass.
www.tmrsa.ch
Current timetables are available at www.rail.ch
30
Toward Europe’s
highest mountain.
From Martigny in the Lower Valais, a mountain
railway climbs toward Mont Blanc, on
the French-Italian border, which towers over
the whole of Europe with a height of 4 807
metres a.s.l.: the Mont Blanc Express.
The trip to Chamonix in France takes two
hours; at its highest point, the route takes
you nearly up to a third of the height of Mont
Blanc.
During its ascent, the railway passes
through the rugged Trient Gorge, past
fast-flowing water. Watch out for shady
mountain forests and pleasant mountain villages
en route. The ever-closer glacier world
of Mont Blanc extends its welcome.
Don’t forget that you will be crossing the
border into France. You will need valid entry
documents. Your Swiss Travel System ticket
is valid for the entire journey, including the
French side.
www.tmrsa.ch
Current timetables are available at www.rail.ch
Barry the Saint Bernard dog
Great St. Bernard Pass