Thursday Doors – December 14, 2017

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time), by using the blue link-up button below. 

Doors From the Lötschental Valley – Switzerland

Note: I’ve decided to take a blogging break for the holidays so next week will be our last #ThursdayDoors link-up for 2017.

To recap – There’ll be no link-up on December 28th and January 4th. I’ll be back with our regular weekly link-up on January 11th.

I’m still not very mobile this week, but I have to say that it’s amazing what you can find in the archives when you have no choice 🙂

One of my favorite discoveries during our time in Switzerland a few years ago was a day-trip we spent hiking in the Lötschental Valley in the southern part of the country.

It is said that this roughly 17 mile (27 km) long isolated valley tucked into the Bernese Alps in the Canton of Valais has been inhabited since Roman times.

However, being flanked by almost 10,000 ft (3000m) mountains on both sides, the area was cut off from civilization until the first tunnel was carved into those mountains for a rail line in the early 20th century.

Remote even by today’s standards; the combined total population of the four main villages in this UNESCO World Heritage Site valley is less than 2000 people.

Along with the breathtaking scenery, you’ll find dozens of centuries-old traditional log homes built on stilts.

There are of course a few shops and restaurants as well as a number of small hotels to accommodate tourists who visit at various times of the year either for the skiing or the hiking.

The one thing you can’t miss are the carved wooden masks called “Tschäggättu” which are on display everywhere in the valley.

These masks are worn by many as part of their traditional winter carnival. I read that in centuries past the masks and fur covered costumes were donned by young single men and used to scare the crap out of school children and also to attract the attention and affections of the unmarried women of the villages.

Ahem ladies, if this is something you find the least bit arousing, then all I can say is that you deal in a level of kink that I truly do not understand 😀

But hey, whatever floats your boat…I guess 😉

Regardless of the weird factor, between the amazing skiing in the winter, the spectacular hiking opportunities in summer, and the rich history and traditional architecture, the Lötschental Valley is a wonderful region to discover at any time of year.

As always, thanks so much for visiting 🙂

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