Flower covered cottages tucked away in green mountains...

Sounds like a fairy tale right? Nope...it's the Jungfrau region in Switzerland, which I was lucky enough to visit this summer during my 9 week backpacking trip around Europe. The weather wasn't ideal for the few days we were in Jungfrau, but it was still gorgeous. See below...

A view of the town we stayed in - Lauterbrunnen

We started off the morning by taking a cable car up to this hiking path towards Gimmewald, where we hit some early morning traffic...

Gimmelwald is a charming little town. They sell lots of fresh cheeses - and you'll see lots of cute little cheese huts along the way.  The other main occupation is farming.  Farmers raise hay on tiny plots to feed to cows.  It saved itself from development as a ski resort by having it falsely declared an avalanche zone - wikipedia.  Thank goodness for that!

The population is about 130 - and most people have one of three family names: von Allmen, Feuz, or Brunner.

The cable car and a walking path are the only way to get to the town directly.

After Gimmewald we went to Wengen, and from there we took another cable car up to a beautiful hike.

We returned to Lauterbrunnen for dinner, where we witnessed a parade of men ringing huge bells down the street, unfortunately for them it was pouring rain.  Does anyone know anything about this tradition?

Unfortunately pictures just can't do this gorgeous country and these AMAZING mountains any justice, I hope everyone gets a chance to see it...

Here's that list again of all my posts from our travels that I've posted -

Spain
•Introduction to my European backpacking trip and a list of places we visited
• Galicia - Baiona and Isle de Cies
• Galicia - the coast, some charming vineyards, and Pontevedra
• Santiago de Compostela and gorgeous hidden beaches
• Gorgeous mountain lakes of Picos de Europa
• Stunning mountains - Picos de Europa
• Bilbao and San Sebastian
• Beautiful Barcelona
• The amazing Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona
• Art Nouveau dream house by Gaudi in Barcelona

Italy
• Not to miss - the gorgeous rocky coast of Italy's Cinque Terre
• More from my summer traveling Europe - amazing Rome
• From my summer in Europe - amazing Pompeii
• Turquoise ocean and vineyards on cliffs - the amazingly stunning Amalfi coast
• My Summer in Europe: Pictures from lovely Florence, Italy
• Enchanting Siena
•Venice
•Lake Como, Italy

Switzerland
•Jungfrau region, Switzerland, Part 1

Thanks as always to my boyfriend Chris, who acted as the trip photographer