Our overnight stay in Göschenen was quiet – until 7am. Then the jackhammer rattled outside the door: construction workers were renovating the road. So we got out of bed, got ready and set off for the day.

Breakfast in Andermatt: cappuccino with salami or ham Mutschli. The result of the coffee statistics: Cappuccino 5/5, Mutschli only 3/5. Marco swears they were better on his previous visits.

From there, we headed straight up to the Oberalp Pass. At the top, at Oberalpsee, we not only enjoyed the view, but also discovered two exciting things: the small MS ALPSU, a symbol of the fact that the water takes its long journey from here to Basel and the North Sea. And a sign for the Four Springs Trail, which connects the origins of the Rhine, Reuss, Ticino and Rhône. It is fascinating to see how close the watersheds are here – and that the drops that originate a few meters apart later flow into three different seas.

In our search for lubricant for the Vitaralino, we stopped at almost every major service station. The second one was already big enough for a mechanic to make the universal joint move smoothly again with a good amount of grease. At last! Or so we thought – but apparently the Vitaralino wants more than just a portion of grease. After a few hundred kilometers, the jerking returned, as if it had decided that a little wellness snack wasn’t enough and it would rather have the whole spa treatment right away. So it’s time to go: Close your eyes and get on with it – for now, we have to keep going until we get back home.

Shortly afterwards, we had our second coffee and breakfast break. The coffee was a solid 4/5, the coffee cookie a terrific 5/5.

The day was actually intended as a transit back to Italy. But if you’re going to drive through Switzerland, then please take the back roads – and they once again provided us with fantastic views and exciting passes.

In Thusis, we took a break at Café Gyger. And what can we say: the latte and cake or cappuccino and cake were so good that we simply award 8/5 points. Over the top, but justified. Marco knows the place from his motorcycle tours. We witness an unusual scene in the parking garage: three Swiss people are training with a search dog.

Then it was a winding ride up to the Albula Pass. Marco hadn’t ridden it before, but the surroundings seemed familiar to him and he reminisced. Incidentally, a mountain bike trail starts at the top of the ridge and leads straight down into the valley – or up, depending on how crazy you are.

Switzerland once again presented itself in typical fashion here: tidy, orderly and peppered with sports cars and classic cars. Almost as if James Bond was still on the road on behalf of Her Majesty.

After the Albula, the next highlight awaited: the Bernina Pass. Instead of crash barriers, there were large bales of straw in the bends – a very unique form of “safety”. At the top, a panorama of snow-covered peaks opened up. And then: the view of the Palü glacier on Piz Palü, flanked by the Morteratsch and Pers glaciers. A tremendous sight – and a good reason to ask yourself why some mountains are full of ice and snow while their neighbors of the same height lie bare. The answer lies in their orientation and the climate: northern slopes receive much less sun and hold snow much longer, while southern sides thaw more quickly. In addition, more precipitation remains on some peaks or old glacier remains survive – this is how these impressive differences arise right next to each other.

We left St. Moritz to the left and continued directly towards the Italian border. According to the satnav, there was another pass to come. Instead of a name, there was only a sign: “Please do not drive this way with Google Maps”. Hmm. But no prohibition sign, so off we went! We agreed that if there was gravel, we would turn around. But the road remained narrow, winding and asphalted. The first apple orchards appeared down in the valley.

We finally reached Cimbergo – with a view of an old ruin and a kitchen window that felt like a box seat in the Alps. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Conclusion: A day full of contrasts: from the glacier world to apple country – contrasts that only the Alps can produce. High up, eternal ice and turquoise lakes, further down, lush green valleys and rows of apples as far as the eye can see. A stage that impressively shows how close different worlds are to each other in the mountains.