Sigtuna & Unterterzen

As I was thinking about how to introduce this post, the idea of having “favourite places on Earth” hit me. It was a question; how capable is any human being of saying they have a favourite spot on Earth - given that very few people can have travelled enough to say so with assurance.

Surely it’s naive? I mean, even those who have travelled the globe can never be sure that, even if they have a firm favourite, they won’t discover something that blows it out of the water in the near future. And then a second thought followed. It doesn’t matter; I was absorbing myself with a non-issue; drawn out by improper phrasing and semantics.

Better for me to say something like this:

For now, given all that I have seen, and experienced, I *currently* have a place that I can call my favourite spot on earth. Two, actually. Two places that I absolutely love going to, and I want to go back to them over and over again. I should make clear that these are not sights of religious or spiritual significance - just outstanding natural beauty. And both are near large bodies of water, and both are in countries that begin with “Sw-”


Sigtuna, Sweden.

Sigtuna is a historic town. Apparently it is the oldest town in Sweden, founded in 980 AD. If I recall correctly, it would have been a town of much significance, and maybe even the capital, before Stockholm became the capital.

If you want, you can go and explore the antique houses and whatnot, and see some ancient Viking markings, but this is not for me. The beauty is in the water nearby. Sigtuna is on the banks of the Mälaren, which is a huge, huge lake. And when you stand on the edge, right near the water, you can get views like this:

The Mälaren stretches 120 km across it’s widest measuring, and starts off pretty inland in Sweden. Thus, there will be a lot of towns that are situated on the banks of the lake and offering pretty picturesque views. But not all of these places will have benches like so:

One thing I really, REALLY want to do is go back during the winter, and sit at that same spot, and watch the frozen lake, (because it will be frozen by then). And just dream and contemplate. I have been here many, many times when I was a child. I also came here a lot in 2012, when I visited Sweden for a month. Just over 2 weeks ago, I was lucky enough to go to Sweden for a short trip spanning only 4 days, and I requested to come again. I got to go there twice, and have an ice cream as I was being battered by the wind. I am lucky. Alhamdulillah.

So that’s one. The second one is….


Unterterzen, Switzerland

Unterterzen has no history, nothing special to drive it. It’s just a small town which is a train stop on the way to Chrüz. It may well just be a trading post that got lucky as far as I know. I found this place by accident, but I am so, so glad I did.

Basically, I was advised to go to Flumserberg when I was in Switzerland, and I did. But I took the most complicated route possible. I first went to Flums (passing Unterterzen on the way without taking much notice of it), which is a sleepy town nestling under the shadows of the Alps. The “-berg” suffix then makes Flumserberg effectively "the mountain range that is near the town of Flums". Eventually, I made my way to the top of the range, and had a good time, but the weather changed and I became sopping wet due to a sudden rain shower.

A little research then revealed that I could have just got off the train at Unterterzen, then got the cable cars that run direct from Unterterzen to Oberterzen to Flumserberg direct with everything done in under 20 mins. I kicked myself for not researching this properly earlier, but I was then able to salvage something of the trip by taking the reverse route down to Unterterzen, and then a direct train back to Zürich.

This is what greeted me halfway through the cable car journey:

Unterterzen sits on the banks of the Walensee, a beautiful lake which has waters that are a intense, striking shade of cerulean blue, which nestles in the shadows of mountains. The cable car drops me neatly opposite the train station, and on the other side of the train station is the waterside.

I couldn’t help myself. I had to go by the water’s edge, and a few mins walk from the station led me to a mooring point for yachts where I was able to get this shot. You can see the that I have changed my point of perspective from the previous shot:

And then, if you turn 90 degrees clockwise you get this:

Followed by this, if you turn 90 degrees clockwise:

Just wow. I could have stayed there all day, but I was wanted back in Zurich, so I made my way back to the train station and headed back. At least, for the next time, I know exactly where I want to go, and how. Alhamdulullah.

For both, this is unbelievable, unparalleled beauty. I am lucky to have two “favourite places on Earth”; I cannot wait to revisit them, and I cannot wait to add more to the list. But I know this for sure; any others would have to be very special places indeed for me to put them here next to these two.

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Shahr Ramadan Mubarak to my handful of regular readers. I hope this month brings you everything that you seek, and more besides.

With duas

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