The Lighthouse

A LIGHTHOUSE in the middle of the mountains, 2046 meters above sea level, is not a common tourist sight – or common in any sense at all perhaps. But, it’s there, inaugurated 2010 as a slightly smaller copy of the lighthouse at the other end of the Rhine at Hook of Holland near Rotterdam. The lighthouse has a revolving red light but is probably just visible from the “coast” of the Oberalp Lake 🙂 Being the World’s highest lighthouse you may wonder “Why?” “And why here?”, and that was exactly the idea of the tourist office in the area – to make us wonder, and think. Right there, in the middle of nowhere. And we did not see even a single boat during our visit 🙂. A relatively difficult almost three-hour hike leads from Oberalp Pass to the source of the Rhine by Lake Toma. We drove to the Oberalp Pass from Göschenen via Andermatt, another popular skiing and golf resort. Andermatt was also where the crew, including Sean Connery, stayed during the making of the 007 film Goldfinger in 1964!! The winding road first runs through rough, but fantastic rocky landscapes, then from Andermatt it changes into beautiful green mountains with grazing cows and the never ending melodious sound of cow bells.

www.steinersarnen.ch/en/projects/tourism/lighthouse_oberalp_pass/