Following in Heidi’s steps in Switzerland

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In my childhood, I have often read the story „Heidi, the Girl of the Alps” written by Johanna Spyri. A few years ago I wrote about this story and I made a short analysis of the story you can read here.

While planning a trip to Switzerland, I wanted to follow Heidi’s steps and go to the places where they filmed the movie inspired from the story. This is how I came to find out that there is such a place in the neighbourhood of San Moritz, in a village called Grevasalvas. I made a reservation at a hotel and one of the days I started my journey to the resort. While looking for the village, I encountered marvelous places, as if they were coming of a fairy tale.

Heididorf – Grevasalvas

Grevasalvas is a village of only a few houses, where you can see the Swiss Alps and the Sils Lake. The entire landscape is amazing.

This is what Heidididorf in Grevasalvas looks like:

The Sils Lake and the Swiss Alps in Upper Engadine, Sils-Maria village, Grisons canton, Switzerland:

The Sils Lake, Upper Engadine, Grisons canton, Switzerland:

Johanna Spyri

Johanna Spyri was born on the 12^th of June 1827 in Switzerland. She spent her childhood in Chur, Switzerland, the place which later inspired her for the stories she wrote. I like the story of Heidi because the author empowers the child. Although a mere child, Heidi’s character has a tremendous inner strength.

As a child, the author spent a few summers in Maienfield, and that time of her life represents the source of her inspiration for the story. The local legend goes Heidi actually existed, she is not just a made up character.

Heididorf – Maienfeld

At a one hour’s distance away from the Grevasalvas village I discovered another one of Heidi’s iconic places, somewhere in Maienfeld. Although the day I spent in Maienfeld was a rainy one, I explored Heidi’s village with joy and curiosity.

Hedidorf in Maienfeld offers its visitors the possibility to:

Visit Heidi’s original house, the house where the little girl who inspired Heidi’s character lived
Visit the house of the grandfather where Heidi used to spend her summer, up in the mountains
Spend time with the goats
Visit the souvenir shop
Visit the post office that has a special Heidi stamp for the stamp collectors
Explore in detail Heidi’s story, as well as the author’s

In Heididorf from Maienfeld the visitors can lose themselves amidst the little village, the „Dorfli” (which means little village) described in the story by the author. Heidi’s house, the goat stable, the author’s museum and the post office with the special Heididorf stamp have been inspired from the story.