There is no place like the Alps. It’s a mountain range that crosses the borders of many countries in Europe. Some European countries are nothing but the Alps!
What makes the Alps unique is the green grasslands that cover so much of its slopes. Other mountain ranges are mostly covered in trees, hiding the sides of the mountains from those who gaze at them, with only the rocky peaks sticking up out of the trees.
Why are the Alps grassier? Is it the weather? The soil? The height above sea level? There is actually no natural cause. The cause is man. This mountain range has been inhabited for thousands of years, and those inhabiting it raise animals that eat grass. Goats, sheep, and cattle are the most common ones. The farmers of long ago cut down the forests to make more grasslands for their animals.
Paths cover the Alps like arteries in your hand. Along the paths you can see houses, called cottages, and barns dotting the slopes of the mountains. If you look closely, you can see thin, wire fences that divide one farmer’s land from another’s and keep the animals from wandering too far away. Rocks stick out of the grass like freckles on a redhead’s face. These tell you you’re in in the Alps.
Looking at the Alps makes one yearn for a simpler life, with less modern gadgets and complicated technology. Yearn for a quiet life, far from the bustling city. Yearn for a traditional life, where a family shares the responsibility of meeting its needs and worked together from generation to generation.
Many people seek a piece of this every year and go hiking and vacationing in these mountains. They spend the days in the fresh, sunny air walking through the grassy meadows, listening to the wind rustle the plants; and they spend their nights in tents or cottages sitting by the fire side telling stories and building relationships.
The people inhabiting the Alps don’t actually stay there all the time either. In the summer, they bring their herds up into the mountains for grazing and they live in the cottages, because there isn’t enough grass to eat in the populated areas in the valleys, and they move back down to town in the winter. They have a mix of city and countryside.
The Alps stand as a symbol of what peaceful living is like within a broken world with political turmoil and centuries of conflict.