On our last full day in the mountains, we decided to take the Bernina Express that runs through the Bernina Pass into Tirano Italy.

This railway is the highest in the alps and the section that we rode is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. With good reason as we were soon to find out.

The station is positioned on Lago Bianco a watershed of melted glacial water that runs both south into the Adriatic Sea and east into the Black Sea. I've seen these opaque, stunningly blue-green lakes a few other times on our various road trips but they never stop being breathtaking.

Set between the lake and mountains, the train station looked like a lunar outpost. Given the massive and long-lasting snowfall common to this area, the time and labor needed to build it must have been immense.

By the time the water winds its way down to Poschiavo, it's clearer but retains a beautiful mineral blue color.

Poschiavo in the distance from a much higher vantage point.

The last descent before arriving in Tirano is the Brusio Circular Viaduct- a massive, slow spiral into the town. Serious wow-factor.

The journey took about 1.5 hours, every inch of it beautiful. However by the time we reached the station in Tirano, we realized that we only had about 15 minutes to look around before we had to head back. Luckily this experience was entirely about the journey.