The Switzerland Traveler

While the rest of Europe were busy shooting at, and dropping bombs on, each other, the neutral Swiss simply got on with life and building one of the most impressive roads in Europe.
The Susten pass was built between 1938 and 1945, linking the cantons of Uri and Bern, running from Wassen to Innertkirchen. Although I guess if you live in Bern, that should probably be the other way around. Which makes me think I’ve never driven it that way, so maybe there’s a trip coming on.
It’s been the subject of some serious roadworks over the past few years, and …read more

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The Swiss like cranes. Or to be precise, they love them.
Wherever you go it seems there’s always at least one visible, but somehow it doesn’t seem to distract from the beauty of the place.
Obviously industrial building sites like this one are never going to be pretty, but somehow when used for domestic building work, cranes seem to blend into the Swiss landscape.
Swiss builders need no excuse to put up a small crane, I assume the logic is that their time is expensive and using a crane cuts the time taken to do any job. Having a new garden …read more

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The Spanish have their bullfights, but the Swiss prefer to let the females of the species work off their agression.Apparently, the Eringer breed of cow is a particularly combative one, so every year the folk of Martigny put on a show in the local Roman Amphitheatre. And this year’s contest takes place on Sunday 30th September.
I get the impression that it’s more of a social occasion than a celebration of violence. Some of the “fights” last over 40 minutes. Especially if the cows can’t be bothered to push each other around. Which is how it works, the fight is …read more

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 Just in case you are round and about in Switzerland and want to go somewhere off the beaten track, why not try Aarau. Not too far from Zürich, about 30 minutes on the train, it is renowned for, and you are going to like this, its roofs (rooves?).
To be precise, it’s the painted eaves and gables of the old town that give the town its nickname of Dachhimmel – literally; Roof Heaven. This results
from a period of expansion in the 16th Century.
Not many people know that in 1798 Aarau became the first capital of Switzerland, complete with Houses of Parliament, …read more

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This week sees the start of the Zurich Film festival. Running from 27 Sep to 7 Oct, there are opportunities for attending gala premieres of (mainly European) films, childrens events and opportunites to meet and talk to directors, scriptwriters and pretty much everyone involved in film.
Keynote guest is Oliver Stone, and films relating to post 1989 Russia are being featured to give an understanding of the uphaevals and conflicts in today’s Russian soceity.
Zürich has a whole series of Arthouse cinemas, and this is the third time the festival has been used to promote and link them.

I could give you a …read more

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It’s normally the role of a blogger to inform about places we know and love. But as the Frauenbad in Zurich is a female only institution, I’m forced to rely on second hand information.
The Frauenbad is located on Stadthausquai, and is basically a spacious wooden deck floating on the river Limmat, about 400m away from where the river begins to flow out of the lake.  It was built in the 19th century to allow ladies to relaxed undisturbed by male onlookers, and take advantage of the refreshing (i.e. chilly?) clean mountain water. It provides a unique opportunity to relax in …read more

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Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland is located in the south of Switzerland and is relatively small at around 1200 square miles. It has a population of 320,000, but invariably has a lot of tourists because it is so lovely. It’s my favourite part of Switzerland (Hmmm, so why don’t I live there?) and Lugano is probably the best place to start your love affair with it. But we’ll start by looking down on it, from Monte Bre, a biggish hill overlooking the city and lake. It’s either a pleasant drive, a long walk, or a cable car …read more

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When I was a child, I used to see adverts for “The Ideal Home” exhibition held annually in London. To me it was quite obvious what that meant, a racetrack in the garden, a very large garage, probably a football (it’s not called soccer!) pitch in the garden.
In later years, I discovered that it was more about furniture, bathrooms and kitchens than about the merits of a long straight following a slow corner.
Anyway, the Swiss version is nearly upon us, running from 21-30 September. It’s held in the main Zürich exhibition centre at the end of the 11 tram line, …read more

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I’ll admit I had no intention of writing about this memorial to a lion (Löwendenkmal) in Luzern, or even Lucerne as it’s usually referred to in English. I just liked the photo, taken as it is from an unusual aspect.
Luzern is a place that you will visit if you come to Switzerland, or take visitors to several times if you live here. It’s the ideal place to get an appreciation of the country, with its bridge, mountains and the lake.
Lake Lucerne, or to give its local name, Vierwaldstättersee, is simply beautiful. But it does highlight the issue of names. Lakes, …read more

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Each month here at b5media, we have a theme day, where all blogs in a channel all produce a post on the same topic. This month, MJ, our channel editor (incidentally, you’ll find loads of great travel tips from her over at flyawaycafe)  has asked us to rant. Rant? Me? A man of my advancing years – what on earth was she thinking?

So what’s annoying me at the moment? As you may have guessed from the title, it’s the amount of roadworks in Switzerland. Of course, in a way that’s a good thing, because it means that the roads are …read more

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