The Switzerland Traveler

How do you choose a work of art?
 
Do you look for something that matches the colour of your sofa? Something “safe” that everybody knows – a poster from IKEA for example? Something edgy that nobody else will have, or even like? Or something that excites and awakens your senses everytime you see it?
 
In the heart of the old town of Solothurn, 75 artists from eight different countries are exhibiting their wares; totalling about 5,000 works of art.
 
The Swiss Art Supermarket is entering its eighth year, and is unusual in trying to attract everyone, not just cognoscenti. It takes place in …read more

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I must confess to liking French chateaus (chateaux?) with pointy bits on the roof. Turn one into a restaurant and I’m even happier.
Present me with such a restaurant overlooking a stunning lake and some of the most impressive mountains ever, and I’m, well, really happy.
Down on the shores of the Thunersee (Lake Thun) Schloss (Castle) Schadau sits in a quiet park. The boats that carry passengers across the lake stop there, and in my opinion, it is a fine place for a summer lunch. It’s a fine place for a winter dinner too, which is why I’m telling you now. …read more

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It’s snowing! Yippee!
Can you guess who has a ski trip planned for two weeks time? Correct, yours truly, and this weekend there was masses of snow in the mountains.
There aren’t many resorts open in the Alps at the moment, but Zermatt has a large summer ski area, and some of the winter runs are starting to be opened.
The key thing about Zermatt is, of course, the Matterhorn. If you have any inage in your head of what a Swiss mountain looks like, it’ll be the Matterhorn.
It’s the mountain that Toblerone was allegedly modelled on, and whilst it’s not the highest …read more

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Following on from yesterday’s Luzern piece, it seems only natural to mention the Christmas Market that takes place next weekend.
On 17 and 18 November, the 7th annual market takes place at the restaurant on top of the mountain, 2012m (7000ft) above sea level.
You won’t be alone, typically 4000 people attend the fair, perhaps attracted by the opportunity to go up the mountain with 30% off normal ticket prices.

Over 50 exhibitors from the region will be there, offering a wide variety of goods, I’m guessing traditional toys and foods will provide the mainstay.
Children can be professionally supervised in the …read more

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My brother Ken and his partner Samm are over visiting for a few days, and as it’s Samm’s first time in Switzerland, Ken drove her to Luzern for the day.
Luzern is probably the most visited city in Switzerland, and is pretty much slap bang in the middle of the country.
Easy to reach by car or train from anywhere, the main sight is the Kapellebrücke, now back to looking like a really old bridge after it was rebuilt at the end of the last millenium after 80% was damaged by fire.
The tower was originally a prison, and presumably wasn’t much …read more

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Bellinzona is known for it’s castles, three to be precise, known locally as tre Castelli.
The three were granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 2000, which presumably means they are at least the 851st most interesting historical place in the world.
And historical it certainly is. There’s been a fortress there for over 1000 years, and has been inhabitaed for at least twice that.
The castle was an important fortification, blocking the Ticino valley, a vital part of the two main North/South Alp crossing routes. This is portrayed as the crossover between the Latin and the Teutonic cultures and must have seen some …read more

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One of the pleasant surprises of writing The Switzerland Traveler has been looking through Flickr and discovering some fantastic photos.
So I’ve decided to run a regular, or perhaps “frequent” would be the mot juste, series of photos on this most pleasant of lands.
I’ll be featuring photos taken within a week of the post, so that you can get an idea of what the country is like at different times of the year.
Heading this piece is a picture fromMark Howells-Mead at Giessbach just across the lake from Brienz
Next, St Moritz as taken by sjoerdtenkate

then Basel as the sun goes down …read more

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Let’s start with an easily accessible mountain. Not one of the highest mountains in Switzerland by any means, but great for visitors, with trains running up it from both sides.
Rigi is located close to Luzern, and one of the nicest ways to see it is by catching a boat from Luzern to Vitznau and catching the train up.
Or if you’re visiting from Zürich, you could even make it a round trip; catch the train down the other side to Arth Goldau, and either catch the train from there, or take another boat to Zug across Lake Zug (aka Zugersee) …read more

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Lake Neuchatel is the largest lake located entirely in Switzerland. Although it’s not the deepest though, so that may only be by area and not by volume.
But that’s one of the attractions – because the lake is actually warm enough to swim in!
The lakes in the sub-Jura area tend to have a different character to the more dramatic lakes of the Bernese Oberland. Warmer, shallower and surrounded by vineyards, there are plenty of beaches to go swimming at, and even a water-sports park at Estavayer.

In fact wine and winemaking are very important to the region, and there are numerous vintners …read more

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I’m not a bag man. Not in the sense that we used to talk about bag ladies in the 80s and 90s; someone who carries their entire possessions in a bag; nor in the sense that I’m the sort of bloke that carries a man bag.
But if there is one company that could convince me to change it would be Freitag.
Daniel and Markus Freitag started their company back in 1993, after having the idea of making bags out of the canvas sides from trucks. And used seatbelts, obviously.
As most trucks have the names and logos of a company on …read more

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