Istanbul : Prague : Vienna : Trieste & Milan : Stresa : Switzerland : Art
This year I spent 2 weekends in Switzerland with my family; the first and last weekend of my 3 week trip. For the middle weekend they joined us in Vienna.
Geneva
I flew in from Istanbul on Friday evening for my first weekend in Geneva. It was so lovely to meet up and after leaving my bag in the flat, we strolled down to the lake for supper and my first Aperol spritz of the trip. Sadly the rain seemed to have followed me from Istanbul and we hurried home in the damp after supper.
The weather was not much better the next morning so we decided to spend the day in Geneva, exploring some of the museums. Our first stop though was the botanical garden which I had visited last year. It was lovely to see it again, but I was sad that the collection of waterbirds was no longer there. I think they had been moved because of avian flu. There were some incredibly noisy frogs in one of the ponds though and lots of early spring flowers about.
Next we headed to the Ariana Museum up the road from the Botanic garden. It has a fabulous collection of ceramics and glass and the building itself is very posh having been a grand home before. I really admired Yan Zoritchak’s glass sculptures in his exhibition called Windows on the Universe. You can download a brochure here.
We then took a stroll down in the old town of Geneva and visited the cathedral and a fair celebrating ancient crafts and customs. We chickened out when it came to tasting the wild boar and instead tried some novel gelato from an ice cream parlour nearby; sesame flavoured and coloured grey!
Next stop was the Geneva Museum of Art and History, which is situated not far from the lake in the old town itself. I was delighted to find another Alice Bailly painting, of a Mrs Hodler. Was this Ferdinand Hodler’s wife? Ferdinand Hodler was also a well known artist of the time and the museum in Vevey has a whole room of paintings he did of his mistress Valentine on her death bed. Poor woman. Near the Museum is an attractive Greek Orthodox church and we peeked in. A service was underway with beautiful singing.
We then leapt on a bus going to Hermance. This is a charming old village on the south side of the lake on the border with France. We strolled through the village, admiring the church with its spire and well tended graveyard. A concert was taking place there and we listened for a while. We ambled down to the lake where we found a nice spot to sit and enjoy an Aperol spritz and watch the sunset. Then it was time to head back to Geneva to enjoy dinner at a Thai restaurant with very traditional décor.
Sunday in Nyon, Vevey and Montreux
On Sunday we decided to revisit two towns I had seen last year: Nyon and Montreux. Nyon was closer and we had great fun exploring its Sunday flea market which extends along the lake shore for several hundred metres. I bought a hand blown glass vase as a gift, but passed on the large python skin. We uncovered a beautifully made Christian Dior dress going for a song, but sadly it didn’t fit.
After a snack for lunch we hopped on the train going up the lake to Vevey and visited the Jenisch Art Museum there. This has lots of Hodler paintings among others. Vevey is close to Montreux, which was our next stop.
Montreux is near the head of the lake. It has a beautiful walk along the lake shore and the town seems to take pride in its flower displays. It also had a rather fun selection of cats and other animals dotted about, made from dried conifer needles. How to up cycle old Xmas trees? After our walk, and admiring a shop selling old light fittings, we caught the train back to Geneva. I was leaving early next morning for Prague, so welcomed supper at home and an early night.
From Stresa to Basel: Another great train trip
This was to be the last weekend of my trip and I wanted to spend it with family in Switzerland. I was also wanting to do one of the spectacular Swiss rail routes that I had not been able to fit in last year, the Gotthard panoramic route. This travels from across Switzerland from Locarno in the south to Basel on the border with Germany in the north, crossing over the Alps and passing Luzern/Lucerne.
The puzzle was how to get from Stresa where I was on Lake Maggiore in Italy to Locarno at the head of Lake Maggiore in Switzerland. I hoped there would be a ferry up the lake, but there wasn’t one during the week. It was only about 55 kms by road, but the bus took the whole day. My best choice was to catch the train to Domodossola about 30mins away from Stresa and then to catch the little train which does the beautiful route through the mountains to Locarno. I had done this route last year on my Swiss rail pass going in the other direction and I knew it was spectacular. However it was all going to be quite costly, till I discovered the Swiss Day Saver pass. Buying this well in advance I was able to half the cost of the trip and it also gave me the flexibility to hop off the train in Bellinzona and catch one later.
From Domodossola to Locarno
After an early breakfast on Friday, I set off from Stresa. The trip to Domodossola skirts the lake first before heading up a valley. The scenery was pretty, but the villages we passed looked depressed with many closed hotels. At Domodossola, I just had time to buy a panini before catching the little FART train (Centovalli )which struggled up the hill above town. Scenery is lovely with wild flowers and rushing streams all around. The little train toot, toots as it crosses over roads and gradually gains height, passing little villages with stone houses. It is a single track and about halfway along one passes the train going the other direction at a station. The train follows a river valley, at quite a high elevation and about halfway along it crosses a bridge to the other side of the gorge. On the descent one passes one town where the track appears to run along the street. All in all it is a very pretty trip, one of the loveliest in Switzerland.
Treno Gottardo and Bellinzona
One can rely on Swiss trains to be on time and I had about 7 mins before my Gotthard express train left Locarno for Basel. There are quicker trains to Basel so if you want the panoramic train make sure that you choose the one called Treno Gottardo and that it passes through Gӧschenen which is on top of the pass. It takes about 4hours 20 mins. There are several a day, so I decided to spend 2 hours in Bellinzona en route.
Bellinzona on an ancient trade route, is famed for its castles which were built to protect the city and to prevent passersby avoiding tolls in previous times. One is just down the road from the station and free to visit. It was spectacular. Well worth the short stop as one can climb some of the towers (I chickened out doing the highest one) and walk along the walls. Bellinzona looks to be a nice town to spend a few days in.
I was a little disappointed by the route over the Gotthard pass. Maybe because I didn’t realise one still passes through a tunnel at the top, but also because I was trying to take pictures with my phone again. Nevertheless it is pretty, especially coming down from Gӧschenen. As one descends one reaches one end of Lake Lucerne. The train route keeps returning to the lake off and on until the city of Lucerne (Luzern). Thereafter it heads off to Basel where I arrived around 5pm.
Basel
Next morning we set off to find the Foundation Beyeler which has a fabulous collection of art. We did not go in, as the main collection was packed away. This was very disappointing but we took a walk around their attractive grounds and admired a snowman spending the summer in an outdoor freezer! Then we headed back to admire the old town. We wandered past a flea market and explored the botanical garden – sadly most of the green houses were shut. We admired the City Hall which contains some lovely old paintings on the wooden panels- currently being restored and window shopped in the old town, as well as visiting the cathedral which has an attractive cloister. For lunch we enjoyed flammkuchen.
Then we took a bus ride to the suburbs where we found a lovely iris garden. I am very fond of bearded irises and this was a very comprehensive, well labelled collection. It was a real treat. After a coffee at the tea house there, we headed back into town to the Tingueley museum, but it was closing. After admiring the fountain in front of the museum we walked back along the river to the hotel to pick up our bags. The Rhine bisects Basel and there is a very attractive walkway along the river. All in all, the bits of Basel that I saw were very attractive. It must be a nice place to live.
Bern
We had decided to spend Sunday in Bern, rather than returning to Geneva, so we caught an early evening train to the city from Basel. Supper was bought quickly before departure from a shop at the station and enjoyed on the train – very tasty lasagna for me. One can always rely on finding food shops at the stations in Switzerland.
On Sunday morning we started off exploring the nearby botanical garden before crossing the river to the old town of Bern. It was a Sunday and all the shops were closed, giving a slightly gloomy air to the town. We made our way to view the clock which has a special chime at noon. It is in the streets with covered arcades of shops for which Bern is famous. Lots of flags sporting the Bern “Bear” symbol were flying and this cheered up the scene considerably.
The old city of Bern is perched on a headland with the river Aare, which is a tributary of the Rhine, curving around it forming what is known as the Aare loop. One has amazing views down to the river from the city and what is nice is that no high rise buildings have been allowed to intrude. The cathedral spire still dominates the skyline. We visited the cathedral which has an impressive entrance and some nice stained glass windows, one rather grisly, featuring death overtaking many victims. We also visited the art museum which has an interesting collection.
Then it was time to make our way across the river to see the bears. Here were lots more people having lunch at the local pub, we joined them. The bears have a very large enclosure on a hillside with a pool at the bottom. I think we saw 3. I don’t like zoos, but these bears seem to have quite a bit of space to roam in. We had read that a garden close by on top of the hill had irises, so after lunch we staggered up. The view across to Bern was lovely, but few irises.
We climbed down the hill and set off on a river walk which passes a very ancient weir. I am not sure if it has any industrial purpose now, or is used for hydro power, but lots of water spills across it. I think it was used to power mills long ago. Crossing back over the river we climbed up to the old town again, to the Parliament building. Bern is the capital of Switzerland. The building is large and impressive and we took a few minutes to enjoy the view back across the river from the square beside it. Then it was time to pick up our luggage and catch the train back to Geneva.
This was the last evening of my trip and I was feeling very sad to be saying goodbye to family. I was flying to Amsterdam early the next morning to see the Vermeer exhibition at the Rijks Museum and then on to Istanbul and home to Cape Town.
2023 Trip Weekends in Switzerland Gallery
