Ever heard of a country less than 42000 km which is split into three complete and separate linguistic and cultural regions? A country whose culture isn’t identified by language, which hasn’t experience war since 1815; a country which is known as the land of neutrality.
Before I visited Switzerland I had heard that it is a bit of a ‘nothing country’. So many people who I had met in Europe had never been to Switzerland. The had just somehow skipped it on the map. This forced me to inquire and within days I had booked my tickets.
The first place I was visiting was in the south west and part of the French speaking Switzerland. Most asked me ‘what are you going to Geneva for’, knowing that I had not stepped foot in Paris yet. I found myself justifying my decisions, sitting down and explaining how I wasn’t interested in visiting the big cities without friends there who could help me ‘weed out’ the tourist ridden places from the really unique spots ‘off the beaten path’.
So the first place on the Switzerland itinerary was Geneva. When my travel buddy and I arrived we were immediately consumed by the place. The sun was shining over the beautiful big Lac Léman. We strolled around the city, trying to find ‘the city’ and were lost in its beauty. We thought, why not a better way to be introduced to a city other than going and picking up some Swiss cheese, some nice fresh bread and some Swiss chocolate and eating it at the lake?
As we entered the grocery store we remembered we were in one of the richest countries in the world. I felt like I had interrupted a banquet for the queen. Well dressed staff members standing proficiently at stands allowing for taste testers of their food and serving it up to you. Customer service was second to none. We roamed around smiling at people because we were still learning our basic French for holidaying and didn’t want to offend…
After finally buying and then eating lunch we went for a casual stroll up the lake to the east side of town. To be honest, we had no travel itinerary, just a couple flights from Berlin and a Mexican who we were couch surfing with, who we organised that same week. All I knew was a basic history on the city’s neutrality which made it the ideal place to house the UN and many international organisations. All I really wanted to do was let it perform to me over the coming couple days and this it exactly did.
I took my camera out of my bag and glued it to my eye for the rest of the trip.
Geneva is a really grand city for its population. Having only 350 000 people, we felt like this city was made for the elite. The streets are sprawled with designer shop after coffee shop after patisserie after minimal cocktail bar. Everything is hugely expensive and my friend and I felt like we were poor homeless children looking through the shiny glass windows of the bake shop.
The two days in Geneva were exciting and relaxing however, wandering museums and art galleries and allowing our couch host to treat us to some beautiful French Riesling at some of the less minimal bars in the backstreets behind the university. The place was magical, making us feel like we had just stepped into a children’s story book.
Later in the year I ventured down to Basel, in the German quarter of Switzerland. Basel is the third biggest city in Switzerland, with a little over 160 000 inhabitants. Located in the north west side, the city lies on the border between Germany and France.
Walking from one side of the airport to the other you cross the French and the Swiss and the German borders. The only way we knew was because the signage changed language.
This time Switzerland was snowing. On our arrival, I felt Basel neither had the magic of Geneva nor the warmth. We jumped on the train to the southern part, staying with a friend who had lived in the place his entire life.
Upon arriving at his house I realised that, unlike Geneva, it wasn’t the city part of Basel that made it unique, but more the alps that line the southern part of the city and the Rhine that flows through it. Standing in my friends penthouse apartment on a hill overlooking Basel, I began to ponder Switzerland.
Having discovered just two of its cities, one speaking Swiss German and the other speaking French, I started to think of what binds this beautiful country. Known for taking little part at all in the first and second world wars, Switzerland isn’t a country for the nationalistic. Its language is spoken through its major exports, through its produce and through its land.
Through the people I have met in both Basel and Geneva, the common theory is that the people who are born in Switzerland stay in Switzerland. There is no reason for them to move, the feel like they have everything there. Because of this, the country feels pure, unridden by tourists and immaculately cared for. Drive in Switzerland and within half an hour Swiss German turns to another dialect of Swiss German or to a Italian or to French. The people don’t move to the next village because they have no need to. The adore it where they are. And why? This is something you need to feel more than read.
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