Switzerland may be neutral but it is certainly not flavourless. The
fusion of German, French and Italian ingredients has formed a robust
national culture, and the country's alpine landscapes have enough zing
to reinvigorate the most jaded traveller.
Goethe summed up Switzerland succinctly as a combination of 'the colossal
and the well-ordered'. You can be sure that your trains and letters
will be on time. The tidy, just-so precision of Swiss towns is tempered
by the lofty splendour of the landscapes that surround them.
Switzerland conjures up a fair swag of clichés: irresistible
chocolates, kitsch clocks, yodelling Heidis, humourless bankers, international
bureaucracies and an orderly, anally-retentive and rather bland national
persona. But Harry Lime was wrong on more than one account when, in
The Third Man, he said 500 years of Swiss democracy and peace had produced
nothing more than the cuckoo clock. For a start, the Germans invented
this monstrous timepiece; secondly, the Swiss, who are a brainy lot,
have won more Nobel Prizes and registered more patents per capita than
any other nation on earth.
You can visit Switzerland any time throughout the year. Summer lasts
roughly from June to September, and offers the most pleasant climate
for outdoor pursuits. Unfortunately, you won't be the only tourist during
this period, so prices can be high, accommodation hard to find and the
mainstream sights crowded. You'll find much better deals and fewer crowds
in the shoulder seasons of April-May and late-September-October.
If you're keen on winter sports, resorts in the Alps begin operating
in late-November, move into full swing around Christmas, and close down
when the snow begins to melt in April.
February is carnival time, or Fasnacht, in many towns, but Basel really
funks it up with elaborate parades beginning at a bleary 4 am. In the
lower Valais, from March to October, cows battle it out in the Combat
de Reines (cow fighting) to see which beast is most suited to lead the
herd up to the summer pastures. The world-renowned Montreux Jazz Festival
takes place in July. National Day (August 1) is celebrated with fireworks
throughout the country, and Swiss wrestling in the Emmenthal area east
of Bern. On the fourth Monday in November, Bern hosts its famous onion
market (Zibelmarit), where traders take over the whole town centre and
many a tear is shed.
Occupying a stunning position on Lake Geneva, the castle caught the
public imagination when Lord Byron wrote about the fate of Bonivard,
a follower of the Reformation, who was chained to the fifth pillar in
the dungeons for four years in the 16th century. It's worth spending
an afternoon viewing the tower, courtyards, and dungeons.
Chillon Castle receives more visitors than any other historical building
in Switzerland. Occupying a stunning position right on Lake Geneva,
the fortress caught the public imagination when Lord Byron wrote about
the fate of Bonivard, a follower of the Reformation who was chained
to the fifth pillar in the dungeons for four years in the 16th century.
Byron etched his own name on the third pillar. The castle, still in
excellent condition, dates from the 11th century and has been much modified
and enlarged since then. It's worth spending an afternoon viewing the
tower, courtyards, dungeons and numerous rooms containing weapons, utensils,
frescos and tupperware. The castle is located within walking distance
of Montreux, the centrepiece of the Swiss Riviera.
switzerland
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