Sojourn in Switzerland

by Mark Nicholson

Ticino (TI yellow), adjoining Graubunden (GR in pink)

Possibly the 20^th June was not the cleverest day to choose to fly directly over the crow- fly-line between Tel Aviv and Isfahan; so our Airbus 380 pilot from Dubai wisely turned due west across the Empty Quarter, over the Red Sea and into Egypt before heading north for Zurich. On the plane were at least 200 Chinese tourists, each group led (normally) by a small lady armed with a wooden stick and a coloured flag. On arrival in Zurich the sheep and goats were separated: the Swiss and Europeans marched straight through an automated gate while an officious gentleman directed Bangladeshis, Indians, British and Chinese passport holders to turn left. There I joined a long queue while we waited for questions and stamps in our passports.

My hostess lives some 60km from Zurich airport, high above the south shore of Zurichsee with a magnificent, panoramic view of the lake. The next day we headed for Chur, the main city in Graubunden, the only predominantly Romansh-speaking canton of the 26 cantons. From there I took a train to Ticino via the St. Gotthard tunnel, which at 57 km, is the longest rail tunnel in the word. A daughter and a friend joined me from Milan. Ticino is the only purely Italian-speaking canton in Switzerland, well known for its long serpentine lakes - Maggiore, Lugano and Como.  It is also the canton in typical Italian fashion where no one would speak anything except for Italian; so it was hard to remember that one was in Switzerland. In contrast, in German-speaking Switzerland, one would never feel that one was in Germany (apart of course for the large number of German tourists). Sweitzerdeutsch is, and sounds, very different from German. The dialects change rapidly. In Zurich one greets people with “Grüezi” but in Bern, one says “Groesag”.

Ticino looks densely populated because most people live in the valleys or huddled on the lakesides but in fact its population of 350,000 is low compared to the country’s population of 9m. 20 to 25% of the country now comprises recent immigrants, particularly from Syria, the Balkans, Afghanistan etc. This figure is much higher than the UK where only 16% people are foreign-born. Switzerland is very welcoming but people are expected to integrate, both behaviourally and linguistically, and this doesn’t always happen; so the Swiss have every right occasionally to be xenophobic.

Being very hot in Lugano, we headed off into the mountains to look for some wild swimming. The Internet is the obvious place to search for wild swimming spots but then we all know that the rest of the world has also searched, so the places tend to be quite crowded.  It is always much more fun to find unknown swimming places far from the madding crowd and after a long hike.

The author wild-swimming in Ticino

I have always wondered how Switzerland, with its strange shape and so many different races and tribes, ever coalesced into one country. In 1291, local tribes came together against the Hapsburgs; hence the legend of William Tell, who may or may not have existed. In 1991, I was in Geneva to celebrate 700 years of Swiss independence with a friend. ‘Celebrate’ was hardly the word as no one else in Switzerland seemed even to notice. It remains odd that the country never united linguistically. Switzerland is only one of six countries containing the Alps. Much of the country is of course breathtakingly beautiful but it is also breathtakingly expensive. One day we stopped for a bite in a mountain village in Ticino and found a café near a mountain stream that offered hamburgers at SFr. 34.50 ($50) each. That was a reasonable price for the area, not an excessive one. The first time I went as a boy to Switzerland, in 1959, the pound bought 12 Swiss francs. Today the pound and the franc are at par, which presumably says something about faith in the franc or absence thereof in the pound.

We also drove over to Lake Maggiore and took a boat to an island, Isole di Brissago, which has a wonderful botanic garden, displaying plants from around the Mediterranean and those areas with similar climates in Australia, South Africa and Chile. Since the lake is nearly 400 metres deep, the warm water produces a very mild microclimate in winter, which is ideal for Mediterranean plants.

As we snaked up the mountains on hundreds of hairpin bends, we passed numerous Swiss-made, Swiss army Land Rover lookalikes, which reminds one that Switzerland is well armed, even if historically neutral. National service is mandatory for all men between 18 and 30. In normal Swiss fashion they had a referendum on it a few years ago and overwhelmingly voted to maintain it. Even more surprising was seeing at least three very long trains loaded with tanks while I was waiting at a railway station. Whether they were for export or for her own military, we were unable to tell.

Some people do not realize the precarious position the country was in during the Second World War. Hitler despised the Swiss for their bourgeois democratic values and was longing to get his hands on the country’s vast supply of gold but he had more important priorities such as Operation Sea Lion and Operation Barbarossa.  Switzerland of course was no threat to the Third Reich but by 1941 Hitler had already drawn up plans for invasion known as Operation Tannenbaum. But he was shrewd enough to see the problem: the country was very well defended both in terms of manpower and orography. There were 850,000 conscripted Swiss soldiers out of a population of 4.2 million and the mountains were unfit for blitzkrieg but perfect for defensive positions. Being neutral was useful for spies and diplomats on all sides alike but it was not easy for the Swiss, being largely German-speaking, which made the Allies suspicious. The Americans bombed Swiss cities on several occasions, quite possibly ‘accidentally on purpose’. 

After Ticino, I took a train north.  Swiss rail is impressive. Having endured a trip last year from London to Edinburgh, standing the whole way on a hopelessly overcrowded train, I ask myself why rattling British trains are not double-decker. Swiss trains depart on the dot, and are silent, fast, spotlessly clean, and have huge, super-clean loos.

Double-deckered Swiss trains

Bern is surely the most understated capital in Europe with a tiny population of 130,000. It is a beautiful ancient city on the Aare River. I found a lovely Airbnb three kilometres downstream of the city. My hosts were a Swiss man and his Tibetan wife, both practicing Buddhists, who generously gave me two delicious dinners ‘on the house’. Their house overlooked a small lake attached to the river, which is also used for the Swiss rowing team. For a wild swimmer, one can jump in from a bridge 6km. upstream of the city and swim down the fast-flowing glacial river into the middle of the city. It is just about warm enough without a wetsuit in July, August and September and one gets out in the middle of the city.

I have always had great admiration for the Swiss and their country. The people are self-reliant, independent, conservative, and sedulous. They are also highly democratic, and disdainful of the aristocracies of other European countries. I approve of any country that doesn’t have single individuals as heads of state, who often think they are above the law. The directorial system in Switzerland allows for rotating presidents who serve for one year while no one really knows or seems to care who is in charge. Trump is currently determined to apply punitive tariffs of 39% on Switzerland, probably because he is jealous of the high quality of their engineering and other products like watches and chocolate. This will clearly annoy the Swiss but they will survive and thrive in spite of Donald.