A Taste of Old Europe

I arrived at Zurich as an invitee of an international corporation. At the time I was unaware to have been chosen by them to perform a technology transfer for my country; eventually that led to my leaving it and becoming a world wide pilgrim. However, for a week I had the opportunity to enjoy one of the most beautiful towns in Europe.

Background

The largest city in Switzerland is a small town of less than 400000 inhabitants and is the main commercial and cultural center of the country; indisputably it is one of the main global financial centers. The name is Celtic in origin – Turus. It was Romanized into Turicum and afterwards Germanized into Zürich.

History

Within the Roman Empire, Turicum was a tax-collecting point for goods trafficked on the Limmat River. Afterwards – during the ninth century - a Carolingian Castle was built by the grandson of Charlemagne, Louis the German. He also founded the Fraumünster Abbey and endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zürich, Uri, and the Albis forest. In 1045, King Henry III made the abbess the ruler of the area by granting the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and even mint coins.

Emperor Frederick II promoted the abbess of the Fraumünster to the rank of a duchess in 1234. The abbess assigned the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. In the 14th century, the Guild Laws (called here Zunftordnung) were established and in 1336 Rudolf Brun, became the first independent mayor.

In 1351, Zürich joined the Swiss confederation as the fifth member; however, it was expelled from the confederation in 1440 due to a war with the other member states over the territory of Toggenburg. The event is known as the Old Zürich War. The city was defeated in 1446 and re-admitted to the confederation in 1450.

The city featured a central role in the Reformation. Zwingli began the Swiss reformation by preaching in Zürich; he lived in the city from 1484 until his death in 1531.

The first railway on Swiss territory was built here since 1847, connecting the Zurich with Baden. Even nowadays, trains are a main mass-transport system in the country. The beautiful and functional Hauptbahnhof (Zurich railway terminal) was built in 1871.

Environment

Zürich was built around the Sihl and Limmat Rivers; they meet at the end of Platzspitz, which borders the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum). Lake Zurich delimits the town to the south and wooded hills, which are part of the Albis Range, delimit it to the north. The Glattal – or Valley of the Glatt River – delimits its northwest. The historic center of the city is the Lindenhof, a hill on the left bank of the Limmat River, 700 meters north from Lake Zürich. The Old Town is not surrounded by walls anymore, but its maze of narrow alleys successfully keeps its medieval look.
The city is divided into twelve districts (Kreis in German), each one of which contains between 1 and 4 neighborhoods; District One contains the Old Town and is thus the most important one for travelers. The district boundaries follow the boundaries of previously existing municipalities before they were incorporated into the city during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.


Traveling Around

Zurich has several railway stations: Hauptbahnhof (Zurich Main Railway Terminal), Oerlikon, Stadelhofen, Hardbrücke, Tiefenbrunnen, Enge, Wiedikon and Altstetten. The Hauptbahnhof is worth a visit even if not using it. The French TGV high-speed, the Cisalpino and the InterCityExpress stop in Zürich.
The Swiss A1, A3 and A4 motorways pass nearby Zürich, connecting the city with all the main destinations in the country. The Zürich International Airport is located less than 10 kilometres northeast of the city, in Kloten.

Within the city there are four means of mass-transportation: the S-Bahn (local trains), trams, electric trolley buses and diesel buses. Boats cross the rivers and the lake.

Language

Switzerland has four official languages. The Canton of Zurich is a German speaking one. However, I could communicate easily in English, even while asking casual passerby’s for directions.

Main Sights

The Swiss Reform of the Church created several churches of historical importance. The Grossmünster is within the old city; there Zwingli was pastor. It was building in the ninth century and was declared by Charlemagne an "Imperial church." Another old church of interest is the Fraumünster, on the opposite side of the Limmat River, which was also built from the ninth century. Its Romanesque choir dates from 1250-70 and Marc Chagall prepared its stained glass windows. The Church of St. Peter is south from the Fraumünster, in the old city and features largest clock in Europe.

The Bahnhofstrasse is Zürich main shopping avenue; it starts at the main train station and reaches the lakeside. The sumptuous banks on Parade-Platz, the plaza in the middle of Bahnhofstrasse, seem to be the real cathedrals of modern Switzerland. This is the main visible testimony of Zürich being the world's primary centre for offshore banking, a result of the Swiss banks secrecy’s practices. This practice as well as the low taxation attracted global corporations like Dow Chemical, IBM, General Motors, Google, Microsoft, and Pfizer into creating their European Centers in Zurich.
The Lindenhof is near St. Peter, it was the site of a Roman castle.
The Old Town and the Guild Houses in its surroundings transport the visitor back in time, into a long gone Medieval Europe.
There are many interesting museums in town. The most interesting ones for the casual traveler are the Museum Bärengasse, which specializes in the history of the city in the 17th century. The Kunsthaus Zürich displays one a huge collection of Classic Modern Art in the world. The Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum) is located in the Platzspitz Park in front of the Hauptbahnhof and provides an awesome glimpse into Swiss history.

Zürich's old town at offers a lot of nightlife and clubbing at the Niederdorf district and it hosts the Street Parade in August every year; there is an astounding variety of restaurants offering food from all over the world.

The old city walls, where Bahnhofstrasse Avenue is placed today, make up the heart of Zurich. The cafés, shopping centers, and the banks are all there, but many other interesting places await you beyond them. The nearby old town provides a taste of medieval Europe. Its alleys provide many pleasant surprises: serendipity is the rule here. The lake, which delimits the city at the south, has an extraordinary natural beauty, and the nearby town of Hörgen provides an excellent base to explore its coasts. The Buerkliplatz Flohmarkt, the town’s flea market, is the perfect place to search for an antique cuckoo clock. Not less Swiss than the clocks is the chocolate: the Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate factory is south from the centre and provides a glucose-rich experience. Zoo Dolder in the northeastern quarters is one of the best in Europe, a visit there can be combined with the Swiss National Museum that offers an extraordinary collection of Swiss artifacts. An interesting place to restore your strength after wandering among the sights is the James Joyce Pub, which was brought from Dublin, where it was named Jury's Antique Bar and appeared in Joyce’s work as "Barmaid in Jury's" in Ulysses.

Quick Tips:

Little is known of the Swiss cuisine abroad, as chocolate is their main image-maker. Visiting Zurich is a good opportunity to broaden horizons, and Rosti, Emmenthaler and Gruyère cheeses, and deer steaks are good starting points for a culinary research. A German dialect is spoken in the area, but the cosmopolitan citizens will chat with you in English without problems. Despite their "cold" image, I found them friendly and eager to help. Surprisingly, their instructions usually included tips on how to do things cheaper and more efficiently.

Best Way To Get Around:

If according to your wristwatch the train you are awaiting for is late more than one second, then you should fix it. That is the main virtue of Switzerland’s extensive network of trains, which, despite its complexity, works like Swiss clockwork. Hauptbahnhof is the main train station a few minutes north from the old town, west from the river. It offers excellent facilities as well, and thus, arriving early is recommended: a good rosti will leave the taste of Zurich with you even after your last departure.

The Kloten airport is 10km north of town. It is recommended to use the train from there to the Hauptbahnhof instead of taxis or buses. It is faster than any other method and leaves you practically in the town’s heart. A tram or a local taxi in the town’s centre will complete your way to your hotel.

The Irish author of The Dubliners would be surprised to find the pub he described so vividly in Ulysses, placed nowadays in central Zurich, one of the three cities where he lived. The James Joyce Pub's original name was Jury's Antique Bar, and it was placed in Dame Street, Dublin, within the Jury's Hotel. Some thirty years ago, the hotel was demolished and the pub’s interior was put for auction; in a well-inspired move, it was taken to Zurich and reopened in 1978, behind a relatively humble front in a street just off from the central city avenue, Bahnhofstrasse.

Once inside, the place takes you one century back and northwest to a world that does not exist anymore but in the readers’ imagination. The comfortable green coaches by wooden tables and the classic bar invite for a long visit, maybe in the company of the appropriate pages in Ulysses, especially in the first century anniversary of the tale. The blackboard menu lists the daily specials (plattes) and the regulars are hamburgers, fish-and-chips and fried chicken legs; there is no greener place to taste a Guinness.

Open Monday through Friday from 11am to midnight and on Saturday from 11am to 6pm.

A rustic serpentine bar suiting a truck driver’s joint welcomes you when you enter the Rosti Bar in Zurich’s Hauptbahnhof. In a poetic sense, this charming approach may be justified, since the bar is located in the main train station and serves daily thousands of commuters.

If asked what the national Swiss dish is, most foreigners will answer chocolate, cheese, or maybe fondue, but in my conversations with the locals, most answers were rosti, a delicacy much harder to export. The dish consists of boiled potatoes pressed into a round loaf inside a frying pan; this cooking process creates a brown crust on the top of the cake. This is the basic version, but many variations exist here and all of them consist of different dressings added to the topside of the dish as if it was a pizza. I took the excellent pork with cheese, but apparently the sausages and vegetables options, both served with cheese as well, are very popular. Obviously, this is a cholesterol-challenged plate, but once a year you can stop your counting for the sake of bilateral relationships. After your order is ready, the waiter will approach you from the inner side of the long coiled bar with a still-hot frying pan to be placed over a solid insulating wooden base in front of you - soon you will find out, once again, about another excellent Swiss culinary surprise.

The northern tip of the Zurich lake is occupied by the city of Zurich, and thus it does not offer a good opportunity to enjoy its shores, despite its pleasant promenade and marina. The green town of Horgen, 13km to the south along the lakeshore, offers a perfect day by the lake. Arriving there is a breeze. Just take one of the S-Bahn trains from Zürich Hauptbahnhof (the ones numbered S2 and S8 for 8.8 Swiss francs, active until 11pm) and soon you will find yourself at the train station of this lake’s traffic hub. The coasts are clear here and a short visit to the supermarket will supply the cheese and bread needed for your early picnic there; that is, if you manage to decide among the hordes of Swiss cheeses available. After your breakfast, you may decide to cross the lake with the specially designed cable pulled boat. That technique sensibly keeps the lake waters unpolluted.

However, the lake is not the only site in Horgen: the town seems frozen in time with houses designed in earlier centuries, its narrow streets and its slow pace in sharp contrast to its northern neighbor. As Zurich, the historic center of the town is a beautifully kept pedestrian zone that allows you to explore its wonders unconcerned by modern dangers. The Reformed Church provides a useful landmark, as well as a point of special interest due to its tall bell tower and unusual architecture. The complex Swiss topography offers a counterweight to the lake: the narrow town is trapped by quite steep hills that provide a nice opportunity for a short hiking along the well-marked paths in the afternoon.

Actually, the place is pleasant enough to contemplate making it the center of your stay in the Zurich area. You can easily reach the city whenever needed while feeling like you’re on a countryside vacation. Accordingly, the town offers some good hotels and my stay in the Seehotel Meierhof transformed the trip to Zurich into one of my best European trips.