Switzerland and the Romance of the Rhine and Mosel River Cruise

Switzerland, nestled in the heart of Europe with its pristine lakes and towering mountains, is a country steeped in beauty, culture and history, yet a country seeming isolated from the rest of Europe.  Although the richest country in Europe and one of the world’s leading banking nations, it has maintained its neutrality during the world wars and has basically kept itself apart from the European community.  In fact, it wasn’t until 2002 that Switzerland joined the United Nations.  And in addition to all its beauty, it is home to chocolates and fondue – two of our favorite foods.  It is also one of the few European countries that we have not visited.  However, starting on 17 October we will remedy this fact as we begin our week-long visit to four of Switzerland’s major cities – Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, and Basel before departing on our river cruise. 

We will begin our journey in Zurich, the financial, banking and business center of Switzerland.  In addition to its financial institutions, Zurich is known for its shopping, world-class art, music and as the birthplace of “Dadaism”.  Started in 1916 as “a protest against the madness of the times,” it was anti-war, anti-bourgeois, and anarchist in nature.  Despite its classy, cosmopolitan lifestyle that makes it one of the liveliest cities in Europe, Zurich’s Altstadt still maintains its rich medieval history with its cobble-stoned streets, medieval houses with flowerboxes of cascading geraniums, towering Gothic and Romanesque churches,  and world-class museums.

From Zurich, we will travel to Lucerne, perhaps the most beautiful of the Swiss cities, with its magnificent lake and fairy-tale setting.  Located in the heart of Switzerland, it was home to William Tell and where the beginning of the revolt that led to the Swiss Confederation and the unification of Switzerland.  Following the death of the Habsburg ruler, King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph I in 1291, the Swiss people decided it was time to take matters into their own hands and formed an alliance of three of the country’s most powerful cantons (cantons are like our states).  Finally defeating the Habsburgs in 1315, they officially proclaimed their union of the three cantons as the “Swiss Confederation.”  Over the next several centuries more and more cantons joined this union and Switzerland became the country it is now.

Our third stop will be in Bern, the rather small (population of only 130,000) capital of Switzerland.  Although it has all the requisite government buildings, it is not your typical capital city.  On the fourth Monday in November, they hold a centuries old Onion Market.  This is the city's last big event before winter, and residents traditionally stock up on onions in anticipation of the first snows.  In Bern's historic core, vendors arrive before dawn to set up stalls featuring plaited strings of onions.  It is customary to sell some 100 tons of onions in 1 day during the festival.  It's not all salesmanship either – buffoons disguised as onions run about, barrels of confetti are thrown, and a good time is had by all.  (Too bad we will miss it – it sounds like fun.)  On the edge of the old town, lies one of Bern’s most famous tourist attractions: the Bärengraben, or Bear Pits. The city is smothered in bears, bear cookies, bear sculptures, bear doorknobs, bear flags – the city’s very name means “Bear” in Swiss.

Leaving Bern we will travel to our last stop in Switzerland and the starting point for the Rhine and Mosel river cruise – Basel.  Once an ancient university town and shipping port on the Rhine River, Basel’s origins date back to about 100 BC when the Celtics built a fortified settlement here.  In 374 AD, the Romans built a fort on the site of this settlement, whose ruins today are considered some of the best Roman ruins in Europe.  Located at the juncture of France, German, and Switzerland on the Rhine River, today Basel is an important pharmaceutical center and starting/ending point for river cruises up and down the Rhine River.  It is here that we will begin our river cruise.

On our cruise of the Rhine and Mosel Rivers, we will enjoy scenic cruising with several wine tasting excursions and stops in Strasbourg, France; Luxemburg;  Baden-Baden, Speyer, Boppard, Bernkastel, Trier, Cochem, and Bonn in Germany, Nijmegen and Kinderdijk in the Netherlands, and ending in Antwerp, Belgium.  We will then spend several days in Brussels and Brugge before returning home.

The time has come to gather our Euros and Swiss Francs and pack our bags for another exciting episode of “The Trip that Keeps Growing.”