Swiss Holiday - Part 1 - Chur and Arosa

My first view of Switzerland from the plane.

The

Time to visit Switzerland!

Switzerland is a country that I have never really explored properly. I know it's very close to Spain and Barcelona, only 2 hours by plane and also quite driveable on a road trip, and it's basically right in the middle of Europe too. I had in fact been to this little mountainous country twice before - once by accident. The first time I visited Switzerland was very short, as I was driving through France and missed a turn-off and ended up in Geneva. I had been visiting the lovely city of Annecy (still one of my most favourite places in France), and got back on the highway North and slipped across the border - I considered staying a bit but had other plans and so did a U-turn and got back into France. Sorry Switzerland! The second time was on purpose - it was a visit to the lakeside town of Lugano, just over the border from Italy. It was a day-trip, and although the town was very pretty, lake, swans and chocolate stores, it seemed more Italian than Swiss - it is a getaway town for the Milanese who want some nature rather than the industrial block that is the area around Milan. Both of those visits were nearly 10 years ago, so it was long overdue for another, and now had a local who promised me that I'd do it right this time around!

Chur - the place of the oldest settlement in Switzerland.

Churches everywhere.

A Swiss village in the moutains.

I landed early in the morning at Basel airport, excited but a still a little sleepy. Sometimes you don't realise in Europe how close you are to another country, but as I walked out of the airport there were two exits from the baggage claim - one for Switzerland and the other for France. Silly I know, but maybe it's an Australian thing, coming from a country/continent where your nearest neighbour is hours away on a plane. I was greeted and picked up by my good friend Alicia, whom I'd met hiking in Chile. I'd been nearly a year since then, and we'd stayed in touch (along with the two others from the group) and finally we were meeting up again! We drove from Basel to the city of Chur, close to where she lives, basically driving across the country in less than 2 hours! A car is a great way to see a country too, and this car trip was my first real look at Switzerland - mountains and more mountains, it was so beautiful! I did notice that the country is also quite industrial - along the highway there were numerous factories and power stations, not a complete eyesore on the landscape, but still a little unexpected. I guess there isn't much flat land here for building these kinds of things, and the Swiss do it as clean as possible, so before long you've forgotten all about the chimneys and go back to staring at the mountains soaring way above.

The church in Castiel and the beautiful hills of Luen.

Beautiful Chur.

The mountains behind Chur.

My friend's village is a short drive outside of Chur and is a very cute little place. Wooden houses with the winter fuel stockpiled up outside, a small church and even a square and one pub. Although not exciting, I never saw any of the 80 odd residents walking or even driving around, it was beautiful, peaceful and had some incredible views across the valley to the mountains reaching for the sky on the other side. Waking up in the morning I would be greeted by blue sky, snow topped mountains and a typical Swiss mountain village, all from the bedroom window! I could live here, I thought. I visited Chur the following day, and although it was cold, the sun was out and the sky was clear - problem is with these big mountains a lot of the town is out of the sun. Chur sits on the Rhine River within the Rhine Valley, as the river heads north along the border with Leichtenstein and Austria, eventually flowing into Lake Constance. It is also reputed to be the oldest settlement in Switzerland, with a settlement here dating back to 3900 BC and remains from the Bronze and Iron Ages have been found. The Romans conquered the area from the Helvetii people in 15 AD, and after The Empire fell, this region has been invaded many times, by the Ostrogoths, The Franks and even the Magyars (Hungarians), before becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire and eventually Switzerland in 1648 when independence came. It is a city full of history and beautifully typical Swiss architecture.

Shields on the main gatehouse of the Bishop's Palace, Chur.

The church in Luen.

The streets of Chur.

Although there isn't much to see as far as tourist attractions, there is actually plenty to see just by walking around and keeping your eyes open. The Episcopal Palace of the bishop of Chur was what I headed towards first, admiring the streets along the way of course. The Palace is more of a fortified city looking over the rest of the city, complete with high walls, a gatehouse and the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, a 13th Century church. The crypt is much older than the main building, built around 770, and is said to contain the relics of St Lucius of Britain from the 2nd Century AD. A quiet Winter's day, nobody was around really, so we had the whole place to ourselves - it was beautiful, the buildings inside the walls were even more 'Swiss' than in the rest of the city, and the cathedral was quiet and lovely, but surprisingly small.

Beautiful painting inside the church in Luen.

Swiss fountains are amazing.

Every fountain is different.

Swiss cities are organised, clean and beautiful. Cars aren't double parked, people drive respectfully, and nobody seems to be doing anything even a tiny bit against the rules - nearly completely the opposite of many other European countries! I like order, being safe and feeling protected, but could I live in a place where you can't misstep without being noticed or even pulled up about it? It reminded me a little of Singapore - a colourful and interesting city, spotlessly clean and a place where nobody breaks the rules - you get looked at like a monster if you cross on the red! The other thing I noticed about Swiss cities, that really rang true when I visited Bern, was the fountains. Every fountain here is different, from the decorated taps and base of the fountain, to a statue standing proud over the whole thing. One I liked in Chur was a ram statue with huge horns. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that this ram is the symbol of the city or possibly the municipality of Arosa (which encompasses Chur). I also saw another of an armoured man, standing proud outside the church of St Martin, with his shield rested against his leg, a ram on it's emblem. Some small things like this are hard to find out exactly what it means - even locals may not know and it's too small or obscure to find on the internet. I like it - I will just make up my own stories! Chur was a lovely place, my first taste of city life in this country, and I think I was going the right way - from here it would be more traditions places, larger and even more beautiful cities, but I started at the oldest first!

Imagine waking up to this every morning? I did for nearly a week!