Few landlocked cities offer an alluring tableau for the dawn like Zurich. Switzerland’s biggest city sits on the LimmatRiver at the top of Lake Zurich, which on clear days sparkles brilliantly, framed by the Alps, when the sun rises in the east. I am a relative newcomer,having arrived here last year to cover Switzerland and Austria as chief correspondent for Reuters after 13 years in our Mexico City bureau and Berlin before that.
But already I have made my home in this city that boasts a rare conjunction of cultural vibrancy, great wealth and historical curiosity. Larger-than-life figures as different as Vladimir Lenin, Albert Einstein, James Joyce and Ozzy Osbourne drifted in and out of the city during the tumult of the last century.
Ranging from multi-million-dollar mansions overlooking the lake to grungy bars in the inner city that feed a pulsating nightlife, Zurich is a study in contradictions, even as the rising cost of housing slowly gentrifies the web of neighbourhoods fanning out from its huge central train station. Here are my tips on how to explore this global financial hub like a local:
Getting around: Run by the local transport operator ZVV, Zurich has a highly efficient public transit system, with trains, buses and trams crisscrossing the urban sprawl and the canton of Zurich, Switzerland’s most populous. Visitors can also rely on rented electric scooters and bikes, although the inner city is small enough to be traversed by foot, weather permitting.
Where to go: Kunsthaus Zürich is Switzerland’s biggest art museum, housing famous works from Swiss-born artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Henry Fuseli and Ferdinand Hodler, as well as international heavyweights like Claude Monet, Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh. Recently expanded to embrace two separate buildings connected by an underground tunnel, the Kunsthaus hosts regular exhibitions and, in a nod to its complex history, features guidance on whether its paintings were acquired as a result of looting by the Nazis in World War Two.
Notable landmarks: A walk through the old city wends eventually to the Cabaret Voltaire at Spiegelgasse 1, the birthplace of Dadaism, a pioneering movement which helped to make the names of artists like Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, John Heartfield and Man Ray. A few doors down at Spiegelgasse 14 is the flat where Vladimir Lenin lived during World War One in the run-up to the Russian revolutions that shook the world in 1917. Not far away and half a century later, Birmingham-born heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath and their frontman Ozzy Osbourne shook the foundations of the Hotel Hirschen in the dying days of the 1960s during an earlyresidency.
Zurich frequently ranks as one of the world’s most expensive cities, and for visitors eager to splash some cash, a stroll down Bahnhofstrasse from the station to the lake presents myriad opportunities to buy luxury watches, jewellery and clothes. Bahnhofstrasse bounds the western edge of the old city, an area which straddles both sides of the Limmat and contains many of Zurich’s most celebrated buildings. Rising skywards on the river’s right bank are the two towers of the Grossmünster church, a noted landmark and one of the cradles of the Protestant Reformation; facing it on the left bank stands the green steeple of the Fraumünster, a church renowned for its ornate stained-glass windows, including a beautiful series by Marc Chagall. A few blocks north lies one of Zurich’s more unlikely treasures — spectacular frescos in the vaulted entrance hall to the city’s police headquarters painted by Augusto Giacometti, a cousin of famed sculptor Alberto.
By the lake: In the summer, those game for a swim can jump in the lake — whose temperatures reach a comfortable 20°C (68°F) — before cooling off with a drink at one of the many beer gardens or bars that hug the shoreline. Those set on longer walks can follow the lake into municipalities abutting Zurich. Kilchberg on the western shore is home to chocolate maker Lindt and the final resting place of Nobel-Prize winning writer Thomas Mann, a German exile who came back to Switzerland after living in the U.S. during World War Two. Upon the eastern slopes of Zurichis the grave of Irish writer James Joyce, who wrote much of his novel “Ulysses” while living in the city. The cemetery where Joyce is buried sits on a hill behind the domed campus of the ETH Zurich, one of Europe’s most distinguished universities and the alma mater of Albert Einstein, who taught therein the 1910s.
What to eat: For those looking for more than cheese and chocolate, the classic Zurich dish is Zürcher Geschnetzeltes — strips of fried veal in a creamy mushroom sauce served up with Roesti, a bed of grated and fried potatoes. In the Rheinfelder Bierhalle, on the edge of the old town, a plate of Geschnetzeltes costs 33.50 Swiss francs ($41); in the Kronenhalle, an institution of Zurich high society, it is 63 francs ($77).
Panoramic views: After allthat Geschnetzeltes, you might feel a good walk is in order. For anyone keen to tackle a small mountain, the Uetliberg on Zurich’s southwestern flank offers panoramic views of the city, the lake and the surrounding countryside. Close enough to walk to from central Zurich, paths to the top can be easily reached from the Albisgüetli and Triemli tram stops, while a train takes passengers close to the summit. Hikers will also find plenty of water fountains, whose ubiquity is a noted hallmark of Zurich.
Biggest faux pas: Should you make any appointments with Swiss people in Zurich, be punctual. Like their highly efficient trains, the Swiss tend to be on time. Public transport is an orderly environment, so try to be discreet when using such shared spaces — don’t make a racket.
DATA POINTS
Population: 450,000 for the whole city
Price of a cup of coffee: from 6 CHF ($6.80) at Odeon, Limmatquai 2
Price of a beer: from 9 CHF ($10.20) at Baradox, Sihlstrasse 73
Best independent cinema: Riffraff at Neugasse 57/63. Housed in a building with cinematic traditions going back to 1913, the modern four-screen complex shows a range of independent fare in a lively part of the city.
Essential read: Nonfiction: “The Zurich Axioms,” by Max Gunther (1985). Fiction: “Homo Faber,” by Max Frisch (1957) and “Lenin in Zurich,” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1976) (Dave Graham/Thomson Reuters)
You must be logged in to post a comment.