I had the opportunity to
visit Switzerland in June 2018. I know most travel freaks would say it is a
bloody expensive country to visit. Well, I can’t deny the fact that Switzerland
is indeed really expensive for most backpackers. How did I survive? Let’s just
say I had some help from several friends in France and Switzerland.
After completing some
important stuff in UK, I flew to Basel with RyanAir. Prior to my arrival in
Basel, a good friend of mine, who was staying in Niffer, offered to pick me up
at the airport. By the way, Niffer is a small but charming village in France
which is close to Basel. I stayed at Niffer for 4 nights. So basically, I did
not stay at Switzerland at all in those 4 days. It was a lot cheaper to stay in
Niffer. However, public transportation was not available so my friend seemed to
have everything organized for me.
What is there to do in
Basel? As usual, I always couldn’t find enough time to do proper research and
plan my trip. I started my day early in the morning so that I would have more
time to see Basel. So I headed to the Tourist Information Center at the Bahnhof
(it means train station in Deutsch)
and got myself a map.
What I liked about this map
was that it provided 5 routes for walking tours. Each route was named according
to famous, prominent people who lived in Basel in the early years, namely the Erasmus Walk, Paracelsus Walk, Burckhardt
Walk, Platter Walk and Holbein Walk.
Each walk caters specific section of the city. One can chose to see the historic heart of the city, medieval
alleys, the past and present of Basel, crafts
and university section and the broader section which covers both sides of the Rhine river.
Naturally, I have picked the
longest route, which is the Holbein
Walk, but with some improvisations. This walk starts at the Old Town heading toward the Munsterplatz (the cathedral square) and
Old City Wall, make a loop to return
to the Old Town.
Marktplatz – Rathaus - Guild houses – Munsterplatz and
Munster – Kunstmuseum – Wettsteinbrucke – Obere Rheinweg – Mittlere Rheinbrucke
– Eissengasse and “Lallekonig” – Marktplatz
Marktplatz – a market
place, where a market selling fresh fruits, plants and food are available in
the morning. Nice and cozy place for people watching or perhaps a cup of coffee.
Rathaus – an ornate
building painted red which is also serves as the Town Hall of Basel. It’s worth
to check out the murals and decoration at the interior compound.
Guild Houses – by
definition, guild houses are buildings being used for meetings and other
purposes which were historically significant. Many of these guild houses are
now museums. The word ‘guild’ itself refers to fraternity, brotherhood,
fellowship etc.
Munsterplatz & Munster - simply means a
cathedral square and cathedral which originally was a Catholic cathedral but
now it is a Reformed Protestant church. It is the main landmark of Basel with
is easily distinguished by its coloured roof tiles.
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| Residential building at the cathedral square |
Kunstmuseum – a must
visit for art lovers. It has a huge collection of public arts including
Renaissance arts and works from the 19th impressionists. It is also
the largest art museum in Switzerland. Entrance fee is CHF 26.
Wettsteinbrucke - one of the three bridges in Basel. A good spot
to take some nice photos with the minster as the background
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| View of the church from Wettsteinbrucke |
Obere Rheinweg – a
pedestrian and cyclist path lined with shady trees which is a good spot to view
the lovely scenery on the opposite side of the river. The emerald blue river
makes a breathtaking view. One should spend some times during the day and night
to see and feel the difference in the atmosphere. It has been my favorite spot in Basel so far.
Mittlere Rheinbrucke – it
is called the ‘Middle Rhein Bridge’ and a historic bridge in Basel. I spent
more time photographing this bridge at different angles and apparently the most
picturesque bridge.
I took some rest, having
crazy expensive waffle ( CHF 11) to replenish my energy. There is a McDonald’s
at the Marktplatz but my taste buds seemed to reject it.
Next, I picked the Erasmus Walk to explore the historic
heart of this city. The Celts and Roman built settlements here and currently
being a residential zone, museum and administrative museum district.
Martinskirche - Rheinsprung – Blue and White House – Augustinergrasse – Pfalz and the view over Rhine – Frei Strasse – Rathaus
Martinskirche - a lovely church with Romanesque architecture
Rheinsprung – a street in the Old Town of Basel. Some nice view can be seen along this street
Blue and White House – 2 semi-detached mansions in Rheinsprung built for the Sarasin brothers (Lukas and Jakob) whom their descendants are the founders of the Bank Sarasin & Cie in Basel.
Augustinergrasse – another street after Rheinsprung with several nice buildings and also the location of the Natural History Museum of Basel.
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| Enjoying this view for some reasons. |
Pfalz and the view over Rhine – a viewing terrace next to the cathedral which offers a wonderful views over the Basel Old Town.
Freie Strasse – from the cathedral, i walked downhill to this shopping street (with no intention to shop at all) back to Rathaus.
I realized that I still have several hours more left before taking the train to Luzern, so I took an improvised Platter walk to see Basel a little bit more.
For this walk, I wanted to see the Spalentor, which means Gates of Spalen. It is the most beautiful gate of the three gates in Basel. These gates and a short portion of the city wall become the city's heritage.
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| Gate of Spalen (Spalentor) |
Several nice buildings can be found for example a restaurant in the former craftsman's district, the building of the Basel University Graduate School at Petersgraben and houses at Petersplatz.
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| A restaurant at the former craftsman's district |
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| Graduate School of Basel University |
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| Nice houses at Petersplatz |
Basel is great for walking and everything can be covered within a day, unless if one plans to visit the museums and shop around.
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