Zurich - Because I’d only ever travelled in the central, western and northern parts of Switzerland, I had come to believe, that although there was chocolate box prettiness everywhere (somewhat diluted by endless kilometres of electricity cables and pylons), picture postcard snowcapped mountainscapes, and an infinity of window boxes bursting with carefully groomed (seemingly obligatory) red and pink geraniums and impatiens, that that was all there really was. Plus discipline, efficiency, watches, chocolate, and a certain smugness. Aah, but I had never been south – to its Italian part.
Here the grass is now longer, the landscape less tidy, the vegetation much wilder, there’s that quintessential Italian feeling of anarchy lurking in the shadows, the people are more outgoing and full of fun, and the food is classic Italian – delicious homebaked pizza, bread fresh from the oven, and a plethora of juicy olives and sun-kissed fruit bursting with flavour.
Switzerland (like Roman Gaul once was) is divided into three parts: French-speaking in the west, German-speaking in the centre and north, and Italian-speaking in the south. It’s like visiting three different countries when you move around. Veronica, our guide in Lucarno in the south, tells us that Switzerland is like an island in Europe, and “the glue that holds us all together is that we want to be together”.
My first stop, however, is glitzy St Moritz (we’re still in the German-speaking part).
One thousand and eight hundred metres up on the southern side of the Swiss Alps, this has been the haunt of royalty, celebs, and assorted glitterati for decades. In fact, this year, St Moritz is celebrating 150 years of winter tourism, although its mineral springs were frequented as long ago as 3 000 years.
Our host and chaperone par excellence, Axel Simon, who has shepherded our small party of journalists from South Africa via Swiss Air Business Class (the best and classiest Business Class in Europe on an airline that’s always on time), now takes us up by funicular from the long Engadin valley to the first 100 percent environmentally friendly hotel in the Alps, the Hotel Muottas Muragl, where we feast on local delicacies like duck pâte and braised beef.
The next morning it’s back up the mountain by cable car going higher and higher to view some of the area’s most famous peaks and skiing areas – Piz Bernina (4 049m altitude), Piz Palü, Piz Corvatsch, Corviglia and Diavolezza.
Japanese tourists in their brand new designer mountain outfits ooh and aah when the gondola dips and swings as it plunges over steep drops and mountainsides. At the top, it’s -2°C. The sun shines. We drink hot chocolate. And the glacier glitters as teachers brief a group of well-equipped school kids before they start off on a mountain hike.
Mountain peaks conquered (sort of), from St Moritz train station we set off on the legendary Bernina Express to Tirano, a small town in Northern Italy adjacent to the Switzerland-Italy boundary. The journey on the Bernina Express is reckoned to be one of the most spectacular Alpine crossings since Hannibal and his elephants. And it certainly lives up to its reputation. We cross the 65m-high Landwasser viaduct, speed through 55 tunnels and across 196 bridges, and along cross-border lines through and over stunning scenery – gorges, glaciers and a spiral viaduct – that are now on the Unesco World Heritage list.
From Tirano (where we munch pasta and drink red wine in a cobbled square) we board the Glacier Express bus back into Switzerland, past Lake Como to Lake Lugano, and then by another train to Bellinzona, regarded as Switzerland’s most Italianate town where three of the best-preserved medieval castles in Switzerland (listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site) look down from a small hill on the charming little town.
Next morning sees us back in Lucarno – known as Switzerland’s sunniest city and my favourite destination of the trip. The cobbled streets and the main square (the Piazza Grande is Switzerland’s largest piazza) of the town are just waking up at 9.30am. Shop assistants are putting out racks of shoes, dresses and bags. Chatting women smoke over early espressos. The atmosphere is indubitably Italian – relaxed, friendly. By the lovely lake ringed with low mountains, more ladies are walking overfed dogs, young people are stretched out on benches sunning themselves, yachts bob in the harbour amidst ducks and a solitary swan. It’s all a bit like a scene from a 1930s travel poster.
Lucarno, situated on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore, is a very popular holiday destination for the Swiss because they feel here that they are in Italy without having to leave Switzerland. Along with Ascona, its pretty but very pricey neighbouring town, this is where you’ll find some of the most expensive real estate in the country.
From Locarno we ascend another mountain to Cardada, by a panoramic cable car, and then up further by chairlift to Cimetta, with its 360° unique panoramic view of Switzerland’s lowest point, the delta of the Maggia river, and its highest spot, the Dufourspitze on the Monte Rosa massif.
On our final day, we check our luggage in at the tiny Bellinzona train station. The greyhaired, highly efficient railway clerk assures us that it will be waiting for us in Johannesburg. (It was.)
Time now for the fabled Wilhelm Tell Express that seamlessly teams up train and boat to transport visitors through two of Switzerland’s most beautiful regions – Ticino and Central Switzerland.
We chug along Lake Lucerne for three hours before boarding the train to Zurich. Barbara, our guide, tells us that 10 000 passengers a day travel by this train through the legendary 15km-long Gotthard Tunnel, which dates from the late 19th century. It’s a dizzying ride because the train makes dozens of twists and turns, doubling back on itself and navigating 34 tunnels (seven of which are spiral tunnels) and 28 bridges. We glimpse the opening of the new Gotthard Tunnel, scheduled to open in 2016. “Alptransit” as it’s called, “the civil engineering feat of the century”, at 57km will be the longest tunnel in the world, built at a cost of SF10 billion.
Although it’s going to be Switzerland’s glorious Italian south that I shall remember so fondly, it’s also the incomparable efficiency of the Swiss transport system. Armed with a “Swiss Pass”, you can travel through 26 000km of spectacular scenery – mountains, valleys, lakes, villages and cities – by train, bus and boat, when, where and how you please.
And because this is Switzerland, everything is always on time. To the minute.
l Kate Turkington was hosted by Swiss Tourism and Swiss Air.
l St Moritz: Hotel Schweizerhof – one of the town’s most iconic hotels. Bellinzona; Hotel Internationale – a modern city centre hotel, with great rooms, superb food.
Sunday Independent