Zurich - Perhaps it was because we cynical South Africans didn’t really believe in him or the system, that we looked at the small, bespectacled man with agitation and a little bit of irritation.
After all, we were expected to believe that from behind a counter in the Swiss railway station in Bellinzona, in the south of the country, he could not only check in the four of us for our flight back to Johannesburg later that night from Zurich (250km and 12 hours away), but he would also ensure that our baggage got through safely to OR Tambo International.
And, to cap it all, that he could get the whole process completed – check-in, boarding passes issued, bags weighed and information packs for the “Wilhelm Tell Express” handed out – in the 19 minutes before the train arrived. Yet he did it all, and with a pleasant smile and a warm handshake and “enjoy your journey and the rest of your time in Switzerland”.
Outside on the platform, we still had about eight minutes to spare. The following morning, cynical faces cracked with delight when our bags appeared on the baggage carousel at ORT.
Oh ye of little faith…
In our defence, it is difficult for South Africans to come to terms with second-perfect Swiss efficiency. If they say the train will be there at 11.37 (that’s how confident they are – they don’t round up time to the nearest 10 minutes), it will be there. If they say the boat departs at 12.03, the gangplanks are up, the lines are loosed and the water starts churning at exactly 12.03.
Which means that, when you are touring Switzerland, you can’t be late, because you will miss your connection. (On the other hand, the trains particularly run at regular frequencies so you won’t have to wait long for the next one.)
However, it also means you have the peace of mind of knowing that what you have planned and booked will happen as and when you wanted it to. Like clockwork.
Unique in the travel industry, the Swiss have created an integrated public transport system which includes a sophisticated and ultra-reliable baggage transportation service.
With the “Fly Rail Baggage” programme, you, as an airline passenger (not all airlines participate, though, so be warned) can check in for a flight at any of 57 designated railway stations across the country. Your baggage is through-booked to your final destination.
The system also works in reverse: visitors to Switzerland can hand in baggage at any departure airport worldwide and have it delivered directly to their Swiss destination railway station. The price is CHF 22 Swiss Francs (about R260) per item of luggage. Well worth it in terms of stress reduction though.
Stress-free is a good way to describe the Swiss Travel System (STS), a network of public transport – from trains to buses to boats to cable cars and funiculars – which covers 26 000km and extends into every little corner of the alpine country.
STS has as its main product the Swiss Pass, an all-in-one ticket for trouble-free travel on virtually all train, bus and shipping routes nationwide. These include internationally renowned routes such as the Bernina Express, Glacier Express and GoldenPass Line. In addition, the Swiss Pass ensures a 50 percent reduction off most mountain railways, free admission to 475 museums throughout the country, and free travel on local public transport in 75 towns and cities.
Using the Swiss Pass, and some additional, paid-for tickets, we covered a large swathe of Switzerland in just five days, using nine modes of transport: Aircraft, train, bus, car, cableway, funicular, ski lift, paddle steamer – and foot.
From the elegant, moneyed resort town of St Moritz (which had just experienced the first snows of the season, leaving the surrounding peaks with a light dusting of white powder), we boarded the Bernina Express, surely one of the most spectacular rail journeys in the world. From St Moritz, the red-and-white train (with huge panoramic glass windows in its coaches) winds alongside and over rivers as it climbs into the Alps, to its zenith in the Bernina Pass which, at 2 253m is the highest open-air crossing of the Alps.
As you cross the top of the pass, you break out beyond the tree line (in the Alps, the trees generally cannot grow much above the 1 900m level) into a rocky, moon-like surface devoid of flora, other than hardy Alpine lichens. There are a number of large lakes fed by glacial meltwater, which gives them their grey-turquoise colour, and which have been harnessed into man-made reservoirs.
Heading down towards the Italian terminus of the line in Tirano, the Bernina Express snakes hither and thither around and through the flanks of the Alps, in what is such an incredible display of railway engineering that it has been recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site. In just 122km, which takes the best part of three hours, the train passes through 55 tunnels (some of which double back on themselves as a way of shedding height) and over 196 bridges.
It’s breathtaking. No other way to describe it. And if you have ever been vaguely fascinated by the romance of rail, this has to be on your bucket list. And, bar having to reserve your seats, the Bernina Express is covered by the Swiss Pass.
From Tirano, you board a bus (also covered by Swiss Pass) and head through Italy for the Swiss city of Lugano, on the shores of Lake Lugano.
We continued on to Bellinzona, the capital of Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland, before exploring another, smaller lakeside town, Locarno, and its surrounding beauty spots. It was the last leg of our journey – from Bellinzona to Zurich airport, via the William Tell Express and the city of Lucerne – that we encountered the friendly and efficient man behind the counter.
As we waited for the train, I told my companions that my German friend had told me that day’s journey would be “the best of any you will do in Switzerland”.
After the wonders of the Bernina Express, I was a bit wary of his hyperbole, but he was right.
The Wilhelm Tell Express runs from Locarno to Lucerne, with the first part of the journey being by train and the second, across Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee in Swiss-German, meaning the Four Forested-Cantons Lake) is done in a 113-year-old paddle steamer.
The train part of the journey is, as I discovered, every bit as spectacular as the Bernina Express route and living testimony to the inguinity and skill of Swiss engineers.
There are places where the line doubles back on itself, gaining or losing height: in the village of Wassen, train passengers get three different views of the little stone church as the line follows its serpentine path.
As the train clings to the precipitous sides of valleys, you get a close look at the spectacular bridges which carry the motorways which also link the north with the south of Switzerland.
Then it’s through the Gotthard Tunnel which, when it was completed in 1881, was one of the most significant engineering achievements of mankind.
The 15km tunnel takes just eight minutes to traverse in a modern train but it is worth bearing in mind that 177 lives were lost during its construction.
From the town of Flüelen, passengers disembark from the train, take a short stroll to the boat landing point and board a genuine paddle steamer (yes – with paddles and powered by steam: you can watch the massive, spotlessly clean connecting rods and pistons doing their work).
It’s a three-hour journey on the DS Uri, which had its maiden voyage in 1901, to the banking city of Lucerne at the other end of the lake. Lake Lucerne is one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe, with snow-capped peaks as a backdrop and the forested flanks of the Alps plummeting almost vertically into the waters. On a late summer’s day, with an azure blue sky above, it is the definition of heaven.
From the baronial elegance of the First Class lounge (you almost expect a Czar or an Anna Karenina to flounce past you), you can enjoy lunch (included in the ticket price) and sip a glass of good Swiss wine. (We learnt earlier that the Swiss only export 2 percent of their wine production. They like their wine and it is excellent but, because there is not a lot and demand is high, it isn’t cheap.)
Then, on to explore Lucerne – and to wonder about the cities of Switzerland which, unlike the rest of Europe, have escaped the devastation of two world wars.
And then, the train to Zurich… which leaves at 10 past the hour, on the hour. Seamless travel doesn’t get better than this.
l www.swiss.com
www.SwissTravelSystem.com
www.myswitzerland.com
Saturday Star