Shoes of the Fisherman – 02/10/02

As one might imagine from Switzerlands reputation as a tax haven and general playground of the rich it is rather an expensive country in which to travel. Wandering around Geneva we finally found cheap beds in the institutional and oversized YHA youth hostel. It was actually a perfect place to stay, allowing us to cook for ourselves and use it as a base from which to explore Switzerland.

Geneva itself is a pretty city but slightly pretentious and obviously brimming over with wealth. The rather strange Jet L’eau (jet of water) in Lake Geneva shoots water into the air at around 120mph and at any one time around 7 tonnes of water is in the air. Another quirky attraction is the giant clock made from flowers.

Jet l'eau, Geneva

Around the Lake shore are a couple of interesting towns. The first one we visited was Lausanne, quiet and peaceful as it climbs away from the lakeside. The second town we visited was the famous Montreaux, home of the Jazz festival. Opulent and grandiose Montreaux is a beautiful little town and we enjoyed the long walk around the lakeside to Chateau Chillon, where we found coach loads of tourists. Whilst walking along the lake on one side are small vineyards and across the lake you can faintly see snowy Alpine peaks in the distance.

A day trip to Zurich was next on the bill. Not exactly a tourism highlight of Switzerland but rather a chance to see how the country operates. Bad weather once gain marred the trip but it was surprisingly stress-free for a financial city and walking along the Bahnhofstrasse was pleasant enough.

Bern, the unassuming capital of Switzerland, was the next destination. It is one of those capital cities like Canberra or Ottawa that are constantly forgotten and overshadowed by larger, or more famous, towns within the country. Bern is quintessential Switzerland, clocks and chocolates, money, wealth and history. Around the town are various short hikes that afford great views back down to the town whilst within the town the main attraction, perhaps unfortunately seems to be a pit of bears caught in the area and which gave the city its name (the word for bear is Barn in the local dialect).

Finally we paid a visit to Basel. I was not really expecting much from Basel but I actually enjoyed it more than Zurich or Bern. The city centre is cobbled and pedestrianised in many places, the banks of the Rhine are great for whiling away an hour or so and the cathedral is a highlight. It is also a nice place for shopping, albeit window shopping in our case, it sort of reminded me of Norwich in the 1980’s, before the shopping boom transformed the city centre.

Entering Italy the first stop was in Milan. My first impression of Italy, this was my first visit to the country, was of old men and women sitting in the plaza outside Milan train station sharing bottles of beer. Not in a nasty way, just as if that was what to do on a Sunday afternoon. Following this we visited the touristic sights of Milan including the Duomo, majestic in size and beauty and the Castello Storzesco. Walking around Milan we felt really poor and trampy in our backpacking clothes, surrounded by beautiful people in the fashion capital of the world.

For the backpacker Italy is almost impossibly expensive and in Venice we were lucky enough to find a small flat that somebody lent us for a few days, if not we would have had to sleep under a canal bridge somewhere. Obviously its reputation precedes it but the two aspects of Venice that I first encountered were the smell from the canals and also the disorientating nature of the town, especially if your journey requires two or three bridge crossings. Due to the weather the Plaza San Marco was flooded and therefore we had to navigate it on wooden boards on tables set all around the square and even part of the way inside the cathedral.

A brief stopover in Bologna en route to Florence was next. A nice city with a relaxing square and nearby old buildings and a perfect low-key rest during our whistle-stop tour of Italys tourism heavyweights.

Duomo, Florence

Florence was Claires highlight of our whole trip so far. Attracted not only by the Medici history and beautiful Renaissance architecture but also because Forster set his ‘A Room with a View’ here she immediately fell in love with Florence. The Duomo, Santa Croce, Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, the list of sights is endless. The beauty of the city is summed up by the fact that Michelangelos David is just standing in the corner of Piazza della Signoria and people pass it by every minute and barely notice it, their minds already jaded by the overwhelming feast of art and history that the town bestows upon them. An evening wine tour of the city showed it in a different light, although by the end of the night I think Claire was unable to see it in any light whatsoever, the wine affecting her focus somewhat!

Another brief stopover, this time Pisa sandwiched between Florence and Rome. This really was brief as we did not evens top overnight. It was just a case of wandering to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and then hopping on the next train to Rome. It was great to see the tower in real life. It was much smaller than I imagined and also in the middle of other buildings, not in the middle of an expanse of space that the usual photos suggest.

If Florence is the city for the girls then Rome is definitely the city for the boys. The Coliseum sets even the most disinterested mind back into the days of Caesar and the gladiators. The Roman forum, Arch of Constantine and Palatine hill just opposite the Coliseum evoke further images and people are still placing flowers on Julius Caesars grave. Spread out across Rome my other highlights were visiting the Spanish steps, Pantheon, Piazza di Spagna and the Trevi fountain. Ok, so it sound sjust like a list of famous sights of Rome but the truth is that everywhere one looks, every corner one turns brings one face to face with another famous monument.

Trevi fountain, Rome

The Vatican city continues this charm with St Peters Basilica being perhaps the greatest building in the history of Christianity. Of course the Sistine chapel and the other buildings in the Vatican museum are also a top of the list highlight. These proved difficult to get into and on the first two visits we were let down by unannounced changes to the opening hours. It took a final visit on the day of our flight to Athens to gain access. The Sistine chapel was of course incredible but the experience is limited by the fact that each group is ushered through and also by the lack of courtesy shown by other visitors who could not abide by the silence imposed on them. I was happy to be able to finally have visited though, especially as Robin Williams seems to use it as a milestone of maturity in Good Will Hunting.

Our final Italian experience was a trip down to Naples, despite its rough reputation. What we encountered was a disgusting port town in which within half an hour we had had bottle thrown at us and been verbally abused. Giving up our plans of wandering around the reportedly nice city centre we retreated back to the train station and hung around there waiting for a train back to Rome.