'To Bern or not to Bern?' was our question of the day. We had only one day remaining (Saturday was reserved for Zurich) and two great cities we'd like to visit - Bern and Basel. We settled on going to Bern and if time permits would try to squeeze very brief visit to Basel.
We were greeted by rain as we exited the train station in Bern and it drizzled on and off all morning. Not to worry, most of the streets in Old Town have arcades over the sidewalk on at least one side of the street so it is actually a good city to visit in the rain. We even had lunch at the café inside an arcade.
Bern is the nation's capital, home of the Swiss parliament. The square in front of the parliament is called Federal Square. It was recently renovated and new main attraction is a fountain. 26 jets representing the cantons shoot intermittently straight from the natural-stone paving and running between them seemed to be very popular with younger visitors.
The tallest building in Bern is the cathedral of Bern, the Münster. Richard and Doris chuckled about the name and inquired whether address was 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
The cathedral is built in Gothic style and was started in 1421. The main portal contains more than 200 figures representing Last Judgment.
Another highlight of the cathedral is 15th-century stained-glass windows.
We made a stop at Bärengraben (Bear pits). The bears have resided in these pits since 1480. The city of Bern is named after the bear. Local legend has it that Duke Berthold of Zähringen named the Bern after the first animal killed during a hunt when the city was founded in 1191.
Another famous resident of Bern was Albert Einstein. He developed the Special Theory of Relativity while living there. His old apartment is located in one of the most beautiful places in the Old Town.
The Old Town of Bern is UNESCO World Heritage Site. Covered arcades, cobbled streets, decorated facades and fountains and lots of flowers make it so very charming.
There are well over 100 fountains in Bern. 11 of them are especially ornate and feature allegorical figures that date from the mid-16th century.
We ended our tour at perhaps the most famous sight in Bern - the Clock Tower, or Zytgloggeturm. The tower itself was Bern's first western city gate until middle of 13th century. The clock is more recent, but it is one of the oldest town clocks in Switzerland; its mechanism dates back to 1530. It still works, well, like a Swiss clock. And the elaborate figurines put on a show every hour.
In the afternoon we took a train to Basel. The sky has cleared and we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon for our (unfortunately too short) visit.
Basel is located in Three Countries Corner of Germany, France and Switzerland. The architecture was noticeably different from Bern and Zurich even though both cities are only an hour away by train.
Basel started as a Roman fort and has a very rich history. It is home to the oldest university in Switzerland dating from 1459 and oldest printing house still in existence. It is Switzerland's only cargo port. Several major pharmaceutical and chemical companies are headquartered in Basel. The city has more than 30 museums (not that we had the time to visit either of them).
Because we were running short on time, we had to make strategic stops to see the highlights. One of them is the Münster, magnificent medieval cathedral with dark red sandstone walls and patterned roof. It was built in the 12th century and rebuilt following an earthquake in 1356 but the elements of the earlier cathedral survived. In the crypt there are also remains of 9th century cathedral that originally stood on that spot along with some late-Romanesque frescoes. There are a lot of beautiful stone carvings decorating the facade and throughout the cathedral and adjoining cloisters. One of the most famous Basel residents, Erasmus of Rotterdam, is buried inside the cathedral.
Behind the cathedral there is an elevated terrace high above the Rhine that offers great views of the river, Old Town, and as far as Germany's Black Forest. We lingered on the terrace long enough to catch a view of the ferry crossing the river. The ferry was attached to a wire rope stretched across the Rhine, and was propelled across the broad river purely by the force of the current. There are three other ferries in Basel, and all of them are a popular attraction as well as public transport facility.
We also made a stop at Tinguely fountain. It is made up of a variety of kinetic metal sculptures in perpetual motion. This is definitely the most creative use of scrap metal we've ever seen.
Next stop - Marktplatz, the Market Square. It is one of the main squares in the Old Town and is home to the Rathaus (Town Hall). The beautiful building is painted in bright red and is elaborately decorated inside and out.
The square still functions as a market. Fresh fruits and vegetables, breads and pastries, cheese, meat and flowers are available each working day. We stopped by the cheese vendor and after sampling a few of his products narrowed our favorites down to 4. Unfortunately, he couldn't ship it home for us so we had to settle for relatively small amounts. Some day we'll be back for more. We also bought some bread and other items to supplement our cheese dinner.
For desert we treated ourselves to official cookie of Basel - Läckerli. These soft and chewy cookies are made with honey, nuts, citrus zest, ginger and kirsh (Swiss cherry liquor that we first tasted during our fondue dinner in Geneva).
