Basel

Basel is on the banks of river Rhine, one of the longest rivers in Europe. Rhine originates in Switzerland, and then passes through Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Netherlands. It finally drains into the North Sea, close to Rotterdam. It is navigable and goods are transported from Switzerland and a few other countries to the port of Rotterdam from where the goods are transferred to ocean-going ships.

Basel borders Germany and France and is part of the TriRhena region. Basel is considered part of the German speaking part of the country and the people here mostly speak Swiss German, a dialect of the standard German.

Basel is the hub of the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Companies like Novartis and Hoffman-La Roche are headquartered here. The Bank of International Settlements is also situated here.The University of Basel is one of the oldest in Europe.

It is quite easy to get around in Basel. Like many European cities, Basel has a well-connected network of trams and buses. Trains operate from Basel to almost every city in Switzerland and many Western European cities.

I currently stay in a hotel in Basel and I get a Mobility Ticket, which I use to travel in the trams for free. I am using this offer to explore the city. Off I go now.

More on Swiss transport, later.

In Switzerland, at last!!!

So, after a long wait, I am finally in Switzerland. The visa process took longer time than I had expected. Nonetheless, I am glad I got the visa.
Just like many Indians, I always wanted to visit Switzerland and the Alps. Watching a lot of Bollywood movies(DDLJ, KKKG,etc) and a few James Bond movies(“On her Majesty’s Secret Service”for example) might be the reason for this desire. During my stay in the US, I had also seen quite a few travelouges from Rick Steves(http://www.ricksteves.com/tvr/tvr_menu.htm). His travelouge about Switzerland was especially good. It was quite interesting to read what the traveller’s guide, Lonely Planet had to say about Switzerland – “ Of the 800-or-so films a year produced by India’s huge movie-making industry, more are shot in Switzerland than in any other foreign country. ‘For the Indian public, Switzerland is the land of their dreams’, film star Raj Mukherjee has said.”

I will be living in the Basel region in Switzerland. Basel is the third biggest city in Switzerland, after Zurich and Geneva. Basel has an international airport – EuroAirport Basel- Mulhouse. This airport is operated jointly by Switzerland and France. The interesting thing about this airport is that this airport is completely on French soil. Zurich International Airport is better because it has more flights connecting different parts of the world. I arrived in Zurich Airport since it is better connected to India than Basel is. I then took a train from the Zurich Airport to Basel and the journey cost me about 35 CHF and the travel time is about one hour.

Switzerland is renowned for its neutrality and independent thinking and has a history for that. It was not part of any side in both the World Wars and was one of the few countries in Europe to have escaped the destruction of war. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union and hence, has its own currency – the Swiss Franc (CHF). In December 2008, Switzerland became a part of the Schengen zone and people with a Schengen visa can travel freely in 25 European countries.

Switzerland can be divided into three major linguistic areas – German speaking, French speaking and Italian speaking. German, French, Italian and Romansch are the official languages of Switzerland. Basel is in the German speaking part of the country. I plan to start my German learning pretty soon.

Have to leave now. Will be back soon to share more of my experiences in Switzerland.