The Festive Season in Europe: Day 3

On By sue m

Today we left Zürich by bus en route to Basel; the third largest city in Switzerland. It is located at the mouth of the Rhine and borders France and Germany. It’s a bustling university town (the Pope gave his blessing to open the university several hundred years ago!).

As you enter the city, you see several examples of the architectural styles of the famous Herzog and de Meuron. The old part of the city was (as we are now knowing as typical) once surrounded by a wall and a moat. Fortifications were common in medieval times but modern city expansions have resulted in some destruction of such structures. In Basel, the moat has been filled with long narrow parks. When you drive along side the former moats, the streets are called “grabbe” rather than Strasse.

Part of the medieval fortifications included city gates as in this photo. Lucky us, we arrive on a Monday morning and catch the trash collectors busy at work. There are real spruce trees everywhere and lots of lights which would be visible in the late afternoon in the dark.

Another view of the gate.
The iconic Hoffman LaRoche towers (their HQ) is a very visible example of the Herzog architecture
The Rhine runs through the city
The Coat of Arms for Basel

Christmas markets are everywhere in town. Where there’s a square or public space you will find either a market with colourful stalls or a festive display of trees and decorations. It’s truly a magical and festive experience.

One of my dad’s favourite sweet treats is a Berliner which is a yeasty donut filled with fruit preserves and coated in sugar or icing.
Roads have been closed off to accommodate the pedestrian traffic
There is a special children’s market. It is the “fairytale forest” including a train and carousels.
Every market has a huge tree decked out
Läckerli is the local Basel specialty. It’s a spicy gingerbread
Fountains are everywhere and feature drinkable spring water. Oddly the water spouting out isn’t super cold but the top fountain, on New Years Day every year, spouts red wine and locals are welcomed at 11 am to bring a mug and toast in the new year.
The legislation building and town hall is a dominant gothic style red sandstone building with tromp l’oeil facades. During the reformation (Protestant split from catholic) some cathedrals were repurposed. The town hall had catholic features. Basel is a Protestant city.
The courtyard of the building housed the old police station and short term jail

The Virgin Mary was removed from the front of the building and installed in the courtyard and her baby removed and replaced by scales to indicate Justice rather than religion. Therefore she has no eye covering.
Also in the courtyard is a fearless Roman statue. Because in Roman times (they founded the city) most people couldn’t read so they used art and other means to convey a message.
Unfortunately you can’t see the writing on the tram’s screen. But it says “Weil am Rhine”. I had to snap a photo as that is where my mom was born. 💗

From Basel we are transported to our ship (home for the next several days). It’s our first Viking tour. The bus brings us to the dock and we enter the ship Herja. We are escorted to our cabin and are greeted by a huge bouquet of flowers. Thank you Gill!

Champagne and flowers welcome us on arrival.
Cheers!
The view from our cabin on arrival.

The cabin (308) is a two room suite with a full bathroom. There’s a tv in both the sitting area and bedroom; tv offers tons of movies and other shows. There’s a balcony (but it’s cold out) and desk area.

As the ships sails to Kehl, we have to pass several lochs.

See you in Strasbourg!

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