Bank on Zurich
Fine art, chocolate and churches make this Swiss city a richly rewarding weekend break
CLEAN, quiet, restorative, expensive, punctual — Zurich is quintessentially Swiss. it’s the same size as Bristol, with a population of 392,000, and spectacularly penned by mountains, lapped by Lake Zurich and split down the middle by the River Limmat. it is younger and livelier than Geneva and Basel, and more cosmopolitan than Lausanne. Boasting film, literature and classical music festivals, it also has the world’s largest ‘techno and dance’ gathering.
its hundreds of art galleries include the masterpiece-packed Kunsthaus. There are 15 museums, one zoo and an opera house. You can swim in the summer, skate in winter and shop for luxurious trivia all year round.
Old Zurich, or ‘ Doerfli’ (‘little village’), on the eastern banks of the Limmat, has serious period charm. The late medieval architecture, guild halls and layout have not changed for centuries.
Towering above the labyrinth are the 15th- century twin towers of the Grossmunster (cathedral) which composer Richard Wagner likened to pepper pots.
This is the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation, which Huldrych Zwingli, pastor of the Grossmunster, conceived in 1520. But the locals’ (Zuerchers) true passion seems to be for coffee.
Schwarzenbach, founded in 1864 near the Cathedral on Muenster-gassem is a temple to coffee, tea and dried fruit. Opposite is the Cafe Schober, a French patisserie dating from 1874, where hand-made chocolates are laid out with geometric precision. Such coffee houses fuelled great minds: James Joyce wrote Ulysses here; Dadaism originated in Zurich; Wagner, Trotsky, Mann, Einstein, Jung and Lenin all lived in the city.
Many of these radicals frequented the Odeon cafe, on Limmatquai, which still thrives.
Another obsession is chocolate. Daniel Peter, co-founder of Nestle, made the first milk chocolate in 1857, and Rodolphe Lindt stumbled on a way of creating smooth melting chocolate in 1879. There are myriad delectable brands including Nobile, Max Chocolatier and Teuscher, who invented the champagne truffle.
The largest chocolate emporium is Confiserie Spruengli on the western shores of the Limmat, overlooking Paradeplatz, an important tram junction on Bahnhofstrasse. Family-owned since 1836, Spruengli is renowned for its macaroons and fresh chocolate.
ZURiCH is perhaps most famous for its banks: 275 operate here. But tax-starved governments are trying to force Swiss banks into revealing the assets of tax-avoiding foreign nationals. Opacity, Switzerland’s calling card, is under threat. Yet, there is plenty of opulence to go around. Nowhere more so than in the Dolder Grand hotel, high above Lake Zurich’s ‘gold coast’, where i am staying. This faux-Swiss castle dates from 1899 when English aristocrats checked in.
its present incarnation is down to Urs Schwarzenbach, a polo-playing tycoon and friend of Prince Harry who also owns the 650-acre Culham Court near Henley-on-Thames and a huge Scottish estate.
He hired architect Norman Foster to renovate the Dolder. inside, it is an oligarch’s dream — chandeliers, marble statues, a ballroom with a gold roof and a vast spa.
The four suites are inspired by famous guests: the Rolling Stones, Alberto Giacometti, Herbert von Karajan and Federico Fellini. Schwarzenbach’s eclectic 130strong contemporary art collection features Pissarro, Warhol, Hirst, Dali, Moore and Haring. it is witty, amusing, beautiful, charming, mind- blowing and downright bizarre. Even Sylvester Stallone gets a look-in.
Whoever said Zurich was dull?