We arrived in Basel on time after a couple of comfortable
and uneventful flights. Being a little on the short side at around 6 1/2 hours,
our flight to Amsterdam didn't allow for much sleep time, but we did manage to
get some in between dinner and breakfast. The flight to Basel, a commuter
flight, lasted less than an hour and delivered us to the airport that has the
distinction of having entrances in 2 countries - one into France and the other
into Switzerland. That can be a little confusing, but eventually we all met up
with our transfer driver for the ride into the city.
As returning Tauck guests, we had a complimentary night's
hotel stay at the Swissotel Basel, very nice and central to the river and the
old city. The first thing we did, though, was try to make up some of the sleep
we didn't get on the plane.
After a couple of hours' rest we headed out into a cool,
windy and sometimes sprinkly day - nothing we weren't prepared for since we had
been watching the (surprisingly accurate) weather forecasts on the European
Accu-Weather website.
Basel is one of the first cities on the Rhine River, and one
of the things we found most surprising about the river is the strong current
that flows even here, without the addition of water from smaller rivers along
the way. This current has been used since the late 1700s to ferry people back
and forth across the river before the bridges were built. The original ferry
could take 50 people at a time but became a little capacity constrained as the
town grew in size, so the first bridge was built in the early 1800s to make it
easier to move people and goods around. The current ferryboats (and there are 4
all together, near the main bridges) are quite small and meant only for things
like people, their bikes, and their baby strollers. You wouldn't want to take
anything larger, anyway, especially on the Münster cathedral side, because the
only way up to street level is by the stone staircase! Of course we had to
check it out, so here are a few photos:
 |
| The Rhine River from the Muenster |
 |
| The ferry boat just after leaving the other side of the river. The small flags line the cable that attached the boat to the cable that is strung across the river. |
 |
| Larry on the boat. You can see how strong the current is. The whole trip takes a little more than 5 minutes. |
Now this is a little out of order - we walked across the
bridge and into the old town first, and took the ferry coming back. The hotel
concierge suggested that we start at the Marktplatz, or market square outside
of the Town Hall (Rathaus) and wander around the small streets, heading toward
another square called the Barfüsserplatz. If we got tired we could pick up a
tram there to get back to the hotel. We did make it to the square, and by then
were a little hungry (even after our second breakfast on the flight to Basel),
so we stopped in a cafe and had a light lunch.
 |
| Outside the Rathaus |
 |
| In the courtyard of the Rathaus |
 |
| We had lunch in that cafe with the yellow umbrellas; the local wildlife seems to prefer water that doesn't flow with a strong current |
 |
| The Muenster, or town church. Note the scaffolding on the lower left... |
 |
| Along our walk - many of the townhouses or apartments had greenery growing up and along the walls. Much of it is Wisteria, which must have looked amazing a few weeks ago in full bloom. |
We didn't wander much farther but eventually found the
Münster cathedral and from there the ferry boat. Dinner wasn't very late, nor
did we spend much time awake afterward. The only thing we needed to do for
Wednesday was have our suitcases ready for pickup at 10:00 a.m., be checked out
by 12:00 and back at the hotel by 3:00 to transfer to the ship.
We wanted to see a little more of Basel on the second day,
but we could not find any organized tours in the city ([City Name here] Walks
tour company, please take note!) so we asked the concierge for a
recommendation. He suggested that we take the panoramic tram tour for about an
hour and a half. It is on one of the regular tram lines, and there is a small
brochure about this ride that gives information about things you can see around
the various stops where you can get on and off whenever you want.
The transit system here, like in most other European cities,
is quite extensive and used by virtually everyone. Parking downtown is at a
premium and since the trams and buses have right of way, it would be almost
impossible to get around efficiently in your car. As a result, public transit
works on an honour system. You have a pass or ticket that you just have to make
sure is valid - no swiping when you get on or off, but if the transit officials
happen to board your vehicle to check, you have to show your pass. We didn't
ask what the fine is for trying to ride without a pass, but it is probably high
enough that it isn't worth doing. We didn't have to worry, though; one of the
things we received with our room keys was a visitor's transit pass that is good
for your whole stay, up to 30 days. As long as we had them in our pocket, we
could ride the buses and trams all day.
We hopped on the Number 15 tram right outside the hotel and
rode up to the Marktplatz where we had to stop and check out the local fresh
food, cheese and meat market. As you can see, the weather was much better than
it had been on Tuesday:
We walked from there back to Barfüsserplatz and found yet
another market. This one would be more readily classified as a flea market.
People were selling things from old books to jewelery to records (yes, vinyl
LPs have really made a comeback) to crystal chandeliers. We had to get a
picture of that!
 |
| Check out this tent in the front. How are you supposed to get those home on the tram?? |
Once we were done looking around, we hopped back on the tram
and rode it all around. One of the places on the route is the Bruderholz area,
a very nice suburb of the city up in the hills. We had forgotten that many
people, if they can, get a small plot of land where they grow their own vegetables
or fruit, and put up a little cottages. The tram line went past a few of these:
Our return trip took us back into the old city where we
disembarked again at Barfüsserplatz. This time we walked along to one of the
other bridges on the river and then meandered along further east until we found
a nice bench overlooking the river, were we sat for a while and just took in
our surroundings.
 |
| One of the many fountains in the city featuring the Basilisk, Basel's heraldic animal. By law, the water in these fountains must be drinkable. |
 |
| Looking across the river at some of the houses. |
We strolled through some of the residential streets and got
back to the hotel in time for a light late lunch, and then it was time to
congregate for our transfer to the ship.
 |
| Our first view of the MS Inspire on our first day in Basel. |
The MS Inspire is less than a year old and is owned and
operated by a charter company called Scylla. They provide all of the onboard
staffing and hotel services; Tauck only runs the tour aspect of the cruises.
This seems to work very well, as Tauck charters most of Scylla's ships for most
of the year, if you look at Tauck's river cruise brochures. We had really been
looking forward to seeing the ship, and even though we had seen numerous
photos, we were still surprised and impressed at how she looked from the
inside. We will put up more photos
later, but here are the first ones of our suite:
 |
| And these don't include the bathroom (behind the bed) or the walk-in closet (behind the wall unit where Larry is sitting)! |
Although the ship can carry 145 passengers, we are only 111
on this trip (note that other comparable sized ships will carry up to 180
people), and, according to the guest list, we're split between Canadians (6),
Aussies (8) and Americans (everybody else).
We had met some people in the hotel at breakfast who
recommended that we take the trip to Lucerne, even though it is 1 1/2 hours
each way - we decided to take their advice, so we were off to bed a little
early in preparation.
