During the two days I spent in Switzerland, I visited two different cities, and they couldn’t have been more disparate. Zürich is largest city in Switzerland, and is situated on the spot where the River Limmat flows out of Lake Zurich, which is fed by the Linth River flowing from the Alps. It was first established in 15 BCE as Turicum, a Roman tax-collecting outpost, but has now grown into a city of almost 400,000 inhabitants, 30% of whom are foreign citizens. About 22% of Switzerland’s residents are foreign nationals, choosing to live here for a variety of reasons, most notably for its low taxation policies, but also for other political and economic reasons. The city therefore has developed into an international business center, as well as a popular shopping destination. The city is incredibly clean and well-managed, its streets are lined with glittering shop windows, and both cars and bicycles stop to let pedestrians cross at the crosswalks. The city also had some historic buildings, mostly churches, as well as a wonderful national museum, but the city as a whole is not a tourist’s paradise.
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Fifty miles south-east of Zurich is the small town of Sargans, Switzerland. It is located in the Rhine river valley, not far from Liechtenstein, and indeed I initially only intended to transfer to a Liechtenstein-bound bus when I first took a train to Sargans. However, once I saw the town, I knew I had to spend a couple of hours exploring. Although the town sits quite low in the valley (only 1,500 feet above sea-level), it is surrounded by incredibly high alpine peaks. On the north end of town is a 13th century fortress built on a hill overlooking the city. Climbing up to the castle, one encounters a small church built after the plague in the 16th century, countless vineyards, and eventually Schloß Sargans. From the castle, you can see down into the Rhine valley, an abundantly fertile area due in part to over 50 inches of precipitation per year. While in Zurich one grew accustomed to the sounds of cars and busses, all one can hear in Sargans are the birds, and occasionally a train passing through. It was a wonderful place.
