Among the various Swiss cantons, Graubünden is probably my favorite. It may have something to do with the fact that it’s where my husband’s family is from, so it’s where I saw the Swiss Alps for the first time; it might be because it was there that I first realized that though I am and always will be an island girl, I do love the mountains as well, more than I thought possible; or perhaps it’s simply because when visiting Graubünden, 9 times out of 10 you will be welcomed by blue skies and a bright sunny day – thanks to the Föhn wind – in sharp contrast with the dull grey sky that plagues the Zurich area for most of fall and winter.
This Sunday was, unfortunately, not one the lovely sunny days; but we had been missing Graubünden and had been looking forward to the drive there, so out we went.
Destination: Chur, the canton’s capital and the oldest city in all of Switzerland, believed to have been the capital of the Roman province of Raetia in 300 AD. (The name itself, Chur, derives from Latin curia, a term used in ancient Rome to indicate a division of a tribe.)
For a place boasting such impressive lineage, Chur is surprisingly quiet and unassuming. But they are clearly proud of their history: start walking through the town and you will see how beautifully kept the old buildings are, so carefully restored that if it wasn’t for the small touches reminding you which century you are in, you’d think you had taken a trip back in time.
Not even the buildings housing something as mundane as the Post Office and the Bank escape the aura of tradition and history surrounding the town.
Walking through the winding cobblestone alleys and low archways of the old town makes for a charming afternoon, even on a Sunday, when most shops are closed; but what I was really looking forward to was the Hof, the old town courtyard, housed within the old town wall, in the highest section of the Altstadt.
The view approaching the courtyard is so impressive, that once you get in the effect is slightly anticlimatic; the courtyard is in fact fairly small, but it does house, among other things, a tavern originally opened in the 1500s, the Chur Cathedral (Kathedrale Maria Himmelfahrt) and the Bishop’s Castle, which isn’t in fact a castle, but a large building with a lovely baroque facade –surprising, considering baroque isn’t often seen in Switzerland; less surprising, when a little research reveals that it was commissioned in the 1700s by Bishop Joseph Benedikt von Rost, who was from Tyrol (Austria).
As we emerged on the other side of the courtyard, all of sudden the lovely old town was forgotten for a second, when we found ourselves above a sea of red and orange vines. If you had to pick between natural scenery and architectural and cultural sights, what would be your choice? We didn’t have to make one this time, because walking down the hill we got the best of both worlds: a view of the old town from a higher point, with the Alps in the background, and a hill aflame with vines in fall colors.
We explored the old town a bit more, before stopping for cappuccino and cake at one of the local cafés on our way back to the car; and before we had even driven off we were already planning to return in the spring, to enjoy the town on a sunny day and maybe pop into a few of those charming shops.
And when Sascha asked me what I thought of this long delayed visit, all I could say was: Chur may be the oldest, but she has definitely aged gracefully.
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