Zurich is my favorite city in all Switzerland. Maybe because it has two Zara stores 300 feet away from each other. 🙂 During my first day in Zurich, I found Zara on one of the city center streets. The store had five or six floors, and I had a good time going through the summer sale selection. Next day I wanted to go there again but I forgot the name of the street. I found it on the map and went there. To my surprise the store looked completely different. I almost thought I had hallucinations. I looked at the map again and found another store just basically right across the block. I fell in love with Zurich right at that moment.
For those of you not interested in the two Zaras, Zurich has a lot of nice, beautiful places to recommend itself. Lovely narrow streets, turquoise colored water in the briskly flowing, not-too-deep, not-too-shallow river (you can bathe anywhere in that river and you see the clean riverbed right through the water anywhere), lots of restaurants, lots of churches, a picturesque hilly terrain complete with a cable car, and a moderate number of tourists.
Lindenhof Hill
This is my favorite place in all Zurich, a tiny park on a hill in the center of the city. Despite its central location, it feels secluded and homey. There are some tourists of course, but not too many (maybe because there is nothing special to see there except the overlook). Anyway, Lindenhof Hill offers a fine view over the river and a lot of shade in a hot day.
I have a lot of pictures taken on that hill, during the day and at night, so it is definitely worth a visit.
There are a lot of drinking fountains everywhere in Zurich (I should say everywhere in Switzerland). They take pride in their drinking water and I concur it is good (not as good as in Iceland in my opinion but still very good). The fountain on Lindenhof hill is occupied by pigeons, so I wouldn’t try to drink from it.
Views from Lindenhof hill are very inspiring, especially at dusk. It is probably as good at dawn but I was not been able to wake up that early.
Hirschberg Restaurant
I rarely write about restaurants, but this one was special. We were looking for a lunch place near the University of Zurich, and a friend found this restaurant. It had a high rating on Google Maps. It was our best dining experience for the whole Switzerland trip.
The restaurant has an amazing atmosphere and a very welcoming hostess. It serves Italian dishes and almost looks like a home. Books and bottles are arranged in a way that makes you feel cozy and at ease. The hostess had a way to describe the dishes that made it practically impossible to resist trying them all.
I had a mushroom risotto, and for dessert the hostess brought us sweet wine (I forgot its name) with biscotti (since we did not have time for a real dessert). Simple and amazing.
Views from the University of Zurich
The university is located on a pretty steep hill, so, naturally, the area around the university offers pretty views onto the whole city. It is especially worthwhile to visit it at dusk for a more dramatic effect. If walking up a steep hill is difficult for you, there is a cable car you can take from downtown. There are several viewpoints scattered around the university. I found one near the cafeteria.
Zurich City Center
I had plenty of time during the week to walk around Zurich. I enjoyed those walks. For a big city, it feels very domesticated and relaxed. I don’t know if that is true, but it felt like there were not too many cars in Zurich (and in Switzerland in general), which makes the city feel a little old fashioned and provincial — in a good way.
I walked around taking a lot of pictures without really thinking about capturing the atmosphere. I should have tried better but it is what it is.
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