Cities of the World: Getting Lost in Altstadt Zurich

I can think of a lot of things worse than getting lost in old town Zurich; after all, practically every corner has a café, bistro, restaurant, konditorei, or old book or art shop—and there are many corners along the winding alleys—called gasses— and cobbled lanes of Altstadt. Nina and I started our walking tour around the old city of Zurich in the pink glow of early evening.

We started from the Alexander Hotel, where we were staying. The hotel is located on Niederdorf Strasse (yes, there is an Oberdorf-Strasse too!), right in the heart of the Rathaus quarter of the Altstadt (Old Town). This district

The Rathaus quarter is named for the town hall, built in the 1690s and was historically known as “greater town” (mehrere Stadt). Niederdorf Strasse was once the main thoroughfare of Medieval Zurich with craftmen’s houses

The walk along Limmatquai with its shops and cafés gave us a wonderful view of old architecture and bridges as well as several churches, each complete with clock tower along the river. Built in the 19th century, the Limmatquai runs from Central to Bellevue and includes some old guild houses from the 1400s (e.g., Zunfthaus zur Haue the guild house of salt merchants). Across the Limmat we could see the tower of St. Peter`s church (the broad tower with Europe’s largest clock dial at a diameter of 8.70 meters) and south of it the Fraumünster cathedral (pointed light green roof). The Fraumünster was founded in 853 by King Louis. The church and its convent was inhabited by the female members of the aristocracy of southern Germany.

Swans and other waterfowl kept us company as we strolled south toward Lake Zurich, past the Mühlesteg footbridge, Rudolf-Brun-Brücke, between Mühlegasse and Uraniastrasse, Rathausbrücke  just north of the town hall, the Münsterbrücke between Grossmünster and Fraumünster, and finally  to Quaibrücke, connecting Bellevue and Bürkliplatz—and the last bridge before the Limmat empties into the lake.

From the Quaibrücke you get a great view of Lake Zurich to the south. When the weather is nice, you can even see the Swiss Alps, about 100 km away. Turning to look north up the Limmat, we had a charming view of the Altstadt, with its prominent church towers and bridges and the boat marinas in the foreground.

We eventually back-tracked to an old staircase that lead to the majestic Grossmünster cathedral with its twin towers and interesting glass-art. Nina did a double take after I pointed the west windows to her: they were made of sliced rock! ). Grossmünster is probably Carolingian in origin and was the mother church of the Reformation in Switzerland under Ulrich Zwingli.

From there we walked up Kirchgasse to Hirschengraben and down Obere Zäune into a lovely courtyard. We wandered past a cool fountain where Neugasse and Trittligasse meet. In the Middle Ages this area was a popular residential area among the clergy of the Grossmünster and wealthy scholars. We saw several houses with attractive courtyards, gardens and roof terraces.

At the bottom of Neugasse my sensitive nose picked up a delectable aroma: chocolate and crème café: I’d found the Café Schober, Confiseur and Konditorei: on Niederdorf, located on the corner of Napfgasse und Münstergasse, across from the Kolonialwaren Geschäft Schwarzenbach, a cool store that sold exotic dried fruits, spices, coffees and other confectionaries. For some chocolate aficionados Zurich means “Sprungli am Bahnhoffstrasse”… and yes, the chocolate at Sprungli is probably the best you can buy in the entire world… But Café Schober had charm and character.

Further down Münstergasse Nina was drawn to a very fine Spanish restaurant, Bodega Espaniola, a Spanish wine tavern that since 1974 has been serving culinary specialties from the Iberian Peninsula. I insisted on the Konditorei and guess who won out… That raspberry chocolate truffle was delicious!… :-3

Well, okay, we never were that lost, because we ended up back on Niederdorf-Strasse, past Rundmarkt and I chose the Johanniter Brasserie,

We did walk some more after but I can’t tell you where we went because we really did get lost! But somehow we found our way back to our beds, sated and happy.

“The Niederdorf” is more than just the street and is generally known to encompass a region of Altstadt that includes Rindermarkt and Neumarkt, Froschaugasse and the area of the medieval Jewish quarter, the

When in Zurich next, leave your car behind and take a walk. Getting lost is part of the fun. For more on my philosophy of getting lost, go to my Zen of Travel Page.