As we strolled through the streets of Basel, Switzerland, in 2019 our eyes were often drawn to views of the river. The Rhine flows through the centre of Basel, on its winding way from the Alps to the North Sea. It’s a busy river, with a constant traffic of barges, ferries, pleasure craft, and the ubiquitous European river-cruise boats.
We were surprised, therefore, to see someone swimming in the river. Not actually swimming but bobbing along with the current. It was a sweltering August day, so I can’t blame anyone for wanting to drift in the cool current, but I wondered at the wisdom of being a small person amidst the constant traffic of big boats.
Then we noticed another person in the water. And another. The more we looked, the more we saw. There was a steady stream of bobbing heads drifting downstream. How intriguing!
Our being in Basel at all was a bit of a fluke. Basel was never on our bucket list of places to visit. I may have heard of Basel before we planned our Summer 2019 trip to Europe, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you where it was.
Basel is in north-west Switzerland, nestled hard up against the intersection of borders with Germany and France. The Basel airport is actually located on the French side of the border.
Since we’d be winding up a two-week trip near Freiburg, Germany, we originally planned to fly back to Canada from the nearest international airport, at Basel. After researching Basel itself, we decided it would be worthwhile to spend a few days there before heading home. Although we later changed our flight plans to depart from Zurich’s airport, we retained a visit to enchanting Basel on our itinerary.
So, there we were. Basel was lovely. We had both done research before our trip, and were armed with things we wanted to see. We visited the old town centre and the cathedral. We prowled around cobbled streets. We browsed through museums, churches, and shops. We toured the Roman ruins of nearby Augusta Raurica, and we took an evening cruise on the Rhine.
The Rhine is quite broad as it flows through Basel. Basel’s medieval city is perched on the higher west bank, while the newer sections of the city are on the east bank, which is much closer to water level. Several bridges span the river, and there are also several small ferries that transport passengers across the Rhine. The ferries are curiosities themselves as they, tethered to a cable that spans the river, use only the power of the current to make the crossing.
But these bathers bobbing in the river were the most curious of all. We noticed that they stayed close to the lower east bank, along which were many access points to the water. Each person had a brightly-coloured float tethered to them. We surmised the floats were waterproof containers for clothes and a towel, as well as serving as visibility markers to the passing boats.
People bobbed down the river variously in family groupings, in chatty pairs of friends, or on their own. At times, there was almost a continuous parade of people drifting with the current, like a line of colourful flotsam.
We observed some bathers getting out and disappearing up stairs to the streets beyond. We wondered how they made it back to their starting points. Did they don dry clothes and hop on the tram? Or had they left bicycles so they could pedal back home or to their car? Basel, like many European cities was full of bicycles and pedestrians and public transit.
The day after we returned to Canada, an article was published online by The Guardian: “City swimming, Swiss-style: a ride down the Rhine in Basel.” From that article, we learned that this river swimming has only been possible since the 1980s, when wastewater was diverted from the river. River swimming is also popular in Berne, Zurich, and Geneva. And, although it looks like a gentle activity, the article’s writer (who is from England,) reported she found the current surprisingly strong.
The floating pouches the swimmers toted, we learned from the article, are fish-shaped waterproof bags called “Wickelfisch”. Swimmers tuck their clothes, shoes, towels, phones, and even laptops into the bags to keep them dry during their leisurely float down the Rhine.
We have often found truth in the adage, “travel broadens the mind.” We learn something (often, many things) new every place we visit. Even—and perhaps especially—places we discover by chance.
