Gateway Guide to Switzerland [antikvár]

In the centre of Europe, where the highest peaks of the Alps rise up like a barrier across the continent, lies the federal republic of Switzerland. In about 1800, people began to realize that the Swiss mountains were not horrible, but that wild scenery had its own distinctive beauty. Throughout the 19th century a steadily increasing stream of prosperous English, and later American, tourists made the pilgrimage to Switzerland to see the Alps. Goethe was enthralled by the beauty of the wild mountains, with which he became acquainted on his many journeys to and from Italy. Not only did he describe them in words, but in the multitude of his brilliant drawings and watercolours there are a number of Swiss themes full of románcé and atmosphere. Among the many English writers who have paid enthusiastic homage to the Alps are Byron and Wordsworth; though not all of them succumbed to the fascination that had seized the romantic poets. Mark Twain made what he describes as a completely fantastic ascent of the Riffelberg at Zermatt, and Sherlock Holmes all but lost his life in the sinister gorges of the Aare near Meiringen. This crowd of visitors led to the building of innumerable hotels, boarding-houses, restaurants and mountain chalets, which, together with a network of first-class railways, mountain lines, highroads and steamer services, have made Switzerland the leading tourist country of the world.