Zermatt to Geneva Great Continental Railway Journeys

I'm embarking on a new railway adventure

that will take me across the heart of Europe.

I'll be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, dated 1913,

which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel for the British tourist.

It told travellers where to go,

what to see and how to navigate the thousands of miles of tracks

crisscrossing the continent.

Now, a century later, I'm using my copy

to reveal an era of great optimism and energy,

where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.

I want to rediscover that lost Europe that, in 1913,

couldn't know that its way of life would shortly be swept aside

by the advent of war.

I'm following one of my guidebook's recommended journeys to Switzerland.

A country whose roots date back to 1291.

Renowned for its breathtaking scenery and invigorating air,

it's home to four different languages

united under a single flag.

A traveller in Switzerland a century ago using a Bradshaw's Guide

might be here to climb a mountain, buy a watch or open a bank account,

just as today.

But in 1913, war loomed.

Would this country's famous neutrality be respected

or would its values be used as a short cut

by Germany and France to attack one another?

These were the great political questions as Europe slithered down

the slippery slope to Armageddon.

I start my journey in the south of the country,

high up in the Alps in Zermatt,

then head into the beautiful valleys and lake shores

to visit the Swiss Riviera at Montreux.

From there, I move north-east

to the centre of the country

and the capital, Bern.

It's then only a short hop to Biel or Bienne -

the heart of watchmaking.

I'll end my journey

on the shores of Lake Geneva.

On this journey, I learn about the conquest of the Alps.

You know, the Matterhorn at that time, it was untouched

and most people thought it's not climbable.

'I put my faith in St Bernard...'

Michael Portillo's the name.

-OK.

-Last seen somewhere in the Alps.

'..salute the bravery of a pioneering Swiss pilot...'

Only when you go up in a small plane like this do you realise

what a formidable obstacle the Alps would have been a century ago.

'..before entering a war zone with the Red Cross.'

CLAMOUR

A most extraordinary turn of events.

My first stop will be Zermatt.

According to Bradshaw's, "A village 5,315 feet above sea,

"almost surrounded by lofty peaks and glaciers,

"sometimes described as the very centre of the Alps."

In the 19th century,

the British were gripped by a spirit of adventure,

an urge to explore and to prevail.

And many of those lofty peaks were first conquered

by teams that included British climbers

who devoted their lives to Alpinism.

When I arrive at Zermatt, I shall be close to

the most recognisable and forbidding of the Alps, the deadly Matterhorn.

It's important to remember that,

until the second half of the 19th century,

this majestic mountain wilderness

at the heart of the world's most densely populated continent

remained largely inaccessible.

That began to change with the arrival of the railways.

British mountaineers,

who would have taken 16 days to travel from London

to these dangerous, unclimbed peaks,

could arrive in just three,

and the golden age of mountaineering was born.

The Alpine town of Zermatt, nestling in the Matter Valley,

is the gateway to these magnificent mountains.

Today, it's famous as a ski resort

but at the time of the early mountaineers,

it was a small village of only 400 people.

The Alps really could have been designed to teach man humility.

Surrounded by these mountains you feel small and insignificant.

These peaks created a craze

which led to an influx of intrepid British adventurers.

And in order to carry them closer to the Matterhorn,

the indomitable Swiss railway engineers

built the Gornergrat cog railway.

-Hello, Chris.

-Hello.

-Great to see you.

-Nice to meet you.

I'm Michael.

'I'm meeting Chris, who works for this remarkable railway.'

My Bradshaw's says, "The railway up from Zermatt to Gornergrat

"commands the grandest view obtainable in the Alps

"of the world of ice and snow."

So this railway was already built before 1913?

Yes, it was 15 years before.

This is extraordinary because many of the Alps

were only climbed for the first time in the 19th century,

yet by the end of the 19th century,

the Swiss are able to build railways to the tops of mountains.

Yes. The cog railways were invented in 1860, about.

The first were in America and the Gornergrat Bahn was then 1898.

From the beginning, it was an electric cog wheel

and not with steam, and our grand-grandfathers,

they really were experts and pioneers.

The Gornergrat trains operate on gradients as steep as 20%

using a cog that grips a racked rail running between the tracks.

The traveller in 1913 would have marvelled at the engineering

and been treated on a clear day

to an awe-inspiring view across 29 peaks exceeding 4,000 metres.

Is that the Matterhorn appearing there?

That would be the Matterhorn, yes.

4,478 metres above sea level.

The queen of the mountains.

Although I'm a plucky sort of fellow

in fine physical condition with tremendous stamina,

it's a huge relief that the changeable weather

scuppers any chance of a summit bid.

I'm meeting Benedikt Perren,

who is directly descended from two of the guides

who made the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865.

-Hello, Benedikt.

-Hi, Michael.

-Nice to meet you up here.

-Good to see you and a great place to meet.

Great spot, yes.

Why do you think that the British were such keen mountain climbers

-here in the Alps?

-You know, the British were used to travel

and the British had the money to travel

and they realised that there is a lot of first ascents to do

and they were very keen to reach that goal.

What was so special about the Matterhorn?

You know, the Matterhorn, at that time, it was untouched

and most people in Zermatt thought it's not climbable.

Tell me about the first successful conquest of the Matterhorn.

You know, we had four British climbers,

all four members of British Alpine Club.

This fearless group comprised Edward Whymper,

who, at 25, had already made seven unsuccessful attempts,

Lord Francis Douglas,

the Reverend Charles Hudson,

and the novice of the group, Douglas Hadow.

They were joined by Alpine guides,

Michel Croz, and Benedikt's relatives,

Peter Taugwalder and his son, also called Peter.

They set off at 5.30 on a brilliant and perfectly cloudless morning

and a day later, after an incident-free climb,

they arrived 200 feet below the summit.

Whymper wanted to be the first on the summit.

He and Michel Croz, their French guide,

the two of them did run up to the summit

and the others, they followed, probably 20 minutes later.

Whymper had done what everyone thought was impossible.

He'd conquered the Matterhorn.

Whymper and the two Taugwalders, they stood a bit longer on the summit.

Probably half an hour later,

the three of them did start their way down

and they caught up with the other four very quick.

On the way down, it was Hadow...

..who slipped and started to fall...

..and the rope was not strong enough

and then it...

-How do you say?

-Snapped.

-It snapped, yes.

Four climbers fell down the whole north face.

A momentous tragedy, a terrible loss of life.

Yes, that was a big tragedy.

Out of the party that climbed the mountain,

only Whymper and the two Taugwalders escaped with their lives.

Climbing equipment in the 1860s was rudimentary.

-Is this the sort of boot Hadow had?

-Yes, exactly a boot like that.

The only hold you've got is these nails here

and that was basically the reason why he started to slide, you know.

Really, you think Hadow was killed, and the others too,

because of a defective boot?

Yeah, you know, that was one of the main reasons.

Hadow was basically not a very experienced climber.

On the other hand, he was not very well equipped.

Despite your family's involvement in that tragedy,

you have climbed the Matterhorn. How many times?

Right now, I've been 250 times on the summit.

That's extraordinary. What's it like to be at the top of the Matterhorn?

Great, you know. You are surrounded by

all the big mountains of the Alps

and you have a very good panoramic view

and very emotional moments up there.

Even today's climbers treat the Matterhorn with the utmost respect

because, despite many triumphs, about 500 lives have been lost.

And for Whymper, the tragedy cast a shadow over the rest of his life.

He wrote, "Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength

"are naught without prudence and that a momentary negligence

"may destroy the happiness of a lifetime."

I'm heading to safer ground

and descending more than 2,500 metres to the valley below.

Wherever I go in Switzerland,

I am astonished by the quality of the railway civil engineering.

We are now passing through the Kipfen Gorge.

The Swiss really managed to tame their mountains.

And when you think that so much of this was done

during the 19th century and that many of these lines

have been electrified for more than a century,

it adds to the sense of wonder.

They didn't do this by steam-rolling public opinion.

In this extraordinary democracy,

many of the most important things are settled by referendum.

I'm arriving in the town of Visp

where I'll be able to admire more examples of Swiss railway building.

I'm catching a connection to Martigny,

cultural capital of the French-speaking Canton of Valais.

Bradshaw's tells me that, "Near Martigny

"is the Hospice of the Great St Bernard,

"whose monks assist travellers

"in the dangers from storm and avalanche, aided by their dogs.

"One, called Barry, helped to save 14 persons."

Martigny is at one end of the snowy, perilous,

49-mile Great St Bernard Pass that links Switzerland to Italy.

It's snow-free only for a couple of months in the summer

and has been a treacherous route for travellers throughout history.

Hello.

'I've come to the Barry Foundation to meet Doris Kundig

'and the descendants of St Bernard's famous Alpine mastiffs.'

Doris, what was the origin of the story of the St Bernard dogs?

The story of the St Bernard started at the Great St Bernard Pass

where, in the 12th century, St Bernard founded a hospice.

The canons up there started to have dogs.

They first were used as working dogs and then soon,

they found out about their ability to smell

and to find the orientation.

'The St Bernard's powerful sense of smell and resistance to cold

'meant that over a 150-year period, up to 2,000 people,

'from lost children to Napoleon's soldiers,

'were rescued by the heroic dogs,

'and one in particular excelled.'

Tell me about the original dog called Barry.

Well, this is our national hero, as to say.

He lived between 1800 and 1812

at the hospice and he saved the lives of about 40 people.

-40?

-40, yeah.

So he got very famous because of that

because he seemed to be the one dog

that really had the ability to find people,

to rescue people or just to keep them away from danger.

Although today, St Bernards are no longer used in rescues,

the Foundation is keeping alive the original line,

with its 27 bitches and eight dogs.

And how do you find working with St Bernards?

What's the character of these dogs?

Well, they are very lazy, they are very gentle,

they are stubborn

but they want to have a contact with people.

And to preserve traditions,

the Foundation always trains one dog in avalanche search and rescue.

In the spirit of adventure, I've offered to be the buried victim.

'Although it's spring here in the Alps,

'there is an annual snowfall of ten metres.'

Thank you.

'And temperatures drop to minus 30.'

Whoa! It's deep snow!

-Hello, Daniel.

-Michael.

-You're welcome.

-And who's this?

-Easy.

-Easy?

Easy. A real St Bernard.

'It takes three years to train a dog.

'Here's hoping she's got something of the Barry about her.'

What do I need to do? Just get in there?

-Yes, you go inside.

-Yes.

-Then I give you the toy.

-The toy?

-Yes, the toy, Easy's toy.

-Oh, Easy's toy.

-Yes.

You can also play with it!

One second. So I give you the toy.

Thank you very much indeed.

And I give you a little bit meat

to say thank you to Easy that she will get you out.

You won't forget about me, will you?

-Michael Portillo's the name.

-OK.

Last seen somewhere in the Alps.

'Now, I know this doesn't look very scientific,

'but Easy is only in the first year of her training.'

Vas-y, vas-y, vas-y!

'Time to put that nose to the test.'

Easy! Help!

Easy!

'Hm. Easy has some way to go before she reaches Barry's standard.'

Vas-y, vas-y, vas-y!

'That's the toy, but what about me?'

Peter, can you get me out of here, please?

Ah!

HE LAUGHS

Nowadays, St Bernards don't bring brandy with them.

Mm.

But when you've been in an avalanche for a while,

this is exactly what you need.

After all that excitement,

I'm heading away from the high Alps to the Switzerland of the lakes.

For 1913 travellers coming from industrialised countries,

this pure and invigorating air must have been intoxicating.

For the first part of my journey today,

I'll be travelling along what Bradshaw's calls

"The magnificent Rhone Valley".

That river flows through Switzerland,

entering Lac Leman near Montreux,

exits at Geneva and then abandons Switzerland for France.

Can I help you? Let me pass that up to you.

There we go.

Prochain arret, St Moritz.

Jusqu'a Montreux, s'il vous plait.

-Tres bien. Merci. Bon voyage.

-Merci, monsieur.

Bradshaw's describes scenery of mountain, lake and meadow.

"In summer, the heat is cooled by the lake breezes.

"In winter, the sheltered situation secures a mild climate with clear air.

"Not often are there frost and snow."

And this apparently made the area suitable for the treatment of

"internal and nervous diseases - gout, rheumatism, heart,

"kidney and stomach complaints, but not mental or tuberculosis cases".

I had no idea that a climate could be so picky.

Montreux's dramatic location on the east side of Lake Geneva

helped it in the late 19th century to become a famous holiday resort.

It attracted celebrated residents and visitors

and became a feature of what was known as the Swiss Riviera.

Few of those eminent visitors could predict

that the world order was about to be torn apart

by a Great War and a revolution in Russia.

But in fact, well before that, developments in art -

think of the paintings of Pablo Picasso -

are already shaking the foundations of the pompous old empires.

And in the world of music,

the work of Igor Stravinsky is,

in its way, as revolutionary as anything by Marx or Lenin,

and threatened to bring the house down.

In 1910, Stravinsky was a young, virtually unknown composer,

but his music for the ballet The Firebird

was an overnight sensation.

Impresario Sergei Diaghilev swiftly commissioned him

to write another.

I'm meeting Isabel in Montreux's famous home of music.

Isabel, we are in the beautiful concert hall

named after Igor Stravinsky.

Why did Stravinsky come to Montreux?

Well, he first came here in 1910

because his wife was not very healthy

and the temperature here in Montreux was better for her.

What was it that Stravinsky achieved here in Montreux?

Well, he wrote The Rite Of Spring.

During the summer of 1911,

Stravinsky immersed himself in the piece,

which appeared fundamentally at odds with the rest of the musical world.

He finished it on 4th November, 1912,

and premiered it in Paris in 1913.

The story concerns a prehistoric Russian tribe

that celebrates the arrival of spring with a virgin sacrifice.

Both Stravinsky's score and the choreography were so unexpected

and avant-garde that a riot broke out in the audience.

Some considered it an obscene subversion of all music's norms...

..and condemned Stravinsky as a madman.

HE PLAYS OPENING FROM RITE OF SPRING

-Luca, thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

That opening passage, very, very haunting.

There is a funny story about this beginning.

During a rehearsal,

the bassoon player wanted to make fun of the cor anglais player,

so he started to play the beginning, but Stravinsky heard it and thought,

"Oh, maybe I should have the bassoon play this passage."

And, of course, now it is always played on the bassoon?

Yeah, now it's a very difficult orchestral passage

because it's very high. It's also this will from Stravinsky

to have a music quite extreme and quite breaking the rules.

ORCHESTRA PLAYS

Can you understand why it was so controversial?

Well, it has to do with the harmony, with the dissonance.

But also, it's very violent,

and Stravinsky used a lot of percussionists,

I think four percussionists.

It's really primitive music.

A violent piece and a violent reaction?

Yeah. Yeah, I think the first reactions were quite violent.

Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring is now recognised as an important moment

in the development of music in the 20th century.

Every year, the composer features

in the repertoire of Montreux's Classical Music Festival,

acknowledging his influence.

APPLAUSE

While Montreux attracted composers and musicians,

early 20th-century tourists were drawn to a lakeside medieval castle.

Chateau de Chillon, standing on the south-east end of the lake,

owes its fame not so much to history as to literature.

Bonjour, Monsieur. Bonjour, Mademoiselle.

In the early 19th century,

the Romantic poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley

met up in Geneva. They sailed around the lake and visited the chateau.

As Bradshaw's remarks, the district is well served by steamer.

I'm heading for the castle of Chillon,

which, the guidebook tells me,

"..is supposed to date from the ninth century

"but the existing building is probably of the 13th."

With its turrets and situated down on the water's edge,

it is the sort of ultimate fairy tale castle.

And it's appeared so often in literature

that it is the quintessential Romantic monument.

Although Byron visited in 1816,

almost a century before my guidebook,

his fame was such that everywhere he had gone, crowds followed.

On that trip, the castle inspired Byron to write his famous poem

The Prisoner Of Chillon.

I'm meeting guide Deborah Lockwood

to find out more about this glamorised castle.

Well, I mean, this is just the most romantic castle.

It could pop out of a fairy tale but it must have been built

-with a serious purpose. What was that?

-A very serious purpose.

Actually, it was built to protect the road

that passes right in front of Chillon Castle.

You notice that it's very narrow between the mountain and the lake,

and this road is thousands and thousands of years old.

It was used by the Romans, in fact,

to come north on their way to Germany,

later was used as a commercial road for trade

and also was a pilgrimage route.

And so the castle is not here to defend the lake, but the road?

Oh, yes, absolutely, which is why, when you arrived,

you noticed it looked very much like a fortress with arrow slits,

ramparts and all the rest.

The castle was owned by the powerful and wealthy Savoy family,

rulers and landowners in the area.

Now, this castle has been notorious as being a prison.

-Why so?

-The Savoys were very authoritarian,

there were lots of enemies, there was crime.

And during the Bernese period, which would have been the 16th century,

it was also used as a prison for witches.

Can we go down to the cells, to the dungeons,

and discuss the famous Prisoner of Chillon?

-Of course we can. Please follow me.

-Take me below.

Now, careful with the steps because they're quite slippery.

'The dungeon that Byron made famous was built in 1256

'and the prisoner who inspired his poem was locked up here in 1530.'

Now, who was the Prisoner of Chillon?

Well, his name was Francois Bonivard.

He was the son of a small noble family of Savoy

who lived near Geneva, and he was actually a prior

who lived and worked in a monastery in Geneva itself.

Like many people of the times,

he was in favour of autonomy and freedom from Geneva,

from the authoritarian rule of the Savoy family,

and his main problem was he talked too much.

Bonivard's loose tongue and opposition to the Savoys

caused him to be incarcerated in Chillon for six years.

But can you imagine anything more appalling

than to spend years chained to that ring

and to have all that beauty outside, just beyond your reach?

"In each pillar, there is a ring, And in each ring, there is a chain

"That iron is a cankering thing

"For in these limbs its teeth remain

"With marks that will not wear away

"Till I have done with this new day."

Byron's prisoner eventually regained his freedom in 1536.

Why was Byron captivated by this story of a prisoner of Chillon?

Well, I think that, of course,

he was in favour of anything that was democratic,

a brand-new idea at the time, of course, and anyone who had suffered.

The poem was published in 1816 and earned Byron nearly £2,100 -

a princely sum in those days.

For many 1913 travellers,

seeing Switzerland was a remarkable experience.

They were stimulated by its beauty,

mesmerised, having seen nothing like it.

And like them, I'm now experiencing the excitement of the unexpected...

..a vineyard called Chemin de Fer which is French for railway.

It's owned by wine grower Luc Massy.

I find you in a dry corner.

-Yes.

-I was very excited when I heard about

a vineyard that was called Chemin de Fer

but I did not expect something so narrow.

How can you possibly produce wine from such a narrow strip?

Anyway, this region in Dezaley, everything is narrow.

We get walls, we get terraces, but every terrace is very, very narrow.

And we do cultivate everything by hand.

-And it stretches all along the line, does it?

-Yes, it's going far away,

all along the side of the track is Dezaley Chemin de Fer.

I don't have to ask you why it's called Chemin de Fer

but when was it first called Chemin de Fer?

The first call is something like 100 years ago

because after they built the railway from Lausanne to Milano in 1860s,

I think it was more or less 15 years after, we get the vineyards,

and it was named Clos du Chemin de Fer.

And the railway must've taken the land away from the vineyards?

Yes, exactly. But all the big wall that you can see here

is very good for the vineyards

because we say we have first the sun,

the second sun is a reflection from the lake,

and the third sun is the heat from the wall.

Well, I've never seen anything like it in my life.

The vineyard has been in Luc's family for over 100 years.

His grandfather bought it in 1915 and now they are the only family

authorised to produce Dezaley Chemin de Fer.

The Chemin de Fer is made with grape Chasselas

and the Chasselas is native from this region.

But you will taste it.

It's a great, very delicate wine.

-Very good.

-Are you happy with that?

Yeah.

2014, this wine is getting ripe now because if you drink it too early,

all the conditions are not good.

I'm enjoying it very much indeed.

I like to think that, in the early days of the railways,

when there were steam trains, some of the smut, some of the ashes,

might have fallen from the trains onto your terroir, onto your land,

and that might be tasted in the wine.

And if you don't mind me being irreverent,

I shall always remember this as Chateaux Choo-choo!

Chateaux Choo-choo, yeah.

'While I could happily linger on Switzerland's Riviera,

'Bradshaw's has more excitement in store.'

What a beautiful train.

It takes you back to a golden age.

'Each of its recommended itineraries offers a new adventure.'

As I approach my halfway point,

I'll visit the capital city,

artisan country

and the international city of Geneva.

Not only do the Swiss build great railways,

they market them brilliantly, too -

put glass panels in the roof,

give your trains names like Jungfraujoch,

Glacier Express or Golden Past,

and people will flock from all over the world,

possibly for the rail ride of their lifetime.

'I'm changing trains at Montbovon

'on the River Sarine in the Gruyere district.

'If you lived through the 1970s,

'you may recall that Swiss fondue was all the rage

'and, as a teenager, I had to have my own fondue set.

'So, with a real sense of bell-bottomed nostalgia,

'I joined the Train du Fromage

'to meet food historian Dominic Flammer.'

-Dominic, what do we have in here?

-We have the wine inside.

We have first to heat the wine a little bit

so that the cheese will melt better.

It's called the caquelon, this thing,

a rechaud and a caquelon in French.

There isn't an English name for that, I imagine.

We are drinking a Chasselas,

because this is a wine with a high acidity

and this will help us to digest the whole cheese we will eat.

I like a food that requires you to drink wine.

So do I.

A-ha! Open my cheese.

'Aboard the moving train,

'the Gruyere and Vacherin come pre-packaged.'

A lovely smell is arising from it now, Dominic.

-Indeed.

-It's a lovely consistency now.

'Originally, in its simplest form,

'bread, wine and cheese was a winter food for farmers

'high up in the Alps.

'But on this fondue express, it comes with one or two extras.'

-Do you want a little bit?

-Yes, please.

-With pleasure.

So this is like a cherry spirit, a kirsch?

It is a cherry spirit.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

Ooh!

Smell it. Bon appetit, monsieur.

Merci bien. You should not lose the piece of bread.

-No.

-You know what happens?

-I've no idea.

-You have to offer me a glass of cherry,

and you have to drink one, too.

Wow, that's good, Dominic.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-You have finished your fondue.

-Yes, already.

Spectacular! Do you like to make a fondue?

Yes, I do, but we have to be very careful with the cheese,

because, when it's too young, when you are preparing it,

there becomes a little bit of oil on the top of the fondue,

and that's very bad.

-That's very bad?

-Yes, and it's not very good to eat also.

So, if I were to cook a fondue...

-Yes?

-..and if it turned out badly, I should blame the cheese?

Yes, of course!

-You're right.

-That's great.

SHE LAUGHS

Of course!

'I can stick around no longer amongst all this Alpine cheesiness.

'The Swiss capital summons me.'

My next stop will be Bern.

Bradshaw's says that it's often mentioned

as the most picturesque town in Europe,

with wonderfully preserved medieval towers and fountains.

It's the seat of the Swiss Government.

Now, there's a couple of surprises.

I would never have included Bern on my tourist trail

and I don't suppose that many people could name it confidently

as the capital of this highly democratic country.

'Back in 1912, Switzerland's famed neutrality was tested.

'The German Kaiser paid a visit, hoping that, if war came,

'Switzerland would cover Germany's southern flank against France.

'But despite a population whose majority was German-speaking,

'the Swiss resolutely refused to take sides.

'As the day draws to a close,

'I'm looking forward to exploring Bern in the morning.'

This ancient city, overlooking a loop of the Aare River,

is just over a mile wide.

Bears feature on the coat of arms.

Legend has it that in 1191,

Count Berthold V named the capital after killing a bear here.

Amazingly, there is a bear pit today in the heart of Bern,

providing a home to these now much-loved animals.

Switzerland is a federation of 26 little states,

and its Parliament is behind me.

It also has a Federal Council, a seven-man joint presidency,

which has never been replaced at one fell swoop

since it was founded in 1848.

Even the legislation of Parliament

can be vetoed by public referendums.

So, the Swiss democracy relies on public consultation,

consensus and continuity.

They've done pretty well out of it.

Whilst I admire that balance and even-handedness,

I wish to explore the Swiss sense of adventure.

I'm following in the slipstream

of one of Bern's greatest aviation heroes.

Oskar Bider was a 22-year-old maverick pilot determined to become

the first person to fly across the Alps in 1913.

-Hello, Daniel.

-Hi, Michael.

-Good to see you.

'To relive that epic flight,

'I'm being taken aloft in a 1937 biplane

'by pilot Daniel Ogg.'

Now we make you look like a driver.

'Thankfully, Daniel is experienced.

'Bider obtained his pilot's licence after just a month.'

OK, Daniel. Let's go flying.

Yes, let's do it.

Even in a plane more modern than Bider's,

it all feels frighteningly flimsy.

OK, Michael, are you ready?

I'm ready.

OK. Up we go.

I must have crossed the Alps dozens of times,

but only when you go up in a small plane like this, a little biplane,

feels so flimsy and so tiny,

do you realise what a formidable obstacle

the Alps would have been

a century ago.

You had to be a very brave man to fly across them.

Following an unsuccessful attempt,

Bider set off again on the 13th of July 1913,

only a decade after the first plane ever

had been flown by the Wright brothers.

Flying in this wonderful biplane,

the Alps today are crystal clear and snowy covered.

He piloted his monoplane, rising to 11,800 feet,

across this mighty range,

setting a new altitude record

before landing safely in Milan.

Switzerland's Alps had been conquered from the air

in Bider's greatest triumph.

Just behind me is the Jungfraujoch,

the shoulder of mountain over which Oskar Bider flew.

Taking to the air helps me to appreciate

what this daring young man achieved,

and I salute his courage.

By 1913, the growing railway network

had made Switzerland a European transport hub,

as every year thousands of travellers

passed between southern and northern Europe.

They were tempted by the dizzying choice of routes

and lyrical descriptions in my Bradshaw's Guide.

My next stop will be Biel,

which Bradshaw's tells me is, "a busy place

"near the northern end of the Bielersee,

"a seat of the watchmaking trade."

It's time to see what makes Switzerland tick.

Biel in German, or Bienne in French -

the city straddles the two linguistic areas -

dates back to Celtic and Roman times.

At the time of my Bradshaw's,

it had become a watch-manufacturing centre

at the heart of a revolution in railway timekeeping.

Key innovator in this field was watchmaking company Omega.

Hello, Petros.

Watch historian Petros Protopapas has offered to guide me

through this delicate craft.

Was there a reason why there were lots of Swiss people

who were so capable of doing this precision work?

They practically had to do it.

They had to learn it, they had to live by it,

because in the winter time,

a lot of Swiss people couldn't work the land,

so they had to learn a new trade,

like the trade to work machines,

the trade to create new pieces, to produce dials, to produce hands.

So it was a life-saving exercise.

In 1910, Omega developed the chronograph,

which included a stopwatch,

and it became a vital tool for the artillery

during the First World War.

It may be obvious to you,

but why is an accurate watch so useful to the military?

It was a question of survival.

You imagine yourself being on a trench -

you would need to know how far away you are from your enemy.

So the only way you can do this is if you have a chronograph

that has a so-called telemeter scale on it.

So imagine, you look on the horizon,

and you could make out the lighting, the flash of the gun being fired.

You would start instantly the chronograph at the flash you see.

And then when you hear the corresponding sound,

the bang of that very gun,

you would stop the chronograph,

and off the tip of the stopped seconds hand,

you can literally read the distance.

The newly developed watch on the wrist

was much easier to access than fiddling around for a fob.

I've been given very rare access to go behind the scenes.

-Hello, David.

-Hello, Michael. How are you?

-Very well.

-So many doors to come through.

-Yes.

It's like a high security place.

So, please, remove your shoes.

-Next...

-Hairnet.

-Hairnet, yes.

It may look as though I'm ready to go into space,

but the deadly enemy of precision is dust.

What do you think?

Absolutely...absolutely extraordinary.

An enormous room. Obviously, beautifully clean,

-but also almost entirely quiet.

-Yes.

Watchmaking, you know, we must be some kind of calm, you know?

Must be quiet.

Here, we only deal with the assembly of mechanical movements.

This tradition of hand-built watches dates back to 1848,

when Omega's 23-year-old founder Louis Brandt

began assembling watches from parts produced by local craftsmen.

We still need people,

we still rely on the judgment of the eye of the people.

We just leave, I would say, all the boring things to the automation,

and all the tricky things, all the assembly,

must be done by people.

David wants me to assemble the movement

used inside some of the company's most precise watches.

This one has 201 parts.

It's just like a Lego.

Remember that thing. It's an easy thing, watchmaking.

We have a main plate, we just add some wheels, we put a bridge on top,

screw them down, and it's finished.

Quite an easy thing.

But the problem is, they're rather tiny, these pieces.

Mm... We'll look at it.

You take the right one.

The right, the left one on the left.

Then...on top, you have to put the ratchet.

It's quite an easy thing.

'David is the quality control manager,

'so nothing escapes his eye.'

OK. Let me give that a go.

No. That one first.

This one first, for some reason.

-On the right.

-On the right. That's easy enough.

-The left.

-This one from the left.

-You're good.

-On the left.

-Now, this is more difficult.

-Yeah.

-Tricky little fellows.

Now, this has a square hole.

-It's in.

-I believe, er...yes.

-It's in.

The materials have changed across more than 100 years,

but the artisan skills have remained largely the same.

Just in between, on the jewel. It's OK.

-Is that OK?

-Yes, excellent. Good work.

Excellent!

If that wasn't fiddly enough,

David is going to show me how to add five tiny drops of oil.

That is the tricky part, but it's also the fun part of the operation.

OK. We'll give this...

-I don't have very good eyesight, you know.

-Let me show you.

-Each time you press the pedal...

-Yes.

-See?

-Ooh!

-..you get some grease.

Three...

..four...

..five.

-What do you think, David?

-Let me have a look.

OK.

-You know what?

-Yes?

-It's a terrible mess, you know?

There is way too much oil,

and you've put a lot of oil on top of the wheel.

-Yeah, I missed...

-Yes, you missed.

-But you're not a watchmaker.

-I'm not a watchmaker.

I congratulate the people in this room.

-That is so intricate.

-Yeah.

Ah, the Swiss didn't become famous for their watches for nothing!

Suitably humbled, I'm heading back to the station,

and south once more to Lake Geneva.

-Bonjour, Monsieur. Ca va?

-Ca va.

-Merci, Monsieur.

-Merci.

In 1913, this journey would have taken over three hours by train,

but by Swiss InterCity today,

I'll arrive in just over an hour and a half.

I've followed my guidebook pace by pace.

"From the railway station,

"the broad rue descends to the Pont du Mont Blanc,

"across the end of the lake.

"The views from the bridge and from the neighbouring quays

"are very beautiful, especially on clear summer evenings."

I'm up early to explore my final destination, Geneva.

At the time of my Bradshaw's,

this small but already prosperous city,

beneath its emblem, the Jet d'Eau,

would have been buzzing and cosmopolitan.

But what truly marks this city out as world-class

is its involvement in international affairs.

The League of Nations was headquartered here,

where the first Geneva Conventions had been signed in 1864,

and it was the birthplace of

the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Just up the road from its imposing headquarters,

I'm extremely lucky to be getting access

to a Red Cross checkpoint exercise,

run by trainer Benjamin Varen.

What is the object of the exercise?

The object of this exercise is to prepare our new colleagues,

who've recently joined the ICRC,

to go to the field and to know a little bit what they could expect

when there's been an outbreak of fighting,

people have been displaced, people have been injured.

-This will help to ease the pain.

-OK.

In real life, you must have found yourself at military checkpoints

like the one you're simulating today.

Yes. I think the one that marked me the most was when I was

at a checkpoint and the soldiers there seemed intoxicated,

and it was a very, very tense situation,

because I had trouble connecting to them.

The first thing you need to do at a checkpoint is try to connect with

the people, and if you can't do that, it can go wrong

and it can be quite scary as well.

The shock of seeing 40,000 casualties

at the Battle of Solferino spurred Geneva businessmen Henri Dunant

to found the Red Cross.

Originally, it had a paid staff of only eight,

but that quickly grew after the First World War.

Today, it has over 14,000.

I've clearly stumbled upon a checkpoint.

The road is barred with a tree trunk,

and there are four or five heavily armed guys here,

who all look pretty menacing to me.

Not the sort of people you want to mess with.

Today, Dunant's abiding principles -

to provide a permanent relief agency for humanitarian aid in wartime -

are followed often in the face of great danger.

OK. Get out. Everybody out of the car.

Red Cross staff are now deployed in 80 countries,

and for these trainees, learning how to negotiate is key.

OK, on the line. Here.

Everyone.

I want to know what you are doing on this road.

We are heading to the hospital.

Here I have the notification that we received the agreement

with your government.

Give me your passports.

What are you exactly going to do in this hospital?

Um, our aim is completely humanitarian.

We are helping the victims of violence and armed conflict.

Tragically, attacks on the Red Cross have become more frequent,

and workers have often been targeted.

Excuse me, sir.

I think the best for the wounded person would be

if we would transport her to the hospital.

If that is OK with you.

-You can take her with you?

-Yes, we can.

-You have a stretcher or anything?

-Yes.

OK, you can already put her on the stretcher.

Can William come and help?

The team from the International Committee of the Red Cross

are being given a very hard time by the soldiers.

In my judgment, they're giving the answers right,

but they're being taken further and further in the interrogation,

and it must really be pretty shaking to go through this.

Is it OK for you if my colleague just check very fast

if you don't have any weapons, because it's about our security.

Come on, get it done. She's injured.

It seems that the situation is really deteriorating.

They've been here an awfully long time now.

Tempers are getting a little bit frayed.

Voices are now being raised. It's not going so well.

Give back the passports.

Thank you very much.

The Red Cross worker...

Check they're all there.

..is armed only with one of the most recognisable symbols in the world -

the Red Cross on a white background,

the reverse of the Swiss flag.

Do you have any safety and security information for us?

-What we have to do?

-There's been shooting this morning in this area.

That's all I can tell you. Now, if you want to risk your life and

go this way, with the clearance you have received and the explanation

you have given me, OK, you can proceed.

It's at your own risk.

One, two, three.

Don't worry, don't worry. Stay calm.

It seems this group has successfully negotiated its way through.

GUNFIRE

Get down! Get down!

Move! Move down.

Move, move, move! Come on!

Move down!

Go to the car and move.

Now!

A most extraordinary turn of events.

Just as they'd negotiated their way through, we came under fire.

Explosions all around.

The soldiers have put them in the car.

A dramatic conclusion to events.

Seeing the Red Cross in action makes me realise what an impact

the qualities of this small nation have had.

A country dominated by mountains and, in winter, by snow,

has nonetheless possibly the world's most efficient railway system.

That suggests that the Swiss people are ingenious and exceptional.

They sell watches and banking services to the world,

and host several international organisations.

And yet, over the centuries, they've held themselves apart,

remaining neutral during two World Wars,

and staying out of Nato and the European Union.

Unlike most European countries,

neither their people nor their beautiful cities

have been devastated during the 20th century.

They have thrived on a fondue of prosperity and peace.

Next time, I leave Europe to take in the sights,

sounds and tastes of North Africa.

So many flavours. They explode on the tongue.

Learn how the Sultan of Morocco handed his country to the French.

France had promised him many things which never happened.

They would rule over Morocco as they wished.

And marvel at a modern masterpiece.

This is not only a building of worship,

but a celebration of what the Moroccan people can achieve.