Reigoldswil, near Basel and Heidi, Johanna Spyri 1880-1881

Ok, it’s a children’s book, we know the story from the film, and the setting is Dorfli and Frankfurt, not Basel, but I thought for a stay in Switzerland it was worth a quick read.

I arrived in to Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg early evening and took the train to the SBB train station.  Basle, as spelt in Heidi, is mentioned twice in this famous children’s book:  once in Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning; and once in Heidi Makes Use of What She has Learned. Both times it’s referred to, much like now, as a place of interchange when travelling between Switzerland and France, or Germany and Switzerland.

An image on the Schweizerhof Hotel’s website gives you an insight in to the Centralbahnplatz in 1880.  It depicts families and couples leisurely walking around or riding in carriages between the hotel and station, all well-dressed with women and children in long dresses and men wearing top hats.  Electric trams are missing from the scene, the first line not opening until 1885, six years before Spyri’s death in 1901.

You can get an idea of how the former station, pre 1902, looked when Spyri was writing thanks to a dedicated, precise model maker called Dominic in this link: My system » Centralbahnhof Basel 1860 – 1902

The new build I arrive at, is viewed with pride by the people of Basel.  It still has an extraordinary long facade, and two adjacent towers with clocks, but the five open pillar arches have gone. It’s stand out point now is the large Tudor style, curved glass above the main entrance.

Not sure of the way to my hostel, I kept crossing tram lines unsure of which way to look, and being cautious not to have an accident immediately after arrival.  Others walked over them with little attention, just as I do when crossing the Strand with multiple buses driving up and down in either direction.  My phone without charge, and  no umbrella to keep the rain off, I asked directions from a taxi man standing with other drivers waiting for custom.  He told me that I meant HE-ve not HI-ve, and I needed to be on the other side of the station. I stood corrected; very pleased now that I had at least learned from my nephew that it is BAR-zl not BA-zl.

After going over the ‘passerelle,’it was a short, easy, straight walk just as advertised.

Cube stairs, the type of structure Alm Uncle would have created, made embarking my capsule easier than straight up ladder rungs.  The bed was large with everything I needed: charging points, light, thick mattress, shelf and hanging pegs.  I settled down and read Heidi Part One with an aquatic scene above, an alpine one would have been better but I wasn’t complaining.

Two German girls joined me for breakfast. A kind act as there were empty tables available. They were here for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 which the city was hosting in a big way.  When I asked them who was performing for Germany they didn’t know.  They had obviously come for the party atmosphere.


I wasn’t here to party.  A colleague told me that Swiss air is so clean you can taste it, so for my first excursion I was off to the mountains to treat my senses.  Reigoldswil being the nearest place for this, I headed back to the station and caught a train to Liestal within the Jura mountains. These are known as ‘the croissant’ due to the shape they form along the French Swiss border.  Liestal and Reigoldswil are at the top of the croissant; the part you would eat first.

I have only read a synopsis, including quotes, of Spyri’s first publication: A Leaf on Vrony’s Grave .  Secondhand copies are available but expensive.  I have no doubt though that it is very different to Heidi as evident in Vrony’s longing for what is behind the Jura mountains.

‘I think there lies a a large, warm land back there where the sun always shines and there are beautiful gardens with red flowers  and golden-yellow apples.  I read that once.  There are no small houses there like ours, and no dark rooms where you have to sit at the spinning wheel. Oh, I wish I could fly over there right now, over the shining snow mountains, and I’ll never fly back!’

Spyri (1871, as cited in Hale 2021)

Although Vrony’s dream of escaping her home as opposed to Heidi’s homesickness probably relates more to her being a victim of domestic abuse than a hatred of the alps, it shows an understanding of there being unhappiness in places we consider perfect.

Just leaving Liestal to Reigoldswil on the bus I saw what I at first thought, and I was some distance away, was a toy kite, gliding perfectly and very colourful.  On getting nearer I perceived it as real, and maybe a red kite. I am not sure.  I was just chuffed to see something resembling Heidi’s great circling bird that she wishes to get as high as, and it calling to her ‘come, come, come.’

Being more like Sebastian than Heidi; not keen on walking steep inclines, and scared of falling down a crevice especially when walking alone, I was pleased that there is the Reigoldswil cable car. It would allow me to be above the valley without the climb.

There is a 15 minute walk up to it but this is easy, and you are guided gently to the top by a stream running from the mountains to the town below. On the way, colourful ribbons were tied to spruce and maple trees in people’s gardens: not something Heidi would have admired with her dislike of elaborate, confining dress although I can picture Shirley Temple adorned in them. They are a fitting tree decoration here, as the area is known historically for ribbon making.

The man at the mountain kiosk is like Alm Uncle.  I stood for a minute at the counter without him noticing me.  Once he did he was apologetic and friendly: joking that he might not be able to work out how to apply my Basel Card discount. I warmed to him straight away.

Up I went above the hundreds of trees: old, tall firs interspersed with ash, and beech that will give the mountains a show of vibrant red and orange in the autumn.  Having found trees enchanting all my life, especially as a child when I believed fairies lived in them, this was a treat.  Many selfies were taken on the way to the top.

The below expressed by Clara, is like we saw our old, protected family garden oak, albeit not looking for years over a valley but witnessing growing suburbia for more than 100 years.

’She hardly knew what to admire most in these ancient trees: the lofty tops rising in their full green splendour above the sky,  or their pillar-like stems, with their straight and gigantic boughs, that spoke of antiquity of age, of such long years which they had looked down on the valley below, where men came and went, and things were continually changing, while they stood undisturbed and changeless.’ (Spyri, 2007)

As I am a Sebastian, I only strolled at the top.  I enjoyed the mountain buttercups and other flowers, while unlike Heidi I didn’t pick any for them to spoil, I was tempted to lay down in the field of yellow and roll about.

Whilst wandering, enjoying blossoming fruit trees and an old vine, both the fresh air and distant cow bells threw me into a zen-like state. I had feared that cow bells, which my mum had mentioned when talking about her visit to Mont Blanc, would not be present in modern day Switzerland.  Overjoyed by hearing their relaxing sound in the Jura mountains, I called my mum exclaiming, ‘It’s beautiful and, they still have cow bells.’

I went for my refreshment at the cafe that is aptly named Heidi Stubli. To keep in line with the book I should have had cooked cheese but would have had to have been there in winter for the cafe’s fondue hut.  However, it seems that raclette is on the menu all year round at Berggasthaus Hintere Wasserfallen which is just a short walk away.  I just had coffee looking out on the forest and watching school groups in the High Wire Park.

By now I had realised that there are many religious references within Spyri’s literature, some of which I wouldn’t value, such as, the need to go to church and definitely not the redemptive suffering featured in A Leaf on Vrony’s Grave.  I don’t think we can truly know what Spyri’s religious beliefs were, and if they were the same as in her books.  I struggle to know my own beliefs from day to day, so I definitely wouldn’t like to make any guess as to someone else’s. What I do feel, as I think Spyri did, is that nature helps you to reflect.

What is great about Heidi is Spyri’s insight in to the minds of children, and the adult characters she created that helped Heidi, Clara and Peter.  Grandmama from Frankfurt deals so perfectly with Peter’s wrong doing that he has kept secret.  I would have liked to have had her around when I was a child and knocked the clock off the mantlepiece. No doubt we all have experiences of doing something bad as a child and struggling to confess.

It is good to know too that not all people viewed children in the Victorian era as mini adults who should be seen and not heard.

I would recommend reading Heidi if you travel anywhere in Switzerland, and as a must for children, but once you have introduced young ones to it, beware, they may wish to see some goats, which Reigoldswil is missing.  Fear not, the following places around the Jurapark Aargau have goats and are accessible by public transport:

Needing to collect my luggage from Hyve, Basel  and then get to my next hostel in Lorrach, I travelled back down.  This time enjoying the moment and not taking selfies.

At the bottom I met my Alm uncle again.  I said, ‘It’s beautiful up there.’ He replied in a meaningful and nostalgic tone, ‘I know!’

Spyri, Johanna. Ein Blatt Auf Vrony’s Grab (Bremen: C. Hilgerloh, 1871: 5-6) Quoted in Hale, Frederick (2021) “From Redemptive Suffering to Redemptive Reconciliation in the Authorship of Johanna Spyri,” Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 57 : No. 2 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol57/iss2/6

Spyri, Johanna. Heidi. The Project Gutenberg (ebook 20781), 2007, most recently updated 2021.  First published 1919 by Philadelphia and London J.B Lippincott Company.  Available at: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/20781/pg20781-images.html

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