We have to descend from the Minster hill but it takes a bit to find the right stairs especially as it looks as they will end in a construction zone. However you can continue past it and descend into the central square anchored by the Town Hall and hosting multiple stalls selling food, drinks and souvenirs.
Besides the bright red town hall the other buildings, while interesting look a bit drab. The contrast is quite poignant and likely is intended in our opinion.
It is time to enter the Town Hall, only the interior courtyard is open to visitors. It is quite beautiful with frescoes on the walls and lots of other details to examine.
We especially like the spooky fountain, so named by us due to the face of the person spouting the water. He really really doesn’t look like he likes it.
Exiting the Town Hall we are quite hungry so we try to find something to eat at the stands outside. Between all the overpriced offerings there is one that is reasonable enough and also promises some local specialities. The food is good and the view of the Rathaus makes it even more worth it.
Now it is time to climb again this time towards the Spalentor from where we are going to turn around towards the hotel to pick our luggage. As we catch our breath we notice one of the buildings is the Pharmacy museum, no time today but would have been interesting likely.
We exit near St Peter church which is not open for visit so we continue along the alleys and lanes towards the tower always following our GPS which as usual is quite useful.
The Spalentor was one of the entry gates into the city and is quite colorful so it was worth the detour. From here we start on our way back towards the train station on well maintaned roads, many of them almost pedestrianized.
As we approach the Leonhard Church the lanes become more narrower and there are many side streets that we could explore, however there is not enough time left as we have to pick up our car at a specific time.
Many houses are relatively similar but there is always at least one special one, many of them are painted and other have some interesting detail or just look pleasingly architecturally.
The last major stop is the Leonhard Church which sits at the edge of the hill, from here we would have to descend. We expect it to be closed but it is open and we can enter it so why not? It has again that vaulted look with red arches supporting the white ceiling. Given the lack of decorations we assume it is Protestant and given the structure we assume it has been Catholic, Wikipedia later confirms our assumptions as well that the majority of icons, altars and other religious paraphernalia were destroyed in 1529 during the Reformation.
The crypt itself is empty and after exploring the church a bit more it is time to move on.
Before descending the hill we enjoy the view from the viewpoint over the old time and then down we go. The stairs descend directly into Barfüsser square from where we know the way back to the hotel.
Returning we take a slightly different route on a parallel road to the one we originally used. This way we can see another part of Basel and even walk through the park that we saw from our hotel window. At the hotel we pick up our luggage and then we can use the bus to get back to the airport from where we pick up our car. The airport itself is in France but if you rent a car on the Switzerland side you can use a corridor that takes you directly into Basel and Switzerland avoiding to cross any borders, fun! And now we are on our way to Zug and our friends, but we have one more stop planned on the way at Augusta Raurica, an old Roman city.
