SWEET SWISS SOJOURN

There is an undeniable charm that the Alps hold. Even skiing down its slopes has its own adrenalinefuelled appeal. But one can forego the adventure to indulge in what Switzerland has to offer

- Angelo Comsti

Our party of four was strapped in our pimped up tuk tuk, driving around the Geneva countryside, having just come from a 10am wine tasting at Domaine Château du Crest, when our driver started blasting kompa music, dance tunes marked with electric guitars and brass instruments. It was a giveaway. Our driver David must be Haitian, I thought. Apparently not.

Mr L'utile is actually from Mauritius, he confessed, during our quick stopover at Byron Bay. The 40-yearold gentleman moved to Geneva after the pandemic. Having worked for Club Med, a French tourism operator, that had him placed in Phuket, Bali, Japan and the Maldives prior to the global health crisis, David and his Swiss wife decided to stay in Geneva, the latter's birthplace. And he couldn't be any happier with that decision.

GOLDEN TICKET

Geneva certainly has the makings of a highly liveable and desirable city-and David, with the town's close to 200,000 residents, can attest to this. Apart from being surrounded by the Alps and Jura mountains, it houses international organisations such as the United Nations and the Red Cross as well as financial institutions, making it a centre for diplomacy and banking.

The city has also garnered a solid reputation for luxury watches, which ironically finds its origins in the austerity measures of the Protestant Reformation. It was around 1541 when the Huguenots, who moved to Geneva to escape oppression from the French Catholics, teamed up with the Swiss goldsmiths, then unemployed because of the banning of wearing opulent items such as jewellery, to lay the groundwork for Geneva to become a promising watchmaking metropolis. Over time, it married traditional and advanced technologies, which inevitably led to its vogue and popularity. It continues today with the industry driven by key brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe.