When you arrive in Switzerland from Spain, one of the first things that strikes you is that there is no sea. In Spain, summer and the sea are practically the same word. Here, the sea is far away. And yet, in July, people go to the lake as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Switzerland has more than 1,500 lakes. The big ones, such as the Léman, the Zürichsee, the Bodensee or Lake Maggiore, have kilometers of shore with public bathing areas. Many are free or cost two francs. There are showers, changing rooms, lawn areas and trampolines. The Swiss arrive with their towel, their picnic bag and their bikes, spend the whole Sunday, and leave without a trace of garbage. If you come from Spain and are waiting for a beach bar and paella, you're going to take a while.
The water is clean. Sometimes too cold for Mediterranean taste, at least until mid-July. But transparent like few other things in this world. And in August, when the Zürichsee or the Léman reaches 22 or 24 degrees, the sensation of entering from a wooden pier has something that is not well explained but that works.
Many people who have been here for years say that at first the lake seemed like a substitute. That I missed the sea. And that at some point he realized that on Sunday at the lake, with a folding chair and something to eat, he wouldn't change it for anything. It's not the same. But it's also not as different as it seemed at first.