

To see more of my photos of Switzerland, visit this page.
View Photos
Switzerland is also known as Confoederatio Helvetica – which explains the abbreviation CH. Modern Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the federal city.
Switzerland is not governed by one head of state – instead it has a seven-member executive council that serves as the Swiss collective head of state. A president is elected for one-year in office.
Switzerland has four national languages although English is increasingly popular – the four official languages are French, German, Italian and Rhaeto-Romantsch (with Latin roots),
There are 208 mountains over 3,000m high – with 24 of them over 4,000m. The highest is Monte Rosa (Dufoursptiz) at 4,634m, situated on the Swiss/Italian border.
Switzerland’s Gotthard Tunnel is the longest in the world – measuring 57km in length.
There are enough nuclear fallout shelters to accommodate its entire human population, due to laws that require everybody to have access to a shelter in their building or nearby.
The Swiss invented Velcro, cellophane, the Swiss Army Knife, absinthe, the potato peeler, Helvetica font, LSD, muesli, edible chocolate gold and milk chocolate. The Swiss eat more chocolate than any other nation in the world.
Switzerland is one of the only two countries to have a square flag – the Vatican has the only other square flag in the world. The Swiss flag is a red square with a white cross in the centre.
To see more of my photos of Switzerland, visit this page.
View Photos