Basel is a city in Switzerland and is located along the Rhine river in north west Switzerland, at the Swiss-German border. Because of the location of Switzerland such that its locked in between France, Germany, Austria and Italy, there are different language speaking regions in Switzerland. Generally the cantons which are nearer to France, ie the West part of Switzerland tends to speak French while the Northern part of Switzerland which is closer to Germany speaks German, and the southern part, Italian. However, there's a difference between spoken Swiss German and standard German in a sense that its harder for us who learn standard German to comprehend Swiss German, although we write the same way.
Basel is hence a German speaking region. But you do actually find some traces of French influences, like cafes and chocolate shops. It is at the same time, one of the most underrated tourist destinations in Switzerland, for there's nothing much to see and what there is to see can be completed in a few hours.
Despite this I thought that it was still worth to drop by Basel since I would have been already in the southern part of Germany for the next few days.
River Rhine
The courtyard of the Münster - it is the season where all the flowers would bloom, and what makes it beautiful is that they just seem to grow wildly in the courtyard. At the same time, behind the Münster, there is a backyard garden that faces the Rhine river, and many people actally hung out there to relax or have a mini picnic.
Outside the Münster. As usual, its impossible to capture the whole picture of the Münster. Notice the Sundial clocks above my head. There're two acutally, one at the other corner. And both are still in use supposedly.
On one of the cobbled streets near the Münsterplatz
What I found to be interesting in the design of the old buildings here is that they have very beautiful roofs, designed in such a way that it looks like pecock feathers. Also, there are a few buildings here which were painted dark maroon, (the Rathaus being the epitome of it all) which actually stands out admist the other old buildings beside it.
Fountain near Markplatz
I realised that there seem to be quite a lot of old fountains scattered around the Altstadt of Basel, and people were drinking from it.
Spalentor - The Gate of Spalen
Like most ancient cities, Basel also had a city wall. But most of it is largely gone today. However, the Spalentor, a former city gate, still stands today. It was built around the 14th century and is probably one of the most precious landmark of Basel.
One of the alleys in the Altstadt where all the old houses were still preserved. It seems that despite its vicinity near the German border, the houses here do not have the typical Fachwerkhäuser design. Rather with the window panes, they tend to resememble those that I saw in Strasbourg about a month ago.
Another fountain, this time in the backdrop of a castle. I cannot remember what the name is or its significance.
One of the many shopping streets of Basel. Like in Strasbourg, I also realised that there's this cloth like thing that's hung across the streets, and I really wondered what it is. It doesn't seem to be an avenue for advertisement to me nor is it a protection for rain. Perhaps I will see more of such traits when I venture more into French cities. 
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