Schipfe is the small huddle of medieval houses tucked along the left bank of the Limmat below the Lindenhof hill — a single curving lane and a few wider stretches of riverside paving. It is the oldest continuously inhabited part of the city, settled even before the Roman customs post on the Lindenhof above. For centuries the area held the silk weavers and dyers; the river current under the houses powered their workshops.
The lane is short — a fifteen-minute stroll covers it — but full of small studios, artisan jewellers, fabric shops, and the riverside Wirtschaft Schipfe 16, a workshop-restaurant that retrains long-term unemployed people. From the bend in the river you get one of the best views in the city, looking across at the Wasserkirche and the Grossmünster's twin towers.