.jpg)
By the time we finished hiking around Mount Pilatus it was well into mid day so we quickly headed over to our hotel in Lurcerne. After struggling to find parking we got ourselves settled and headed into town to view Chapel Bridge and the many uniquely painted buildings located in the old part of town.
.jpg)
After stopping for an ice cream we started our tour of the city by exploring the old town wall fortification. The towers along the structure are open to the public and we climbed a few of them despite the massive heat wave that we were experiencing.
.jpg)
From their we got some pretty nice views of the city below.
.jpg)
Next we walked the promenade along the river. The old town was pretty small and the perimeter didn't take a lot of time to explore really.
.jpg)
Just a little ways in this direction was a strip of restaurants and cafes. We stopped here for an afternoon drink and witnessed a wedding procession taking place. Interestingly, all of the men in the wedding party were dressed like old fashioned golfers with plaid hats and knee high socks. They held up golf clubs in a makeshift archway as the bride and groom walked under them on their way to their seats inside the restaurant. I'm not sure if that is a Swiss tradition or if the couple are just very enthusiastic about golf?
.jpg)
After a brief pause for refreshments we headed into the center of the old town itself where we spotted some interesting building murals.
Building Murals
.jpg)
The murals of Lucerne are ornate and pretty spectacular in some cases. Many appear to tell a story of the city, like the one above. It was created in 1985 by a local Lucernian by the name of Robert Ottiger. It is a brightly colored representation of the carnival festival and depicts several masked figures that you might see walking in the annual parade.
.jpg)
The next mural (above) is a family tree of sorts, I believe for the country itself. I think that the shields on each of the branches represent one of the country's provinces - or cantons. I'm not 100% on that but they definitely appear to be coats of arms of some sort.
.jpg)
There were several murals scattered throughout this section of the city. The building below also had an ornately colored roof top that you can just make out in the photograph. That in itself was pretty cool.
.jpg)
The mural below was located next the the building with the carnival scene. The pictures of some of the murals really aren't that great. The sky was cloudy and white that day which tends to wash out the photos I take with my phone. But you get the idea. The city has a strong mural game.
.jpg)
The last one is a little more simple but I actually quite like it. It appears to be of a Swiss soldier. My understanding is that Switzerland has a long history related to mercenary soldiers.
.jpg)
In the past, other countries in Europe would hire Swiss armies to help fight wars for them. Hiring a mercenary army from the country was quite common until recently in history when the practice became outlawed. Apparently, the Vatican was the only country to be exempt from the new law and today the Swiss guard still continues to protect Vatican city and the Pope himself.
Chapel Bridge
.jpg)
One of the main attractions to Lucerne is Kapellbruke (aka Chapel Bridge), a large wooden bridge that spans the Reuss river. It is lined with flowers end to end and has a pretty interesting history that is featured on a few plaques located at its borders.
.jpg)
For instance the tower that is located beside the bridge (see the first image) was built 30 years prior to the bridge itself. Among the towers uses were an archive, treasury, prison, and torture chamber. The bridge itself was originally built as a defensive structure for the city and is said to be the oldest wooden truss bridge in the world still standing. One caveat to that though is that not all of the bridge is original in its construction. A portion was rebuilt after it was destroyed in a fire in 1993.
.jpg)
The bridge also has several interior paintings that date back to the 17th century. They tell the history of the city and can be viewed as you walk across it. I didn't take any pictures. Somethings you really just have to see for yourself anyway.
Above is my wife popping her head out to say hi.
.jpg)
That’s it for now. The next stop on our trip was Basal and then home. Thanks for Reading
If you are interested in seeing more of the beautiful country of Switzerland I will be posting about the rest of our trip over the next few days. For the previous post click the link below.
It makes me happy to see how much you're discovering in your travels. One can buy all kinds of garbage and accumulate things over the course of a life, but images and memories like these are what we will remember on our deathbeds... At the risk of sounding like the Mastercard commercial: PRICELESS!
Yes very true. My wife and I have basically stopped buying birthday and christmas gifts for each other for that reason. We try to do experiences instead. Neither of us buy a lot really in our day to day lives and its awesome how much tou can do for free when you travel. A lot of times we just tour around the town which doesn't cost us anything, orher than parking typically if we can find free street parking.
I am awe-struck by the ornate murals you have captured and the stories behind them. Out of all the destinations you have seen in Switzerland, which one is your most favorite and would highly recommend?
For me I liked the Interlaken area the best. There were so many things to do and places to see in that one spot that you could easily spend 3-4 days there. Lauterbrunnen was amazing and Thun was a beautiful little town and both were very accessible from Interlaken. There was plenty of hiking in the area and a lot of water activities as well. You could drive to Bern from there in like 30 minutes or so also. That would be the spot I would recommend personally
I will definitely take note of these sites, thank you for your recommendations.🙂
You're welcome :)
The Swiss Army must have been badass, being hired by other countries to fight wars for them. Anyways, as always great shots. Your entries intensify my desire to travel to Switzerland
Perhaps they were. Yeah, I don't really know the reason but thats what I read and found it interesting.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know every user has their own profile map?
And so does every post as well!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Hiya, @ItchyfeetDonica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #959.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Great. I'll check it out. Thanks :)