Murten

Zurich, Luzern, Bern and Geneva are Swiss cities.  St. Moritz, Zermatt, Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald are primarily Alpine tourist towns.  So, what does a small town look like?  A day trip to Murten might show us.  

Murten is a medieval city on a lake and was once site of a large battle.  The Swiss Confederacy defeated Charles the Bold of Burgundy and ended his dreams of empire.  He was headed to Bern, but got stopped at Murten on June 22, 1476 before he could get there.   It still has a large chunk of the original city wall as well as the original city plan with a main street of shops and several churches.

As somewhat less cushy, but still new and nice, regional train carried us to Murten

Murten arrival

There is a nice self-guided walking tour through the town.  It starts at the Castle.

Murten Castle

It's a venue, these days...

Murten still has a good chunk of it's city wall intact.  Below it are people's gardens and part of it is the back wall of some residents.  

The main street in town is like a mini-Bern with it's covered sidewalks and shops.  There is a gate with a clock tower called Berntor (Bern tower?) at the other end from the castle.

German for street is Strasse.  But, nearly all the streets in Bern and here in Murten are Gasse, which is German for alley.  Can't imagine what they'd call a street!

A medieval street with modern angle-in parking!

The school house just outside the gate.

Berntor from the outside looking in.

Some are outside a church

Franciscan Church

Some Murten street views.

Side street with out the arcades.

German Church

We climbed up the wall.  The German Church shares a wall with the city wall, so it was out the door and up the steps.

On the way up.

On the wall

Catholic Church and surrounding area

German Church as viewed from the wall.

Looking south along the wall.

From the wall looking east across the town to Lake Murten.

Looking north along the wall to the German Church

...and from further south on the wall

The view of the castle and lake from the wall

One of our last stops in town was the Catholic Church

modern stained glass

And, before we headed home...Lunch!

At an Italian restaurant with a Romanian waiter!

One last stroll through the town before heading back to Bern.

Tree hugger. 

Now THIS is a mobility scooter!

Not cappuccinoworld.  Not dripcoffeeworld.  Espressoworld!

Waiting for a train, Swiss-style!

 So, that's Murten. Tomorrow, back to Zurich.  

If this is Monday, this must be Geneva.

Time for a day trip.  Switzerland is small.  End to end, 230 miles or so from St Gallen on the east end, near Austria to Geneva on the west end, near France. The Swiss rail network is designed to for frequency and tight connections, not speed.  It is simple and easy to get from anywhere to everywhere in Switzerland without having to pay much attention to a time table.  Even better if you have the SBB app on your phone.  It will give you exact route with connections, including what platform, where to stand on the platform, and how crowed each coach is typically.

So, we head down to the train station in Bern and hop on the next train to Geneva.  An hour and 45 minutes later we're there.

The interior of SBB's newest double decker electric train.  

They have these excellent message boards on every car.  They show route, speed, location, next stops and delay (rare!) against schedule.

The rolls through the countryside to a tunnel that takes you out to Lake Leman at Lausanne. 

 From there, it's over 30 miles of views like this.

After we get off, our train departs Geneva for the Airport - the end of the line.

Geneva train station

Fun with Flags, Geneva style

We did a walking tour of Geneva.  It covered Geneva history and particulars.

Henri Dunant - founder of the Red Cross

Opera House with statue of General Dufour

Dufour helped create the Geneva Convention governing treatment of wounded and captured soldiers.  He also helped create the International Red Cross with Dunant

Geneva was Ground Zero for the protestant reformation.  There is a monument to the reformers in the city - Reformation Wall.  Not everyone was from Geneva.  John Knox, for example was Scottish. 

Guillaume Farel, Jean Calvin, Théodore de Bèze and John Knox

Hey!  A pilgrim?  Yup.  Roger Williams of Massachusetts - a reformer.

Pictorial of the Battle of Geneva in 1602.  It involved somebody dumping hot soup on the invaders.  Yes.  Soup.  Led to Geneva being independent and city of refuge.

Geneva flag is eagle from Holy Roman Empire days representing loftiness, justice and protection.  The key representing St. Peter and the keys to heaven.

Geneva City Hall

After the reformation, strict Calvinist views prevailed.  Among them, the cathedral was "undecorated".  No more fancy icons and colors outside or in.  Still a pretty impressive building, though.

St Peter's Cathedral

Another old clock tower in town, Molard Tower.  Was part of city wall system.  Renovated to 1591 appearance.

Molard Clock tower

Floral clock by the harbor.  Geneva is the home of Swiss watches, so a floral clock

If there is a lake, it will have a Swiss lake boat on it.  Some are still steam powered.

Old steam powered side-wheeler.

The Water Jet (Jet d'Eau) 

Geneva harbor.  Swiss watch companies line the waterfront.

It would have been nice to take a ferry all the way to Lausanne and then take the train back home, but the time and distance were to great for our day trip.  So, we decided to hop on a short ferry trip to and from the harbor.

The lake shore near Geneva.

Never far from mountains when in Switzerland.  These are in France, however.

We're on a boat!

National Monument - depicts Geneva entering the Swiss Federation.  The one on the right is Helvetia.  The other represents Geneva.

Something old - Tour de L'Ile clock tower (tower is from 1200's.  Most recently renovated in 1950s) and something new - Tram stop with tram.

Tourists.

Need a fancy watch?  They are all here.

Time to go back to Bern to rest up for tomorrow's excursion.

Our train back to Bern - all 16 cars of it!

And, as always, drink local!