Lucerne

We visited Lucerne today, a town we first visited 39 years ago! A lot has changed but much remains the same. The major change is the huge increase in the number of people, either visiting, or living here.

We parked our van near the marina and walked into Lucerne which took us through the railway station - the number of people, either departing or arriving, via the Swiss railway system was incredible. Next door was the bus terminal and that was operating “flat-chat” - people everywhere. This is a reminder to stick to the “back-roads” and the smaller centres!

Also it was interesting to see a large modern building alongside the railway and bus centres which was the university - near as possible to transport and the centre of the town.  By the look of the bike racks outside the university, every student must ride to the campus. 

Our look at the town commenced about mid morning with the temperature rapidly rising - so, the timer was ticking for how long before we wilted. 

The iconic 14th century Water Tower, the most photographed monument in Switzerland (so we were told), and the associated Chapel Bridge were our first stopping points - along with  every other visitor to Lucerne! 

The interior of the large baroque Jesuit Church - built in the 17th century. It is said that the acoustics of this charming church are near perfect. 

The poor relation of bridges is the Spreuer Bridge (Chaff Bridge), just downstream from the Chapel Bridge. It is the oldest wooden bridge in Switzerland - competed in 1408. It was here that the farmers could cast the chaff, from their cereal crops,  into the river. 

Lucerne was settled in the 12th century with its fortifications being built around 200 years later.  The Water Tower was part of these fortification, being used as a lookout tower and a defence structure at that time. The Chapel Bridge is the oldest and second longest timber roofed Bridge in Europe. Bet the Swiss are glad they rebuilt it after the partial fire in 1993!

We later walked the northern fortifications over looking the town, before wandering through the old town - looking like a new town with all the swanky shops.  At this stage it was starting to get hot and well past lunchtime, so we cut our losses and returned to the van. 

After lunch we drive through some very picturesque Swiss rural landscapes to the town of Hütten, just south of Lake Zürich (Zurichsee), for our overnight stop. Another delightful rural village too, so quite and restful after the hustle of Lucerne and the very busy motorways.