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.
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.
From their we got some pretty nice views of the city below.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.