In the past, we used to plan our weekends many weeks in advance, but since we're busy with the house renovation we don't know if we'll have the energy to do something, so we simply decide on Sunday morning if we'll spend the day on the couch or if we'll do something else (preferably outside).
Frankly, most of our Saturdays are indeed spent working on the house and Sundays relaxing on the couch, but there are those days when we feel like doing something else. And yesterday was one of those days...
We were looking for a place where we could spend a couple of hours walking around, maybe have a meal at a nice restaurant, and just enjoy the day not thinking about the volume of work waiting for us in the next months. We opened the map and looked for a place that is up to 2 hours drive from our place and that we haven't visited before. It didn't take us long to decide to go to Zug. It was time to add another Swiss place that we visited to our list. Our goal is to visit as many Swiss places as possible on my way of getting the Swiss citizenship.
Let's have a look around!
Many Swiss cities are built at a lake with same name, such as Lake Zürich, Lake Neuchâtel, Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne, Lake Lugano, Lake Thun or Lake Zug. Well, there are more, but these ones just came to my mind right now.
Lake Zug is in the top 10 of the largest lakes in Switzerland. I was surprised and scared by its depth at the shore, so I kept a bit of a distance not to fall in - you might find it strange, but I know my clumsiness 😊 The deepest point is 198 m which doesn't discourage many people to swim across the lake at Seeüberquerung (can be translated as lake crossing) event in summer.
I can imagine many water enthusiasts filling the lake in summer, but in the middle of February we enjoyed the serenity of water and many birds just chilling and ignoring us.
The birds are represented in the artwork along the promenade as well...
And the actual birds were disturbed by my presence and couldn't wait to fly off...
The weather wasn't ideal for the views, but I enjoyed the mysterious feel of the fog hanging above the water. The Swiss like outdoor activities regardless the weather, and some people were enjoying sailing while we were freezing dressed like penguins (read: we had so many layers on that we were walking like penguins)
This part of the city was nice and quiet. In front of us you can see the old town where we were heading. Right behind the old town we should have seen the Alps, but the fog was blocking the view. I came to this spot later in the day to try again, but the fog was persistent and we were not meant to see the mountains.
I was so happy when I noticed that I captured this bird landing. It sounded like a drone or a tiny plane 😊 I tried to come closer to the seagull, but it looked at me and I swear I saw a smirk right before it flew off.
Look how beautiful it is - if this isn't the Swiss dream then I don't know what is...
Those dramatic clouds compensated the blocked views...
I could stand here for hours...
Sundays in Swiss cities are usually quiet as all the shops and most of the restaurants are closed. People use the weekends to go to the nature especially during the ski season, so the mountains are pretty crowded instead. I prefer to stay out of the crowds, so in the winter we don't go to the mountains often.
A chair, a table, a blanket, a cup of tea and a book - these are the only things missing here!
Let's go to the old town!
These charming residential houses lie on the border of the lake and the old town - not too bad having the views of this lake every day.
There are plenty of fountains around the old town, and I will show you a few of them. Some of them are a bit strange, such as this one with a boy holding a fish with water pouring out of its mouth. As I mentioned previously, you can drink out of fountains in Switzerland, but I don't think that I would fill in my water bottle here. I think that this fountain refers to the fishing tradition of Zug which makes sense as it lies directly at the lake.
The original old town consists of two streets forming a circle. This part of the city dates back to the 12th century. The old town expanded in the 15th century when the new larger fortification was built. The original part of the old is really charming and I hope that you will like walking around there too!
Zug has one of the most preserved old towns in Switzerland. Each century left a mark on the old town which we can see even today. There are various architectural styles standing next to each other which gives the old town a very unique appearance.
One of the most beautiful buildings in the old town is The Town hall cellar with its painted facade and sort of a terraced roof.
I guess that this is one of the oldest buildings in the old town. Look at those paintings!
Another fountain and I must say that it's not less strange than the first one. It refers to the carnival which is a big happening each year all over Switzerland.
On the opposite side of the square is a church. It didn't look particularly charming from the outside, but it was cold, so we went inside to warm up a bit.
It was a cute little church (looked much bigger from the outside) with a main altar and a couple of smaller ones. There was not much more in the church besides...
...besides this beautiful wooden ceiling!
We didn't stay long inside, and continued out walk.
Here we can see the first school and the first hospital in Zug from the 16th century. They changed their function over the centuries and today they serve as residential buildings.
There are many openings in the old town towards the lake...
We have walked by so many galleries, and even though Zug has a similar size like Schaffhausen the cities couldn't be more different. The old town has so many cute details, such as these clay figures sitting in the windows. They could have put some clothes on though 😊
In the back we can see the colourful roof of The Zytturm clock tower which is one of the most important buildings in Zug. It is under construction now, so we couldn't visit it. We might come back when it's again in its full glory.
I love this wooden building in the back...
Those houses stand here like soldiers...
We have walked around the yellow part, and now we will explore the newer extension of the old town.
Even though these houses are younger they don't look much different...
Another fountain and this time a beautiful one...
There is even a small creek flowing through the old town...
This is probably the cutest house that I have seen there. I think that many people wouldn't mind to live in a house like this even though it is a garden house, or at least it used to be a garden house. There were curtains in the windows, so it might be a residential house now.
There is a tiny castle that I will show you next time. This time we will finish our walk with more views of the lake, and if you look closely you will see the mountains in the back. Yay!
Bye bye Zug - we enjoyed getting to know you and who knows, maybe we will come back again.
See you next time!