Best of Switzerland in 8 Days - Day 6 - First Half - Lucern -Lucern Old City.

Remember my last post about our day 5 trip description out of our 8 days Switzerland trip. 

On that day after our half-day trip to Schilthorn mountain. we took a train from Interlaken, traveled through the famous Golden Pass Route of the Swiss Railway, and had reached Lucern. It was already evening and we just rested after reaching Lucern You can read all about day 5  travel here - 

https://harshad-datar.blogspot.com/2021/08/best-of-switzerland-in-8-days-day-5.html

On Day 6 of our Switzerland trip, Our plan was to visit Lucern City, A settlement in existence since 750 AD but achieved prominence in 1178 AD. The next part of our plan was to also take a cruise of Lake Lucern, a 114 sq km lake connecting for u cantons of that area. It may be interesting to note that the official name of the lake is Vierwaldstättersee meaning "four forested States lake" or a lake that is spread in four forested cantons.

However, in this part of my blog, We would enjoy our trip to Lucern Old City. In the next part, we will take a cruise of Lake Lucern. Let's Go.

Lucern Old City.

Lucern is an ancient city but unlike most European cities of that age, this does not have many things like city squares, old cathedrals, etc. The old city is beautiful, paved, and historic but Switzerland is all about natural beauty hence expecting grand palaces, etc is out of place. Major attractions here are Lion Monument, Chaple Bridge, Jesuit Chruch, and the cobbled streets and old buildings. There are also good bakeries and chocolate shops (after all Swiss Chocolates are world-famous).

Lion Memorial 

This beautiful Lion in its den, injured and defeated as also very sad is a monument carved out of rocks in a small garden on Denkmalstrasse (Denkmal Street). The carved Lion is a very poignant depiction of the pain and suffering of the Swiss Body Guards of the French King who got killed defending him during the french revolution. The story goes that the French king was guarded by Swiss Guards. 

During the french revolution in the year 1792, when revolutionaries arrived at Tuileries Palace in Paris to arrest/kill the French King, they seem to have given the option to the Swiss Guards to leave safely but not only they refused, they put up a strong fight till their last man was standing. One of the Lieutenant of Swiss Guards who was on leave in Switzerland at that time got this memorial built in memory of his colleagues,

Lion of Lucern (Lion Monument)

See the pain and suffering on the face

Leaving the Lion Monument, we strolled through the cobbled streets of Lucern's old town. These streets are lined with shops selling fine Swiss watches, garments, Perfumes, and Chocolates. Who has not heard of Swiss Chocolates? Tasting them elsewhere and tasting them in Switzerland is different. The fresh Swiss Chocolate does taste far better than anywhere else.

Lucern Old Town

The old town has many sculptures also erected on some of its squares. Most of these are actually water fountains that have statues on top. One such ornate statue can be seen below. 

One of the Ornate Fountains

Another Fountain

These historic streets have many beautiful buildings. Mostly compact (compared to other European cities) but as beautiful as anywhere else in Europe. The Town Hall of old Lucern can be seen below. This Town Hall is on the way leading to the banks of river Reuss which drains into lake Lucern.

Lucern Town Hall

The clock tower of this town is made of stones. It is worth taking the time to stop and look at it.

The door seen below is from the tower adjoining the town hall. the intricate pattern of this entrance door finds a place in blogs of architects about how entrances should be made. 

Going down from the town hall, we went to the bank of the River Reuss. the bank on the side of old town has old buildings stretching all along this bank. These buildings have pubs and restaurants on their ground floors. Strolling through this bank, we reached the most enduring symbol of Lucern, the Chapel Bridge.

Chapel Bridge

This bridge is a covered wooden bridge spanning the river Reuss, interestingly, diagonally. This bridge was originally built in 1365, however, the current bridge is a shortened version of the original bridge by about 40 meters.

This also is the oldest surviving Truss bridge in the world. It has (even today) 17th-century paintings of some of the local artists, though some of the paintings and part of the bridge were lost in 1993 fire incidence the bridge has been restored to its glory and the surviving paintings also are displayed. The roof is tiled. There is a column somewhere in the middle called Water Column (because it stands on water). This tower is older than the bridge by few years. This tower has been used for various purposes over its long life.

Chaple Bridge across River Reuss

Water Column, Has been used for many purposes in the past

Beautiful flower beds around 

Ancient Paintings

Another View of Chapel bridge

The street on the bank which adjoins the old city has beautiful graphics on the buildings. Just to give an idea, one such building is shown below.

Artwork on Building walls on the shore

Another building having permanent artwork and is part of the Christmas Market area looks like this -

Advent Calendar Building, A beautiful building
having permanent decoration for Christmas Market

Walking across this historical bridge is a nice feeling by itself. The views we get from the bridge are the added attraction.

Beautiful Shoreline, seen from the Bridge

A Duck enjoying swim

Chateau Gutsch Heritage Hotel seen from the Chaple Bridge

Another lovely view

Jesuit Church

There are some important buildings on the river bank on the newer town side. One such building is Jesuit Church. It may not be as imposing as other Europen Churches and Cathedrals, nonetheless, it is beautiful from outside and inside. Some of the pics of this church are given below.

Jesuit Church

Close up

Inside the Jesuit Church

Another View

And finally, here is the Lucern Theater, the nerve center of Art and theater at Lucern

Luzerner Theater (Lucern Theater), A Historic yet modern theater

With this, we finished our Lucern Old City walking tour. Thereafter it was true of window shopping, chocolate buying, and lunch in a local restaurant.

Post Lunch we were embarking on Lake Lucern Boat Cruise which is getting covered in another blog post.