Lucerne, Switzerland - A Walking Tour

It was a beautiful afternoon in Lucerne.  Warm temperatures compared to what we had experienced up in the snow covered Mt. Pilatus.  We enjoyed walking the town to experience it.

 Chapel Bridge first constructed in first half of 14th century as part of fortifications.

Water Tower built around 1300.

Needle Dam to regulate water level of Lake Lucerne.

Walking across another wooden walkway over the water on Spreuer Bridge.  Halfway across was this shrine. 

Paintings in the timbers above.

Original wall around the town.

 

Snow covered peaks loom over the city.

Paintings in rafters of the first wooden bridge.

We stopped in Starbucks before heading to the train station.  It was a good day.

Mt. Pilatus

In order to see the Alps while we were in Switzerland we needed to get up high.  We accomplished that with our trip to Lucerne from Basel and from there to the top of Mt. Pilatus.

First we caught the tram a half block from the hotel.

That took us to the train station.

Once in Lucerne we got a bus and told the driver where we wanted to go so he told us the stop.

We followed the signs pointing the way up a hill passing this lovely church.

See the red and white signs up ahead?  That's the spot to get the cable car to that mountain in the distance.

Here's Dan in the cable car as we leave.  Each cable car seats 4.  We had it to ourselves.

We get above the town very fast.

There are two stops along the way and we made the mistake of getting out before we realized it was too soon.  So we clamored into the next car.

This mountain isn't just a destination at the top.  In the summer there are all sorts of venues including a rope park, tree tenting, and hiking trails.  On the other side is a cog railroad accessed by a ferry from downtown Lucerne.  It was too early in the season for that to be running.

We changed to a gondola at the second stop.  It was much bigger.

Here's Dan at the top.  

If it were summer time you could take a short hike to the actual top.

It was still winter.

View of the Alps.

Here's a gondola heading up as we await our turn to go down.

Still time to explore Lucerne before catching the train back to Basel.

Basel's Gothic Cathedral

The Basel Cathedral or Minster sits on a hill above the Rhine River.  It was a favored spot of the Celts and then the Romans.  Now the area around the cathedral is the Munsterplatz.

Its built of red sandstone between 1019 and 1500.  

This statue is on the front of the Cathedral is a saint slaying a dragon.  See that the spear has penetrated the dragon's head?

Across the Platz is the bishop's residence.  Prince-bishops ruled the city until the Reformation.

The church is now Reformed Protestant, quite a change inside from the Catholic Churches.

On the other side there looks to be a monastery that would have been associated with the Cathedral when it was Catholic.  Tombstones hang on the walls of the covered walkways.