chowgypsy: Switzerland's Murten: Lakeside Fortress, anyone?

Walled cities!

Yup, we found ourselves in another one today.

Overlooking the fortified city of Murten in my private helicopter ride. Sike! Picture courtesy of http://www.murtentourismus.ch

This time, we entered the gates of Murten, a name derived from the Celtic moriduno, which means “lakeside fortress.” As you might’ve guessed, it overlooks a lake—Lake Murten, to be exact. Unlike the Ville Close in France, this fortified city does not pride itself on gelato. Instead, it sells tourist junk and some antiques…maybe I was hoping for gelato. I’m not sure if it’s better to turn these amazing relics into cheesy tourist traps or to just let it exist as a normal habitat for everyday people. I’m sure there’s a balance in there somewhere.

Have a look…

Typical Murten house

Police station with snazzy window shudders

Of course they've adorned their windowsills with dwarf statues. Of course they have.

A lawn-moving robot. The second, I'll mention, that we've seen in Switzerland...

Atop the fortification itself

Views from within

After Murten's fortification in 1013, at least eight different kings/counts/whatever jockeyed for ownership of the town. Who doesn't want a lakeside fortress, really? It was the trophy wife of fortresses—but a trophy wife who happens to have a mean judo chop. Its devoted citizens didn't like all this change and resisted whenever possible. Finally in 1377, it became a “free imperial town,” and kept itself out from under that imperial rule stuff, preferring state rule under Bern and Fribourg, the latter of which it is still a canton of today.

Looking up at Murten from the lakeside

The attackers probably just wanted to come enjoy the view

Overlooking the town from the outskirts of the wall

I spy something reddish-brown

When we returned home after such an exhausting tourism session, the best thing to do was obviously to go sit by the lake, so that’s precisely what we did.