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.
Back at Martine & Partice's

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3 comments:

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