Covered bridges, city walls and a ton of fountains, explore the Swiss city of Lucerne.
Lucerne (Luzern) is located in about the middle of Switzerland. The city is known for its bridges over the River Reuss and is next to the very scenic Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee).
It’s a cute city and it definitely reminds me of Zurich. I planned one day trip on my last visit to Switzerland. I had my options narrowed down to either Lucerne or Bern. It was I chose Bern. It was a very hard choice, but that made this trip’s choice all the much easier.
Wandering Jana You don’t have to go far from train station to get to the views.
Wandering Jana Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke) is the city’s most famous landmark. It’s a covered bridge that goes mostly diagonally across the river. Originally built in the 14th century, Chapel Bridge has been shortened several times due to changes in the river bank over the centuries.
Wandering Jana The tower in the river, Wasserturm, is 30 years older than the bridge, but that still doesn’t explain the bridges weird route across the river.
Wandering Jana The sharpest bend. Chapel Bridge is the oldest covered bridge in Europe. Although, it had to be mostly rebuilt after a fire in 1993.
Wandering Jana Doesn’t have a covered bridge but still adorable.
Wandering Jana You can see why choosing visiting Bern over this town was so hard.
Wandering Jana Jesuitenkirche (17th century), the first large Baroque church in Switzerland, north of the alps.
Wandering Jana And it’s absolutely gorgeous inside.
Wandering Jana It has these cute little chapels along the nave.
Wandering Jana Just gorgeous.
Wandering Jana In perfect Swiss fashion, a fountain.
Wandering Jana Another fountain nearby.
Wandering Jana Next door to that fountain is Franziskanerkirche. It’s a bit simpler inside.
Wandering Jana However, this chapel is fancy.
Wandering Jana It’s probably safe to assume that that building has a spiral staircase.
Wandering Jana I love this.
Wandering Jana Lucern’s Needle Dam (Nadelwehr). Water power used to be very important in Lucerne industry.
Wandering Jana The height of the water is based on those boards and how many there are. It’s a weird system.
Wandering Jana There’s Lucerne’s other covered bridge, Spreuerbrücke and the city walls.
Wandering Jana Found another fountain!
Wandering Jana Spreuerbrücke also has a weird bend in the middle. No tower this time, but a chapel instead.
Wandering Jana More views of city walls from the bridge.
Wandering Jana Very similar to the Chapel Bridge.
Wandering Jana Just look how cute that bridge is. The current bridge is from the 16th century.
Wandering Jana More cuteness.
Wandering Jana Can really see that bend from this angle.
Wandering Jana City wall time! In the summer, you can go into the towers.
Wandering Jana The towers get a bit fancy.
Wandering Jana Hofkirche St. Leodegar, built in the 17th century on the foundations of an older church.
Wandering Jana It was so hard to get a picture of the doors. They automatically opened if someone was even slightly near a sensor.
Wandering Jana Simple, yet gorgeous.
Wandering Jana Some of the altar pieces are a little over the top. I love it.
Wandering Jana The cloisters of the attached monastery weirdly almost encircles the church, instead of a square attached to a church.
Wandering Jana It is now used mainly for burials.
Wandering Jana Cute fountain surrounded by meh buildings.
Wandering Jana Ahhhh, that’s better.
Wandering Jana Did I mention that there are fountains everywhere in Switzerland?
Wandering Jana I love the painted buildings.
Wandering Jana This part of town is very cute.
Wandering Jana I can’t get enough of this painted buildings.
Wandering Jana The Rathaus, Lucerne’s 17th century city hall.
Wandering Jana So much better than a drab city.
Wandering Jana This one is a bit different.
Wandering Jana The sun finally decided to come out as I was heading to the train station to go back to Basel.
Lucerne was a fun city to explore. It’s super easy to get there from Zurich, Basel, Bern and other central Swiss cities. Perfect day trip. That being said, day tripping in Switzerland is very expensive.
Check out my next update where I head back to Germany to explore the city of Heidelberg!
or
Start at the beginning of this European adventure!
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