Day 11: Lucerne, Switzerland

Our path takes us toward the towering Alps and the vast serene lakes of Switzerland. Be charmed by medieval Lucerne with its Chapel Bridge, Lion monument and plentiful shopping opportunities.

Before I comment on Luzern the city, our entry into Switzerland from Italy was astounding. It was like we entered another world almost immediately upon crossing the Italy-Swiss border. Switzerland has postcard-like views everywhere, the colors are brilliant green and blue. Snowcapped peaks abound and the air is crisp clean.

Dying Lion of Lucerne , Lake Cruise and Chapel Bridge

Switzerland is quite well known for their neutrality (is that even a word??) and their armed forces. A single high-tension wire divides most of the countries freeways, that when the need arises, they can retract underground and allow planes to land on the roads.

There's about 250 ways to enter the country by way of bridges and tunnels, and at the push of a button Mr. President can destroy the whole lot, effectively cutting off the country from any invaders. On most of the mountains, Mt Pilatus included, there are funny-shaped rocks that on closer inspection are hiding satellite dishes, among other things! The Swiss army can apparently pop up anywhere, due to their network of underground passageways...

Beethoven’s Opus 27, No. 2 was nicknamed ‘Moonlight Sonata’ after one critic said it reminded him of the moonlight over Lake Lucerne. Lucerne claims to be one of the world’s six most frequently visited cities. It’s a darling Swiss town – clean, bright, friendly, and very touristy.

Luzern is a town I could visit again and again. The city is situated on Lake Luzern, and a river runs through the middle of the city. It is surrounded by snow capped peaks in 3 directions. It was slightly cloudy in the distance on the day were were there, but breathtaking nonetheless.

When we arrived we were allocated a few hours stop off, we ventured off to buy some well deserved souvenirs and then we checked in to Lowengraben , Jail Hotel at the heart of downtown Luzerne .

There is little disguising the fact that Löwengraben was a prison until seven years ago. The interior belongs to the school of minimalist chic, with many of the original 1862 features taking center stage. Iron beds, barred windows and wooden doors with food slots combined with clean lines and cream walls conspire to create the feeling of a modern, boutique hotel. This is Switzerland's first prison hotel and was in use as a prison until autumn 1998. It is a fun, youth-orientated hotel and comes highly recommended for those who like to try something different.

I have added a detail review about Löwengraben , Where prisoners attempted to escape for more than 135 years, today, tourists and residents of Lucerne enjoy the unique atmosphere of the JAILHOTEL and ALCATRAZ-BAR.

Our initial impression was “ This place must be haunted ” ... but thank god we didn't experience anything paranormal during our stay .

After check-in we had a wonderful 4 course dinner and then we were ready for Lake cruse and city sightseeing .

Lake Lucerne is also known as the Vierwaldstättersee or 'Lake of the Four Forest Cantons, may be the most beautiful lake in Switzerland. It is certainly amongst the most spectacular, with mountains on all sides and forests coming down to the shore in many places and certainly worth doing a cruise if you have the time. Though the Lake cruise was optional excursion almost everyone in the group opted for it .

While on our way to the lake cruise we saw some crazy Brazilian fans , Brazil won against Australia on that day . We had quite a number of Aussies on board and did felt sorry for them .

The first place we visited after Lake Cruise is the Löwendenkmal, Lucerne's Lion Monument , which honored the 700 Swiss guards who died in 1792 defending King Louis XVI and his family, not knowing that the royal family had secretly escape .

The "Dying Lion of Lucerne" is one of the world's most famous monuments. This compelling sculpture was carved out of natural rock to honor the Swiss mercenaries that died at the Tuileries during the French Revolution in 1792.

Designed by Danish sculptor Berthel of Konstanz, the 19th century wonder is a simple, stirring image of a dying lion. The Latin inscription translates: 'To the bravery and fidelity of the Swiss'.

Mark Twain described the Lion of Lucerne as "the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world".

Since the city of Luzerne straddles the Reuss River where it drains the lake, it has a number of bridges. The most famous is the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), a 204 m (670 ft) long wooden bridge originally built in 1333, although much of it had to be replaced after a 1993 fire.

A tourist (the story blames an American) was smoking next to the bridge, as there is no smoking allowed on the wooden structure. When he finished, he flicked his cigarette, which landed on a nearby German Shepard. Feeling something burning on its back, the dog freaked out and ran onto the bridge. After it shook the cigarette off it ran back to its master. Shortly thereafter the middle section of the bridge burned down. This is why there is a sign at the bridge's entrance that does not allow German Shepard's or smoking.

Partway across, the bridge runs by the octagonal Water Tower (Wasserturm), a fortification from the 13th century. Inside the bridge are a series of paintings from the 17th century depicting events from Luzern's history. The Bridge with its Tower is the city's most famous landmark.

The Spreuerbrücke is the city's Mills bridge. It's an old covered wooden bridge located by the water spikes on the Reuss river - and somewhat similar to the more famous chapel bridge in terms of architecture. The Spreuerbrücke, however, is much shorter. It was built in 1407 and restored in the 19th century. There are many gables in the bridge, and they are painted with the Dance of Death, a mural by Kaspar Meglinger (17th century) to commemorate the people who, at that time, were swept away by the plague.

Meglinger's paintings portray various conditions of men and women, priests and warriors, princes and men of learning, the young bride, the devout nun, the lawmaker, the hunter, the miller, even the artist himself, are all depicted at the mercy of Death, with his mocking smile and his ever-changing garb. These paintings, suitable for a Benedictine abbey, are seen by every inhabitant of beautiful Lucerne who crosses the river via the Spreuerbrücke. It has a small chapel in the middle that was added in 1568.

We were very Lucky to be in Lucerne . Switzerland was not in my initial itinerary but somehow it has been added , courtesy Contiki . But it was a very very brief moment we spent in Luzerne .

We arrived some time around 6.30 pm and we enjoyed the sights until 11.30 pm . To our surprise some light and sound show was organized in the lake itself and there was a kind of festive mood all around the town .

I must admit that I need to visit this place one more time in my life time . We visited the Lion of Lucerne but it was almost dark and my digital camera ran out of battery and my SLR ran out of film .

We missed the Glacier Garden (a result of the last Ice Age, excavated in the 1870s) and also the transport museum .Though we walked through the two ancient wooden covered bridges (Chapel Bridge and Speurer Bridge) we didn't take a walk on the fortificated walls (Musegg Wall).

In my previous blog I wrote a lot about History of Switzerland and now I am very tempted to write all the great things I have read about History of Lucerne . The Blog is getting little longer and boring ... but if you are interested in the History of this great place ... please stay with me ...

Lucerne grew up around a monastery built in the 8th century and has been an important trade center since that time.

Luzern’s founding is lost in history. The town’s name probably derives from the Celtic word lozzeria, meaning “a settlement on marshy ground”, and that’s more or less all Luzern was in the mid-eighth century when the small Benedictine monastery which existed here is thought to have come under the control of the Alsatian Abbey of Murbach.

Nothing concrete is known about Luzern until 1178, when an abbot established a lay order at the Kapellkirche (now St Peter’s Chapel), indicating that quite a substantial settlement must have existed in the area. Around 1220, the opening of the Gotthard pass further south created new impetus for growth, with merchants and travelers setting sail from Luzern for the long trans-Alpine journey (the first lakeside road was built only in 1865).

Eying the prosperity flowing into the communities on the northern side of the new pass, Rudolf of Habsburg bought Luzern outright from Murbach in 1291, intending to subdue it and channel its profits into the imperial coffers. At the same time, though, the peasant farmers of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden on the eastern shores of the lake had formed a pact of mutual defense at Rütli against the Austrian threat, and after some instability, Luzern joined them in 1332, the first major city to do so.

This pact was the beginning of the Swiss Confederation, which survives today.

Luzern remained Catholic throughout the Reformation and, like much of the country, was ruled by patrician families up until the late eighteenth-century revolutions. The early nineteenth-century quarrels in politics and religion led to civil war, with Luzern at the heart of the Catholic rebel Sonderbund– an association which, after Confederate forces had reasserted their control in 1847, led to Luzern being passed over for the choice of federal capital.

By this time, though, tourism to Switzerland had already begun, and with the cessation of hostilities Luzern became a focus for the increasing tide of foreign visitors, both for its own lakeside location, and as the gateway to the high Alps.

The railway arrived in 1859, and over the following fifty years, Luzern’s population quadrupled to forty thousand, with tourism, then as now, the mainstay of the city’s economy. All through the twentieth century, Luzern has clung tight onto its conservative, traditional roots: these days, the city is renowned as the heartland of Switzerland’s SVP, an extreme right-wing political party with a strident and increasingly successful set of anti-immigration, anti-EU policies.