Solothurn

Hauptgasse (Main alley) in Solothurn. Left: one of the eleven fountains. Centre: St Urs cathedral Right: Jesuit church
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We were lucky to have a friend living in Solothurn, Switzerland who we stayed with for a few days. The town is about 45 minutes train north of Bern and was a great place to relax in the Swiss countryside. The town has a special affinity with the number eleven. There are eleven churches (the main cathedral has eleven bells), eleven fountains and the local beer is called Öufi which is Swiss-German for eleven.

Just to the north of the town is a mountain called Weissenstein. We took a ride on the chairlift at the base of the mountain up to the spa hotel some 1500m above. The two seater chairlift was a bit different in that we sat sideways rather than looking straight up the slope. We were greeted by that oh-so-Swiss sound of cowbells when we reached the top. The views from the top were fantastic, though not as clear as some of the postcards showed, where you could see all the way to the Swiss Alps in the south. We had lunch at the summit cafe, including rosti which is a thick fried potato fritter with all the trimmings you could think of.

a special affinity with the number eleven