Lucerne

Lucerne-3

My husband and I visited Lucerne during a rainy stretch, which really hampered our impressions since there’s not much to do inside. Since we had to scurry around under umbrellas and rain hoods, we missed a lot of the ambience that makes this one of Switzerland’s most beautiful cities.

Lucerne-2

We walked along the medieval battlements, part of the city’s original defense, from which there’s usually pleasing views. Instead, we saw a lot of grey skies and clouds. It would have been much more pleasant and impressionable under sunny skies!

Rain wouldn't stop!

Nonstop rain

Lucerne was first settled in the 8th century when a Benedictine monastery was established. The city thrived in the 13th century when the Gotthard Pass opened, enabling merchants to set sail from Lucerne, considered the gateway to the high Alps. To this day, tourism is the main industry.

In a main square

In a main square

The town is full of medieval squares, frescoed houses, guildhalls and churches.

Kapellbrücke

Kapellbrücke

14th-century Kapellbrücke is the oldest road-bridge in Europe, though most of what we see today was reconstructed after a 20th-century fire. Triangular paintings depicting the city’s history, each captioned with rhyming couplets, are attached to the roof beams. The bridge is angled around the octagonal Wasserturn, an octagonal water tower that was a watchtower, a jail and a torture chamber.

Lucerne-4

Overlooking Spreuerbrücke

Overlooking Spreuerbrücke

Spreuerbrücke, the second covered bridge, features roof panels with a grinning skeleton leading royalty, policemen, nuns, prostitutes to their fate.

Löwendenkmal

Löwendenkmal

Löwendenkmal, the dying lion of Lucerne, was carved into a cliff in memory of the 700 Swiss mercenaries who were massacred in 1972 at the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

Along River Reuss

Along River Reuss

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