You want a story-book picture of a swiss town!!.. Ohh , you got to be in Lucerne. Located in the shore of Lake Lucerne , the city is picture perfect with cobblestone streets , covered bridges ,frescoed churches, magestically gliding swans . And snowcapped Mount Pilatus & Rigi forms the southgate of the city , you can see them from the shore of the lake .
Historians thought the name of Lucerne was derived from Luciaria, meaning ‘weir basket’, so it started as a fishermen’s village. Later they chose a more shiny option “ Lucerna ‘ meaning oil lamp.
The Kapellbruke or the famous chapel bridge , the gorgeous covered footbridge over the river Reuss with 17th century paintings on its ceiling was fisrt mentioned in the history in 1168. The then Lucerne was a small local market place ,until St Gotthard route is opened in the 13th Century. It remains the oldest covered bridge of Europe. A priest was appointed to take care of the Chapel ,hence the bridge got the name. Lucerne is the only major city in Switzerland to reject churchreformation in the early 16th century.
Now head toward the Löwenplatz where a sandstone relief of a dying Lion impaled by a spear is built to pay homage to the 760 Swiss soldiers who died defending King Lois XVI during French revolution. They say to toss a coin over your shoulder into the pond which is supposed to bring good luck .
You must not miss the old swiss house near the Lion monument.Traditional fare like veal in cream sauce served over grated and fried potatos served here. Bon appetite!
Lucerne is a place for music lovers. 90 music groups from here and the municipalities of greater lucerne have come together to form the biggest carnival brand in Central Switzerland “ United Guugemusig Lucerne”. Lucerne Festival starts under the name of International Festival of Music in 1938 and remained a major late summer attraction since. The Kultur und Kongress Zentrum , the postmodern performing arts center is known for state-of the-art acoustics ,having one of the best place in the the world.
Well, you would like to take some souvenirs home. The swiss watches, chocolates or cowbells , everything is available in most of the stores in the stores surrounding the street along the lake. For drinks you can go to Rathaus Bräuerei . However,I cannot say Switzerland is a wounderful place to shop. They will accept your Euros and return the money in Swiss franc and you will be at loss of exchange rate. And things are usually over-expensive.
In he evening we mostly spent our time by the shore of the lake. It was Christmas time , so the bridge was decorated by lights. The long neck swans were swirling in the water reminding me the story of ugly duckling. We took a Luecerne day card, so we took different buses and trams and roam around the city aimlessly enjoying the beauty of the town. However , you do not need to buy that as most of the visuals are in walking distance from the station.
Whenever you think of a swiss holiday, its got to be expensive. So Lucerne will bring you a sigh of relief . It is well connected to almost any destination in Europe through rail-route and far less expensive than Zurich or Geneva, still can offer you picturesque landscape , music, foods , sports and shopping. If you are travelling with a low budget like me 😉 , I will definitely suggest you to visit Lucerene , pal !
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Each time I come across your blog I find something new to wander about , I like navigating your blog, and you come across to me as a very secretive person.
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Ha ha ha, I have to be little careful as Internet is not a safe place, specially the social media.
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And thank you for the complement.
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I loved my visit to Lucerne. Looks like you’ve gone to a few places I’ll have to check out if I ever have the chance to go back.
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