After breakfast we set off to explore the town of Lucerne, I am not sure if it is because it is Easter Sunday or if it is just people don’t get up early on a Sunday in Switzerland but we walked down to Chapel Bridge which is one of the two covered bridges in the town to have a look before it became too busy and we were the only people on the streets. When we got to the bridge a couple of Chinese or South Korean Tour groups had already made it but other than that there didn’t seem to be anyone else around! We didn’t walk across it as we plan to do this later in the day but did manage to get some photos without the sun streaming in our faces. Having taken a few photos we went to the station to start our walk, our first stop was Hofkirche which we looked at from the outside, this is Lucerne’s parish church which is noted for its facade, from here we walked up the road to the Lowendakmal or Lion Monument, the Dying Lion of Lucerne is apparently one of the worlds most famous monuments, although before reading about Lucerne I had never heard of it! Carved out of rock it commemorates the Swiss soldiers who died in 1792 defending the Tulleries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution, apparently Mark Twain described the rock carving as one of the saddest and most moving pieces of rock in the world. It is a nice carving but definitely a tourist spot as there were at least 6 tour groups looking at it when we arrived. From here we walked up to The Musegg Wall with once defended the city, it has nine towers still standing each of a different design and from different times, the first one we came to was the Dachli Tower, originally built around 1449 as a half tower it was closed off in 1728, Allenwinden Tower was next and other than the roof structure which is dated 1540/1 nothing is know about the history of the tower. Pulver Tower is next and the timber used to build this tower was harvested in 1398/99, the interior was renovated early in the 16th century and legend has it that the lower portion of the tower incorporates bricks from the castle. Schirmer Tower dates from 1420 and the passage way through the tower has a statue of one of the towns patron saints St Maurice. Zyt Tower which was probably my favourite was erected in 1403 for defensive and timekeeping purposes, at the time it accommodated the oldest public clock in existence. The clock turret once rose alone above the battlements but in 1508 it was incorporated into the towers newly created attic floor, the clock mechanism was replaced in 1535 and the clock has the privilege of chiming the hour one minute before all other clocks in the town. There are a couple of clocks you can look at on the way up to the top and the mechanism for the actual clock is on display so you can watch it ‘at work’ The Watch tower is medieval and was used to store 350 hundredweight of gunpowder when it was hit by lightning on the 30 July 1701. it exploded in spectacular fashion killing five people, the tower was quickly rebuilt and the fire wardens relocated to the tower in 1768. Luegisland tower is the tallest of the Mussegg towers at 52.6m. it is also the oldest having been built around 1370 and it was the original home of the fire wardens. Little is known about Mannli Tower other than it is Medieval in origin and finally Nolli Tower was built between 1516 and 1519 to replace a damaged predecessor and is the only round tower on the wall. The Gate has been in existence from the time the wall was built it was only in 1901 the opening for the road was made. from here we walked along the river a little way taking in the scenery then crossed the Spreuer Bridge which formed part of the original fortifications for Lucern, work began in the 13th century on two rings of ramparts. The inner ring took the form of a wall which included Chapel bridge and Spreuer Bridge, the outer wall followed the line of the Musegg Wall. The Spreuer bridge is the oldest bridge in Switzerland, completed in 1408 and has 67 painted panels depicting a Dance Macabre, these were added between 1626 and 1635. The bridge was the only place in Lucern that chaff from cereals (Spreu) could be dumped in the river, hence the name Chaff bridge (Spreuer). There were several mills on the river here, all using the river for their power. As the mills fell into disrepair one was converted into a small Hydro Electric station that provided all of Luzerns electrical needs until 1977. We walked along the river looking at the amazing collection of buildings and the variety of styles, then we crossed Chapel bridge with the water tower which s apparently Switzerlands most photographed monument! . We walked around the old town looking at each of the squares and the Rathaus (town hall) then went back down to the river to have a late lunch. It isn’t as warm as yesterday but it was really nice sitting watching the world go by, we finished with an ice cream to fortify us ready for the climb back up to the apartment where we had a relax ready for another day of adventures tomorrow.
