Swiss Grand Circle - 11. Setting Up Base at Lauterbrunnen

As we entered this valley of epic vertical cliffs and a towering waterfall that seemed to rain down on an idyllic village, we knew we’re nearing the climax of our 16-day Swiss Grand Circle, taking an extended clockwise route across nine cantons before finally spiraling into the heart of the Swiss Alps.


The climax of course refers to the one and only Jungfrau, the most legendary alpine destination in Switzerland if not the entire Europe, and its historic suite of mountain railways that made her glaciated ridge accessible to the general public for more than a century now. But first, we needed a homebase for our three night stay at the foot of her snowy gown.


We narrowed our choice of homebase down to four nearby towns. The popular resort of Grindelwald was made inconvenient during our visit by scheduled maintenance on the Wengernalpbahn route. Sleepy Gimmelwald, made popular among the Americans by Rick Steves, required too many transfers in addition to being slightly pricey. It came down between Wengen and Lauterbrunnen, and we picked Lauterbrunnen for its reasonably priced apartments.


So we settled into a one-bedroom apartment on the vaulted top floor of a local chalet, equipped with a small but functional kitchen and situated within a 5 minute walk from the train station. No washing machine in house, but the youth hostel down the street welcomed our usage of their coin-operated washer and dryer.


The Jungfrau and her neighbouring peaks loomed over our little village, as viewed from our living room window. The magnificent Staubbach Falls, undisputed symbol of the village and merely 700m away, was partially visible at the top right corner. This window occupied the highest point of our vaulted ceiling, and I cannot count the number of times I bumped my head after being awed distracted by this spectacle.


The small village did feature the convenience of one Coop supermarket, one meat shop and one bakery. Chanterelle mushrooms happened to be on sale that week at the unbelievable price of CHF 6 for a large box, a fraction of the price I’m used to paying in Canada.


For two nights we splurged generously, dumping as much chanterelle as we wanted into just about every dish. Another thing that we loved about this Coop branch was a good wine selection, including a delightful Alsatian gewürztraminer and an Italian Amarone that we picked up at quite reasonable prices.


Simple omelettes were lavishly filled to the brim with chanterelles. And after nearly two weeks in Switzerland, my attempts at rösti started to look like rösti.


For cured meats and sausages we bypassed the supermarket chains and visited Metzgerei Fuchs, the village butcher featuring seasonal catches -- even fur -- from local hunters. The ladies behind the counter were English-speaking and helpful in explaining the various sausages and ready-to-eat landjägers for our hikes.


One of those nights we had a main course of wild boar bratwurst from Metzgerei Fuchs with sides of rösti and butter-sauteed chanterelle, and accompanied by even more chanterelle in the form of a creamed soup, all washed down with the bottle of Alsatian gewürztraminer from Coop. We found this combination of a specialist butcher and a major supermarket in the village to be quite optimal.


We came across one bakery in the form of Stefan von Allmen café opposite the train station, though assembling a complete breakfast required some pre-planning in getting milk and yogurt from Coop in addition to cured meats from Metzgerei Fuchs.


After prepping our own meals five out of six times over three days, we figured to have saved enough money for just one sit down dinner at a local restaurant, just a cheap night out at the dining room of Lauterbrunnen’s own Hotel Silberhorn (not to be confused with Wengen’s Hotel Silberhorn).


And we were rewarded with a traditional Swiss appetizer that we had only heard of but never seen in restaurants. The chef might have hailed from the Canton of Graubünden as they offered a traditional Bündner appetizer of Capuns, southeast Switzerland’s answer to the Greek Dolmades except with specks of cured beef as stuffing, Swiss chard instead of vine leaves as a wrap and topped with melted Emmental cheese and a creamy broth. Our cheapest dish easily starred as the best of the evening.


More melted cheese would follow in my hearty plate of Raclette, satisfying enough that I completely mopped it up with my own pickles and potatoes as well as the potatoes that my wife couldn’t finish off her entrée.


By this time the cordon bleu had become my wife’s favourite Swiss dish, though this rendition turned out slightly disastrous with the cheese oozing out the opposite end as she sunk her knife into the breaded pork. The gold standard in my wife’s mind is still Restaurant Beaulieu in Bern, but that’s probably asking a lot.

Meal for Two Persons

Capuns	CHF 13.5
Raclette	CHF 18.0
Schweins Cordonbleu	CHF 28.0
Glass of House Rose	CHF 3.8
Glass of House White	CHF 3.6
TOTAL	CHF 66.9 (CAD$93.7)

After dinner we took our usual stroll around the village, deep in the shadows of the vertical canyon and illuminated mainly by reflections of the sunset from the white glaciated peak of the Silberhorn. It's easy to see how J.R.R. Tolkien conceptualized the elven sanctuary of Rivendell after hiking through this valley in his youth.


We fell asleep to the rumbling of Staubbach Falls, illuminated and standing guard like a lampstand over the village. Optimally situated at the transfer point between the Bernese Oberland Railway to Interlaken, the Wengernalp Railway towards Kleine Scheidegg/Jungfrau and the cable car towards Mürren/Schilthorn, our homebase at Lauterbrunnen set us up for three unforgettable day-trips in these three directions, to be covered in the next three posts.

Swiss Grand Circle - 10. Renaissance City of Bern

After spending a morning at the medieval walled town of Murten, we reached our second UNESCO World Heritage Site in one day as we moved our homebase to the de facto Swiss capital of Bern, the only major city of our 16-day journey.


Friends have pointed out our tendency of omitting cities in favour of smaller quaint towns. In our 16-day Swiss Grand Circle we purposely skipped Zürich (apart from flying into its convenient airport), Geneva and Basel, the three largest Swiss cities by population, to make time for the likes of Appenzell and the Lavaux vineyards which we considered essential. But Bern isn’t an ordinary city; this was one of our trip’s highlights.


Archaic in its street layout and still partially Renaissance in architecture, Bern grew out of a hilly narrow peninsula enveloped on three sides by a sharp u-turn of River Aare -- perfect for medieval defenses but a headache in modern city planning -- and has since blossomed into this rare specimen of harmonious integration of a 21st century commercial centre and transport hub into its 16th century core.


The city’s heraldic symbol of bears, medieval in origin and markedly more menacing than the Paddington variety, became increasingly more noticeable the closer we traveled towards Bern. Here we couldn’t afford staying close to the historic quarter, opting instead for a cheap(er) room at Hotel ibis Bern Expo a 10 minute tram ride away.


Just two bus stops from our hotel, this panorama from the Rosengarten marked the start of a packed 2 km walk incorporating most of the major sights in Bern’s compact historic quarter. A former cemetery converted into a popular weekend hangout for citizens, this florid park has become better known for its postcard vista of the medieval centre than for its namesake roses.


A steep incline from the Rosengarten leads straight towards the unique BärenPark, a modernized bear enclosure that has kept alive Bern’s centuries-old tradition of housing its heraldic beast within the city. The current incarnation had been upgraded in 2009 to provide the bears with enlarged green living space on the bank of the Aare.


Directly west of the BärenPark are the 19th century stone arches of the Nydeggbrücke, crossing the Aare and entering a medieval town that has become the seat of Switzerland’s Federal Assembly. Other federal institutes such as the Federal Archives, Swiss National Library and Swiss Mint are now located a few hundreds metre south in the museum quarter.


Visitors entering Bern’s 600-metre-long main boulevard are inevitably greeted by the unmistakable sight of flamboyant Renaissance fountains, eleven in all and mostly originating from the hands of one single master sculptor from the 1500s. Standing proudly atop the pictured Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen is Lady Justice, comparably gentle among the colourful figures to grace these fountain pillars.


The narrowness of the peninsula gave rise to the medieval city plan of long and parallel streets, each lined with covered arcades on both sides to create a uniform and distinct townscape which led to Bern’s inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The combined 6 km of arched promenades also makes for one of Europe’s longest shopping arcades, rivalling Bologna south of the Alps.


Presence of the Vennerbrunnen, a Renaissance fountain honouring the medieval banner carriers who served as Bern’s political and military leaders, points the visitor towards the 15th Town Hall with its elegant Gothic arches. Next to the Town Hall stands a Catholic church dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, a minority in a city that converted its Cathedral to Prostestantism nearly almost 500 years ago.


Bears are apparently far from being the only famous residents. Einstein published his Special Theory of Relativity while staying in an apartment here on the main drag, and Lenin strategized his campaigns here in the years leading up to the Bolshevik Revolution.


Partway through the old town looms Switzerland’s tallest bell tower, 100m in the air and an remarkable feat of medieval engineering, belonging to Bern’s 600-year-old Cathedral that originated as Roman Catholic before converting to the Swiss Reformed Church. Most spectacular is the elaborate scene of the Last Judgment above the main portal, featuring the only 15th century religious statues in Bern to survive the Protestant Reformation.


The oldest monument in town is the 800-year-old Zytglogge, a 13th century clock tower that once functioned as Bern’s town gate before the city progressively expanded and new guard towers established. We arrived just in time at 18:00 to see the little knights make their hourly gallop out of the clockwork while Chronos struck the bell with his hammer at the top.


It was the loveliest and easiest 2 km stroll that started at the Rosengarten, passing the Bärengraben and crossing the Nydeggbrücke onto Gerechtigkeitsgasse, with two short diversions to the Rathaus and the Münster before continuing down Kramgasse to finish in the shadow of the Käfigturm. Finishing at the Bärenplatz also meant convenient access to multiple tram lines to maximize our dinner choices.


Having been surviving on supermarket lunches and dinners for the past two and a half days, we figured to have earned the rights to a proper sit-down dinner at one of Bern’s best-loved blue-collar restaurants. Tugged away in the student neighbourhood of Länggasse, Restaurant Beaulieu (see map) is a 120-year-old institution that predated Einstein’s stint as lecturer at the neighbouring University of Bern. Despite its pedigree, prices are quite affordable in Swiss terms, meaning roughly CHF 80 (CAD$112) for two with drinks. Ouch.


My wife smartly ordered one classic Swiss dish that I have no confidence making at our apartment kitchen, a perfectly-formed cordon bleu filled to the edges of its meaty envelope with melted cheese.


Look at this melted Emmental oozing out of the pocket of ham and pork, effortless becoming my wife’s favourite dish of our entire 16-day trip.


And the cordon bleu did not outshine this traditional dish of tenderly pan-seared calf liver, finished in an aromatic sauce of herbed butter and served with the Swiss staple of rösti. While I cannot speak to how authentic Beaulieu’s renditions of her Swiss classics are, this was a top notch restaurant to our tastebuds at reasonable prices.


It seemed proper to finish with a cheesecake at the capital of the Land of Cheese. Two excellent main courses, a dessert to share plus wine and beer, and it came to less than CHF 40 per head. I wouldn’t mind doing this again if we had one more day in Bern, and I’m sure my wife would agree.

Meal for Two Persons

Cordonlieu	CHF 29.5
Kalbsläberli mit Rösti	CHF 26.5
Cheesecake	CHF 9.5
Dunkle Perle 0.5L	CHF 6.7
Glass of Yvorne	CHF 4.6
TOTAL	CHF 76.8 (CAD$107.5)

The next morning we would leave town on an early train to spend the next three nights in the Bernese Highlands. In retrospect I would have loved one more day in Bern to properly explore its 6 km of lovely arcades, and with a couple hours spent floating down the Aare on an inflated tube like the locals. This is a city I would mind revisiting, perhaps in the winter as part of a ski trip.

Swiss Grand Circle - 09. Medieval Walled Town of Murten

Largely undiscovered by foreign visitors even in the internet age, medieval Murten may just be the most photogenic yet underrated destination on our 16-day circle route of Switzerland. And for a nation with more annual visitors than citizens, one would think that such hidden gems -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site, no less -- would have gone extinct by now.


This anonymity is even more inexplicable given Murten's accessibility, just 30 minutes from Bern by train in the direction of Lausanne and Geneva. Curious visitors would stumble into an enchanting townscape, settled continuously since the 1100s, of cobblestone streets lined with historic arcades, florid fountains and a clock tower echoing the Baroque elegance of Bern.


Within Switzerland Murten is renowned for the best-preserved medieval town walls, a complete ring of ramparts surviving its most famous battle in 1476 -- a key date in high school history books -- in which the Swiss Confederates routed the invading Burgundians to further consolidate its sovereignty. These legendary ramparts remain mostly navigable for today’s visitors, and for free.


Rising above Switzerland’s lake country atop a small hill on the southeast shore of Murtensee, the compact walled town features a mesmerizing 17th century skyline with dozens of roofed chimneys blooming out of a sea of orange clay tiles, a miniature San Gimignano in unmistakably north-of-the-Alps fashion.


Arriving would be effortless for train travelers from Bern or Lausanne, and took just one more transfer for us from our previous homebase on Lake Geneva's shore. Perhaps more importantly for wandering backpackers like ourselves, a cluster of weather-beaten lockers were available for stashing our heavy luggage before our short walk into town.


For first time visitors like ourselves, an invaluable introduction to the town’s landmarks is presented in the form of a panorama from the spartanly furnished Schlossturm, immediately to the left of the town gate upon entry, which had anchored the town's northwestern defenses for centuries.


360-degree views from the top windows illustrate the tower's strategic importance within the rectangular castle that once served as residence to the town's aristocratic governors, and now offices for the prefectural government in its bid to attract visitors.


A distinguishing feature of Murten's historic quarter is its series of charming arcades beneath its 17th century buildings, now occupied by pharmacies, confectioneries and not-so-latest fashions catering mostly to the locals. During Advent season these arcades on Hauptgasse would be linked together with the main square into a decent-sized Christmas market.


The influence of Bern is evident in the compact Baroque town, arcades on both sides of its cobblestoned main square culminating at its eastern end at a handsome clock tower aptly named Berntor. If its giant clock face looks familiar, it originated from the same Bernese architect who worked on the famous Zytglogge of Bern.


The historic town walls can be accessed from one of several entrances, including one on the southeastern edge of town next to the German church whose choir tower still forms part of the fortification. It was just to the east of the tower where Charles the Bold started his bombardment of Murten in the fateful battle ending in a humiliating defeat that preluded his own death.


A fully intact wall of 12th century sandstone and timber delineates the southern border of town complete with crenelated towers -- some still bearing pockmarks from Charles the Bold’s cannonballs -- awaiting the curious traveler.


12 towers amazingly survived that epic battle, their crenellations now serving as perfect support for camera tripods overlooking the sea of chimneys in the direction of the town’s 15th century French Church, easily distinguishable by its Gothic steeple.


From top of the Grosser Schimmel tower we gained a panoramic view of the surrounding lake country, right at western Switzerland’s language border and mutually governed by the Cantons of Fribourg and Bern for much of the town's 900-year-old history. The town now carries the officially bilingual name of Murten/Morat, a reminder to the rest of its French-speaking canton that it remains a predominantly German-speaking town.


A few dozen metres below the town walls exists the town's proud UNESCO World Heritage Site, a Bronze Age settlement of prehistoric stilt houses established at the edge of the Murtensee marshes 5000 years old. Nowadays the ancient site is identifiable only by the UNESCO plaque, its excavated artefacts having been relocated to the town's museum.


We would miss the museum unfortunately as it would be open for only three hours in the afternoon, even in high season. With a couple hours to spend before our onward train to Bern, we opted for a coffee and snack at arguably the old town's most famous bakery and confectionery.


Sheltered underneath the old arcade on the main square alongside traditional liquor stores and tailors, Bäckerei Aebersold is a 90-year-old institution famous for its old-fashioned rendition of a local specialty known as Nidelkuchen. And with an official website branded nidelkuchen.ch, you know that this place esteems itself as the national authority on this regional confection.


The Nidelkuchen turned out to be a melt-in-the-mouth soft sponge cake topped with multiple layers of a rich caramelized cream, somewhat reminiscent of the Latin American Dulce de Leche but a little less sweet. Combined with a slice of almond cream cake these made for a light yet sinful lunch for two.

Meal for Two Persons

Nidelkuchen (by weight)	CHF 5
Mandeltorte	CHF 3
Iced Coffee	CHF 2.3
TOTAL	CHF 10.3 (CAD$14.4)

My wife shopped for some fashion accessories after lunch before we picked up our backpacks from the locker and took an early afternoon train to Bern. In retrospect this fascinating little town probably ranked first among the thirteen destinations on our grand circle of Switzerland in its lack of tourists -- we came across less than 5 visitors as we navigated the town walls, arguably the town's biggest tourist attraction next to its town square. For independent travelers in need of a break from the tourist bus hordes of Luzern or Zermatt, this is an authentic corner of Switzerland that I highly recommend.