Murten

     One afternoon in Bern, we hopped on a train and went west to the medieval town of Murten. It is located on the southern shores of Lake Murten. It is a mostly German speaking town, but in a French-speaking canton. The oldest archaeological evidence of a settlement here go back to the Mesolithic period of 8200-5500 BC. The evidence is mostly small shards of flint from that era used for tools and weapons.

     It goes without saying that there is a lot of history here. We had an afternoon visit and enjoyed it very much. Lake Murten looked like a good sized lake to me but it's actually not that big by Swiss standards.

     Our entrance into town looked like we were entering a medieval town. It has picturesque architecture, cobblestone streets, and views of the lake.

     At one point, we walked back outside of the old town wall for our guide to point out some history. He showed us some canon balls that were shot into the fortified wall and have remained there. I didn't argue but it looked like some more recent cement work than the Middle Ages.

     We admired Murten Castle and we walked a portion of the old town wall and climbed up the central tower. Walking old town walls is always one of my favorite things to do in medieval towns. The wall is on the right and from there, we had a good view of the lake, behind the town.

     We ended our town tour at the Hotel Crowne. We had a talk with a winemaker in the basement of the building which was an ancient room. Then we went to the dining room where we tasted four wines from the Vully wine region which is across the lake from Murten. We had a nice view of the lake. 

     Wine tasting was followed by dinner. We had fresh bread and salad, as usual. I had pan-fried rump steak with mushroom sauce, dumplings, and vegetables. We had vermicelli for dessert.