MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Thoughts on Aare river cruise + 3 lakes area?
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Hi Maggie- thanks. There are quite few restaurants in Twann. Quality varies widely.
The most famous and prominent one is the Bären. The food there is not worth seeking out based on my opinion and that of a friend.
Slowpoke
Maggie,
Thanks for your reply and observations. I think we’ll be OK with the slow pace as well. Suits us more these days. We’ll pick a few bottles of local wine (there’s 6 of us!), and enjoy the scenery!
Slowpoke,
Need to find a time to work through the pics today and tomorrow, hopefully with my brother-in-law and wife (going with us on the trip) as they are in from Chicago for a few days. I do appreciate the effort and time you have given both to our trip and the forum at large.
Mike J
Hi Mike-
Glad to help.
It’s always nice to find someone who is interested in areas out side the Berner Oberland. And, I really like the area and its ties to the Roman Empire all along the Aare valley well up into Aargau. There was a huge Roman legion camp at what is now Brugg (not the small Brugg near Biel.)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Vindonissa
http://www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/brugg-windisch.html
And once you are at Murten, your are not far from Avenches ( Roman Aventicum).
Wine –
Schafiser Gutedel has a good reputation around Switzerland.
I do not recall that I have ever seen people byo wine on the boats.
Since they have a restaurant on board, they probably count on the income, and may not appreciate…or even permit, byo. Just like US airlines.
Slowpoke
Slowpoke,
Will check out those links. Thanks
<<“Since they have a restaurant on board, they probably count on the income, and may not appreciate…or even permit, byo. Just like US airlines.”>>
You are more than likely correct, it does make sense – just like the big cruise ships too. So we’ll find out for sure, and save the wine for the scenic overlooks and picnic areas. I was trying to remember seeing anyone eat something outside the restaurants not purchased on board the ferries, and I don’t recall seeing that either. So certainly best to avoid the taboo’s.
Mike J
I corrected the spelling of Schafiser Gutedel.
Frau Mettler will also be happy to sell you bottles from her families’ vineyards. They make a very nice – non-New Zealand style- Sauvignon Blanc, although Chasselas is more common.
I think this guy may be a relative. She does have his wines from time to time. She introduced me once at dinner time.
http://www.vivino.com/winerie s/robert-andrey-schafis
http://www.facebook.com/andre yschafisweinbau/?rf=115987538476887
Slowpoke
PS.- if you really get serious about stopping in Ligerz, I’ll ask Arno to pass on my name to you. If you mention me to Frau Mettler, you will get a bit of extra attention, no discount, and I’ll win friendship points. 😉
Hi Mike,
I haven’t made a post to MySwissAlps for so long that I had to reset my password. But I wanted to contribute a few comments:
<< I see my Swiss castle map has 4 castles on Bielersee – Château de Neuchâtel, Château de Boudry, Château de Grandson, and Château de Chenaux, and haven’t been to any of those places.>> The four châteaux you mention are all on Lake Neuchâtel (Lac de Neuchâtel), in Neuchâtel, Boudry, Grandson, and Estavayer-le-Lac. The first two are in the canton de Neuchâtel, Grandson is in the canton de Vaud, and Estavayer-le-Lac is in the canton de Fribourg. If you look at the attached map, you can see the scattered cantonal boundaries around the lake. If you start in the city of Neuchâtel and walk around the lake in a clockwise direction, you are in Neuchâtel, then Berne, back to a tiny sliver of Neuchâtel, then an enclave of Vaud, then Fribourg, and then back to Vaud, and all the way back to Neuchâtel.
You can google all four of the chateaux, and I must admit that after looking at the Chenaux one, I will take a trip around the lake to see it. Of the other three, I prefer the one in Grandson, mainly because of its architecture and its very extensive museum. When you look at these places online, be sure to note the days they are open and their opening hours. I notice that the Grandson one is in French and English, not the case with the ones in Boudry and Estavayer-le-Lac. I do not believe the one in Neuchâtel has a dedicated website but you can find some information on the Jura Trois Lacs Drei-Seen-Land website.
By the way, if you do have the time, do visit the old walled city of Morat (Murten) on the lake of the same name.
Attachments:
Hi Slowpoke,
I’ll get back to you after we have firmer plans. Would love to stop in and see Frau Mettler and let her know we arrived at your recommendation, but we’ll wait and see how our itinerary works out. I am certainly leaning towards a visit to this area, but with 6 in the group… we’ll see, but if I were a betting man, I’d say will be visiting this area.
Mike J
Hi Peterli,
Glad I managed to bring you out of retirement (though more likely it was Lucas’s retirement)! Thanks for the info. I do think we’d like to include Murten in our list of sites to visit in this area – so much to see. I have a castle map that I referenced in this thread that identifies and locates the castles in Switzerland, and had shared (with the permission of the moderators here). And on continued exploration of Murten, discovered that there is a Schloss there as well. So I added that to my Google map that lists 41 castles in Switzerland:
drive.google.com/open?id=1dYNEm-yjcdO-MnqNtQ416Z1WMjE
I tried to add URL’s to the castle locations so that info was available. Hopefully it’s helpful to someone.
Mike J
<<“I’ll get back to you after we have firmer plans. Would love to stop in and see Frau Mettler and let her know we arrived at your recommendation, but we’ll wait and see how our itinerary works out.”>
Of course. Let’s see how it goes.
On another note. Getting Peterli back in the Forum is a good trick. Thanks. .
Finally the Chateau Chenaux that I would visit is in Fribourg.
Slowpoke
Hi Mike-
<<“Regarding my roots, they are French Huguenot, and been traced to Alsace region of France in early 1500’s with my ancestors being driven out of the area later with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1661.”>>
I had a colleague in Geneva with Swiss roots that began starting from the same revocation of the Edict. He, and what I have occasionally seen of some enterprises with Huguenot roots suggest to me that France’s loss was a gain for the rest of the World.
Slowpoke
Hej,
Another wonderful place in the region to visit is Le Landeron, situated in the canton de Neuchâtel right next to La Neuveville, which is in the canton de Berne, at the south-west end of of lac de Bienne (also known as the Bielersee). See the attached map. The old part of Le Landeron is the site of la Fête de la Brocante, Switzerland’s largest outdoor antique show held in late September, on the same weekend as la Fête des Vendanges in close-by Neuchâtel. In the heart of the old part of le Landeron you will find the magnificent old Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), built in 1450 (yes, that is 42 years before Cristoforo Colombo left Palos, Spain to “sail the ocean blue” with his three ships) to meet the needs of an expanding medieval city, which today houses le Musée du Landeron. Check out their website here: http://www.fhvl.ch/ There are no extensive galleries per sé on this website, but if you just watch the background images change every ten seconds or so, you will get a hint as to what awaits you. They are open Saturdays and Sundays from 14h30 to 17h30 from April to November. Admission is free, and donations are gratefully accepted. I took a bunch of photos there last September and will post some if I can dig them up, perhaps even a small video of an amazing clock. I will probably get time-outed again, as I did yesterday, so will save what I have done so far and any photos I find will be in another post.
Oops, I just noticed that if you go to "collections" on the fhvl site, you will be treated to a series of images, including the clock I referred to earlier. I did a screen save of that image and am posting it below.
Slowpoke,
I would certainly agree with you. Out of that very dark time came many stories of renewal and hope in new places of promise. Brings us full circle to the 500th Anniversary of the reformation being celebrated in Switzerland, primarily lauded here for its social change.
Mike J
Peterli,
I did follow the links and the museum is very interesting. More to see and do! The 3 Lakes area does look like a wonderful place to explore and wander about. We’ll need to do a planning session with the group to prioritize our brief time in Switzerland. Thanks for adding to our choices!
Mike J
Attached are a couple of photos I dug up from my visit to le Musée du Landeron.
The first is a model of le Landeron when it was surrounded by somewhat of a moat with access over bridges at either end of the old town. This maquette shows what it was like in 1680. But the commune is much older than that; it’s name first appears in texts from the Benedictine Monastery of nearby Erlach in 1209, and before that date the group of houses in that area was called Nugerol.
The second is a close-up of part of the old clock in the museum. It was built by Louis-Delphin Odobey in Morez, in the Jura region of France, not far from the border with the Swiss canton de Vaud (see attached map). If you can read French and are interested in this sort of thing, you might like looking at this: http://www.horloge-edifice.fr/Horlogers/O dobey_Louis-Delphin.htm
Dear all,
Thank you so much for all of your input, pictures and tips, I am sure it’s greatly appreciated.
I can’t stop reading myself..feel like going to explore “that corner” of my country more extensively right away.. 🙂There’s no end to sharing and learning.
Thanks again.
Best,
Steph
Peterli,
Thanks for those notes. I did check the link and pictures – fascinating story about the clock making family and their history, though I must confess I do not speak or write French, and had to rely on Google translate. I think that between your input, and Slowpoke’s, we are definately reserving a day to visit this region, and I’ll post a trip report here as follow up.
Steph,
Yes, I agree and appreciate the feedback from everyone on this lesser known Swiss destination. Can’t wait for our upcoming trip.
Mike J
Hello again,
As I was reading through the past few posts to this thread, I asked myself “Do we know when Mike is making this trip ?”, so I went back to the beginning of it all and see that the answer is “yes”. You are making this trip in late May / early June. A nice time to visit and one before most of the tourists arrive. When you are over in la région des trois lacs (Bienne, Morat, and Neuchâtel) you will probably find that most of the “tourists” that are there are Swiss themselves. They know the places to go and they love to visit the country and how to enjoy a more slow kind travel. Of course, the country is at their doorsteps and they don’t have to rush around the way many tourists do. I know there are so many great places to visit and tourists don’t want to miss any of what they are told are the “best” ones, and so I am impressed when somebody is coming from a foreign country and choosing to visit an area that is off the regular tourist-beaten track.
Slowpoke,
You wrote:
“PS.- if you really get serious about stopping in Ligerz, I’ll ask Arno to pass on my name to you. If you mention me to Frau Mettler, you will get a bit of extra attention, no discount, and I’ll win friendship points. ;-)”
We plan on having lunch with our Swiss friends in Biel following the Aare River Cruise, then if time permits, move on to Ligerz, have a glass of wine, and greet Frau Mettler. We are planning this for a Wednesday, so should work with Hotel Kreuz’s schedule. Would like to catch the funicular up to the Pilgerweg, probably late afternoon as you suggested. If you are still OK with it, Arno can email your name to me, and we’ll pass on your regards.
Appreciate all the input from the folks on this thread. Depending on how the day goes, we may return another day for a visit to Lake Neuchâtel and surrounds per Peterli suggestions.
Mike J
I’ll ask Arno to do so.
Did so.
I’ll be there on the 13th and 14th of June, so I ‘ll check to see if you made it there.
The Mettlers have nice garden outpost on the lake shore, Le Jardin, which they open sporadically until Summer arrivesThen, it is usually open. It is a nice spot, but you have to take the nearby pedestrian underpass under the railroad to get to their “Jardin” and the lake shore. So, they really have to man the small bar, etc., although occasional traffic probably can be accommodated. I’d not expect them to have it open before late June, but you never know. It is directly across the tracks from the hotel:
If you let me know your planned date of travel, I’ll alert the Mettlers to have a nice bottle or two on hand from the better vineyard(s) there.
I’d suggest a white, but she may have a red that is good. That area is not known for its reds.
Slowpoke
Hi Mike,
I had figured that this thread had died out, so it is nice to hear that you will be going to Ligerz (Gléresse en français), and so if you have the time, the comments I made back on March 8 and 9 are still there for your consideration. Just in case it slipped by unnoticed, I will repeat this suggestion: “By the way, if you do have the time, do visit the old walled city of Morat (Murten auf deutsch) on the lake of the same name.” Everything is so close in this three lakes regin, le Pays-des-Trois-Lacs (Drei-Seen-Land in German) of Switzerland and with the existing transportation (rail, boat, and road) systems, you can see so much in a short amount of time.
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