Murten & Avenches

Our 4th day in Switzerland we checked out of our hotel in Lausanne and headed North about an hour to the city & Swiss capital Bern. Again we stayed at a hotel on the outskirts of town but it wasn't ready for us yet, so we drove another 10 minutes to the small town of Murten.

We did a short walking tour of the town. Of course there was a fun fountain.

We walked the ramparts around the town.

Took in the views of the castle, town and lake.

We snacked on a picnic lunch then headed over to another nearby town of Avenches just a few miles away. Avenches was once a Roman capital called Aventicum and is filled with Roman ruins.

The Roman amphitheater seats 18,000 and is currently used for concerts & plays. We happened to be there during the Opera festival which is held every year for a few weeks. They were setting up for it when we arrived as the Opera was going on that evening.

We walked through the small town and stopped for an ice cream at the fountain.

Sophie found the town's park. We ended up staying here for about 2 hours as we struck up a conversation with a local father who was there with his little boy. Chris enjoyed talking culture, politics and Swiss life with this man.

Just outside of town were Roman ruins in a field. They were fun to explore. You just don't see this 2000 year old stuff around in a field at home.


Sophie enjoyed collecting sticks as we walked around the ruins.

The Roman theater.

I think these Roman ruins are just fascinating. Our guide book said that all metal detectors in the area must be registered and local mothers tell their children not to dig in the yard as it would bring on the archaeologists. There was a gold bust of Marcus Aurelius found in an old Roman sewer here in 1939. There was a little local museum of Roman artifacts found in the area but it was closed.

Late that evening we went back to Murten for dinner. They had a great Italian restaurant with fun outdoor seating that we ate at, then drove on in to Bern and our hotel for the night.