BERN IN ONE DAY

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Day 3: BERNA - THUN - OBERHOFEN - SPIEZ - INTERLAKEN

After spending a most pleasant night, in which we have not opened an eye after the full day we had yesterday touring the Castle of Chillon, Gruyères and Freiburg, we woke up at 6 in the morning with fully renewed energies and looking forward to getting to know all the places we have in mind to see Bern in one day.
After breakfast, today we have it included in the room price of the Ibis Budget Bern Expo, we collect our bags and we go to find the car, which as we said yesterday, we have parked in a blue zone, quite close to the hotel, which is free until 9 in the morning.

A few minutes after 8 in the morning we start with the route of Bern in one day and we go straight to Rosengarten by also parking on a street right next to it, in the blue zone.

Rosengarten in Bern

This is one of the Bern parks, located in the upper part of the city, from where we have incredible views of Bern. Surely the best in the city.

At the Rosengarten viewpoint in Bern

They say that to Rosengarten in Bern It goes more for the views that there are in the city than for its flowers and after our experience, we can confirm it. From here you can see the city from a different and exceptional perspective.

Views of Bern from Rosengarten

In Rosengarten they have an incredible garden with a few tables in the sun that seems to call us shouting. Too bad not having more days to enjoy Bern, because surely this would be one of our favorite places.
After this brief stop, we return to the car and go down to the lower part of the city, where the "controversial" bear pit, where we return to park our rental car in Switzerland.
We parked a little before the pit, on the downhill street, again in the blue zone (we are often saving parking) and take the opportunity to get off walking, with incredible views of the city, this time closer to the river and from where the meanders that surround it are much better appreciated.

Views of Bern and its meanders

Arriving in the area of the bear pit, we have to consider that the truth is that it is not something that we like very much to see animals that are not in their natural habitat, but we can not deny that it is another Bern attractions and we want to see it and then be able to comment with knowledge.

Bear pit in Bern

At first and after analyzing the situation a bit, we have to say that we decidedly did not like this attraction of Bern, although we have been able to verify something and it is that it is Switzerland, by many people who are in one place , you will not see anyone screaming, or trying to sneak or push.
A great example to consider and of course follow.

It doesn't take us 5 minutes to get back to the car, where Roger decides to put our cardboard watch at 11.30, still being 10 in the morning, to have time until 14.30 in the afternoon that we intuit will be more or less the time at which we will end to visit and enjoy Bern.
I do not agree with this lie and we will tell you later if it has worked or we have taken a good fine.
In this case it is not about paying more or less, it is simply that they do not let you be more than the established time and to avoid having to return, we have "changed" the arrival time.
We cross the bridge that takes us to the historical area of Bern, passing first through the main street Gerechtigkeits, where we find the famous Bern fountains and its Clock Tower.

Historic area of Bern

The medieval center of Bern is a very picturesque destination that has about 6 kilometers of arcades, shops and bars in underground cellars.
After the devastating fire of 1405, the city was rebuilt and the wood was replaced by the characteristic gray-green sandstone.

Bern streets

One of the landmarks is the Zytglogge or Clock Tower, which was part of the western gate of the city.

Clock tower. Bern in one day

Another of the emblematic points of Bern are its decorative fountains, which represent historical figures. Most focus on the sections of the Marktgasse, but the most famous is in the Kornhausplatz, the Kindlifresserbrunnen or Fountain of the Ogre, which represents a giant begging children.

Kindlifresserbrunnen Fountain or Ogre Fountain

Bern streets

After this morning walk through Bern, we go to the Kornhaus building, now converted into a cafeteria, where after thinking twice, we end up not stopping to continue knowing Bern.
We continue our route heading back to the Clock Tower and the Federal Palace.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Switzerland
- Swiss route by train
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Switzerland
- 10 amazing places to see in Switzerland
- 10 essential places to see in Bern

All the streets are lively at this time of the morning with people taking something on the terraces, taking advantage of these moments in the sun that will surely not last long in this area of the world.
From here we continue on our way to Berner Münster or Bern Cathedral where we enter and after visiting inside, Roger pays the 5 francs that give him access to the tower from which he can contemplate some of the most incredible views of the city.

Bern Cathedral

The spire of this Gothic cathedral is 100 meters and is the highest in Switzerland. You can access through a spiral staircase, after paying 5 francs and thus have incredible views of the Bernese Alps and on the descent, observe the upper and lower bells that ring every day.

Views of Bern from the Cathedral

At the entrance of the Cathedral of Bern you can see the main portal, dedicated to the Last JudgmentThe mayor of Bern appears on the way to heaven, while his Zurich counterpart goes head to hell.

Details of the main portal of the Cathedral. Bern in one day

After this visit and these incredible views, we return to the main street to take some pictures of Einstein's house and decide that instead of eating here, as we had planned, we will go to Thun, which will be our next stop and so we will take more advantage the afternoon.

Einstein's house in Bern

When we are coming back to the bear pit, we see that they have enabled, in an area parallel to the river and that connects with the pit, a kind of park somewhat larger than the pit, which for a few minutes leaves us more convinced of this attraction.

Park that they have enabled for bears next to the pit

It is 12 in the morning when we take the car and mark on our GPS the city of Thun, where we will arrive after 20 minutes crossing some roads surrounded by green and greener.
We arrive at Thun at 12.30 and after seeing that the parkings in the blue zone are 1 hour for 2 francs, we go directly to a covered one where the rate is the same and we have no time limit.
Before starting with the visit of the city, we take the opportunity to stop and eat at a fast food restaurant, usual one day on our trips such as McDonals.
As expected despite being a fast food place, it is much more expensive than we are used to in other countries: 26 frankly two large menus !!
After a lively desktop, we go back to the street with a sun of justice when it is just after 2 in the afternoon.
We start by taking a short walk, aimlessly through the streets of the city, to go down the food and take advantage of this sun.

Corners of the city of Thun

After this walk, we go through the little streets that will take us to the Schloss Thun or Thun Castle, located on top of a hill and with 900 centuries of history behind it.

Views of Thun Castle

This Castle belonged to Duke Bertoldo V, of the powerful Zahringer family. Now it houses a museum, where prehistoric and Roman relics, tapestries and piles of armor are exhibited.

Thun Castle

Once in the upper area, right at the base of the Castle, from where we had read that we would have the best views of Thun, we decided that it is best to return to the old town since we are not able to see even the city from here.

Bridge that leads us from the Castle to Altstadt

We arrived to Altstadt, the beautiful old town of Thun, whose squares and streets are lined with houses of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Beautiful streets of the city of Thun

Here also highlights the Untere Schleusenbrücke, a 300-year-old covered wooden bridge, lined with pink and purple flowers in the summer months.

Untere Schleusenbrücke, the Thun city bridge

We pass by the wooden bridge and the ferris wheel, an area of the most acclimated and we return to another of the main streets where we stop for coffee and a paste that cleared us a bit of the morriña that is entering us at this time of the After lunch

Snacking in the city of Thun

At 15.30 in the afternoon we return to the parking lot where we left the car and after paying 8 crowns for almost 4 hours, we put direction to Oberfraun Castle halfway to Spiez, where we just want to stop a few minutes to have some views of the outside and take some pictures of the enclave.
The GPS marks us 8 minutes and if we are not mistaken, we would say that we have taken even a little less to arrive.
We arrive at Oberfraun CastleWe parked right next door and found ourselves in the middle of a wedding without realizing it!
Making ourselves a little clueless, we passed through the tables, following our path to take some photos of this castle on the banks of a lake that gives us some of the most beautiful scenes we have seen so far, reminding us in some way to the Castle of Chillon we saw yesterday.

Wedding at Oberfraun Castle

Oberfraun Castle

After a few minutes taking a walk around, we return to the car and now we are going to Spiez, less than 5 kilometers, where we arrive in less than 10 minutes to its famous castle.
We park again in the blue zone, where we pay 1.50 francs for 1 hour and go to the area of the Schloss Spiez or Spiez Castle, a medieval castle that emerges among emerald vineyards.

Vineyards around Spiez Castle

Spiez Castle

After a while in the castle, we follow a downhill side path, which leads us to an area of grass-beach that we are seeing so much on this trip to Switzerland from which we have views that take away the hiccups.

Spiez Lake

The truth is that we know that one day we will return, like many other sites, just to enjoy these sites without having to look at the clock.
Shortly before 6 pm we return to the car and head towards Interlaken, the city where we will stay tonight.
It took 15 minutes to get to Interlaken from Spiez and we are lucky to be able to park very close to the Swisslodge Falken hotel, on the same street, where we see that from 7 in the afternoon to 7 in the morning it is free. So we already have free parking for today 😉
Interlaken is very lively at this time of the afternoon so we go quickly hotel, we check in and after a few minutes of rest we go for a walk through the streets of the city before going to dinner at a pizzeria downtown a plate of pasta, beer and coke for 45.20 francs.