Frommer's Switzerland by Beth G. Bayley
Author:Beth G. Bayley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FrommerMedia
Published: 2019-11-24T16:00:00+00:00
On Foot This is the only way to see the old Upper Town effectively. Afterward, you can take the subway to Ouchy and resume your walk along the lakefront quays.
Lausanne’s civic authorities conduct a guided walking tour of the older part of the city, lasting 2 hours, Monday through Saturday. Departure is from place de la Palud, adjacent to the city hall, at 10am and 2:30pm. The cost is 15CHF or adults and free for accompanying children. For more information on this, or on any of the “specialty tours,” which require a minimum, prearranged group of five participants, see www.lausanne-a-pied.ch or enquire at the tourism office (see “Essentials,” above) or click on www.lausanne-tourisme.ch.
Exploring Lausanne
The cathedral of Lausanne, place de la Cathédrale, is the focal point of the Upper Town and one of the finest medieval churches in Switzerland. North of the cathedral, at the end of the Upper Town, is the Château Saint-Maire. It was built of brick and stone in the 14th and early 15th centuries. Powerful bishops lived here until they were replaced by the Bernese bailiffs, who turned Lausanne into a virtual colony of Bern. Today, the château is used for the canton’s administrative offices.
On place de la Palud, in the center of town, is the Hôtel de Ville (town hall), which has a 17th-century Renaissance facade; it was completely restored in the late 1970s. Today it’s the headquarters of the Communal Council. Also on the square is the Fountain of Justice, dating from 1726. A clock with animated historical scenes presents a drama every hour on the hour from 9am to 7pm daily. To visit the cathedral, take the Escaliers du Marché, a covered flight of medieval stairs on one side of the square.
North of place de la Palud is place de la Riponne, at the edge of which sits the Italianate Palais de Rumine, built in 1906. It contains several museums, including an interesting collection of relics dating from original settlements, a university founded in 1537, and the university and cantonal library with some 700,000 volumes.
On the east side of town, Mon Repos Park contains landscaped gardens and the Empire Villa, where Voltaire performed his work Zaïre for a group of friends. The Tribunal Fédéral is in the northern area of the park; it was constructed in the 1920s and today houses Switzerland’s highest court.
To the north, the mostly timber-built Tour de Sauvabelin, which stands very close to a panoramic lookout known simply as le signal, rises above the town. At 637m (2,089 ft.), both the tower and its nearby belvedere overlook Lac Léman with the Fribourg Alps rising in the distance. Some high-energy travelers make it a point to climb to the belvedere from the center of Lausanne, a trek that takes—for very fit hill climbers—about 25 minutes along clearly signposted trails.
Ouchy is the lakeside resort and bustling port of Lausanne. Its tree-shaded quays have flower gardens that are nearly half a mile long. The small harbor contains a 700-boat marina, and the Savoy Alps are visible on the opposite shore.
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