Tracing the Roots of Switzerland: 1 Day in the Cantons of Vaud and Fribourg

ONE DAY IN THE CANTONS OF VAUD AND FRIBOURG

Early on a Friday morning in March I set out from the Berner Oberland to Avenches, on a hill top (just barely) within the borders of the Canton of Vaud. With sweeping views over Lake Murten and the surrounding Swiss Plateau, this small medieval walled city disguises a massively outsized influence on the history of Switzerland. The perfect place for the next installment in our series One Year: 26 Cantons.

Today, this unassuming region is quiet and largely overlooked at the interface between German and French speaking Switzerland, but this was once Aventicum, Capital of Roman Helvetia.

Join me as I explore Avenches and the ruins of Aventicum then beat feat along the shores of Lake Murten to Murten or Morat, the town for which the lake is named. If you are looking for an excellent daytrip off the beaten path, then this should be near the top of your list! Stunning history, architecture, and landscape, what more could you ask for?

Looking out on the Roman amphitheater at Avenches

Exploring Medieval Avenches

The city walls of Avenches built on the hill above Aventicum in the 11th Century

A small population has persisted near Avenches since well before Roman times but this strategically advantageous position on the top of the hill was only chosen for the town around the 11th Century.

After circling the town center on my tour, I ended at a medieval tower built within the remains of a Roman amphitheater, the only clear evidence (on the hill) of Avenches’ Roman roots.

Today the amphitheater tower hosts an excellent (and completely free) museum on Roman history which interprets all manner of artifacts unearthed in the surrounding area from fantastic mosaics to swords, pots, and golden busts of Roman Emperors.

By the time I reached Avenches, I was one of the last people left on the slow train between Bern and Lausanne. I hopped off and blindly followed the only other person within a half-mile up the hill. This turned out to be the right move as the walls and towers of Medieval Avenches came into view as we curved up the hill.

Mosaics found in Aventicum on display in the Roman history museum at Avenches

My short visit to the tower museum proved an excellent interlude that set up the history of Roman Aventicum nicely before I headed down the hill on my search for more of Switzerland’s hidden past.

I have to be honest, before I went to the museum, I knew there were some Roman ruins in Avenches but I had no clue about their extent or significance. Avenches seems to get (a bit unfairly) lost in the noise surrounding busier, and more heavily excavated Roman sites in Switzerland like Agusta Raurica in the Canton of Basel-Land or Windisch in the Canton of Aargau.

Avenches is a bit rough around the edges, at least by Swiss standards, but nonetheless hosts a well-appointed town center echoing more affluent days gone by. The crumbling sandstone defensive walls and towers make for an interesting wander and the town has a nice self-guided walking tour that can be found at the small information center in the town center.

Fittingly, the old town church, usually my first stop in any new part of Switzerland, was the first stop on the tour. Built over several centuries, the church, and the town more generally, have seen a few expansions and modifications to fit the changing needs.

Aventicum, the Capital of Roman Helvetia

Under pressure from Alemanni tribes pushing further south, a sizeable Helveti contingent attempted to migrate into Gaul in modern day France around 58 BC. Seeing this as an unwanted advance into allied territory, Julius Ceaser led 6 Roman legions to halt the Helveti.

Ceaser's actions ultimately saw the Helveti pushed back into their native lands in Western Switzerland and the formation of the Roman colony of Helvetia. The Romans looked to Aventicum, already a powerful town profiting from its position near the shores of Lake Murten, to become the Capital of the colony around the year 15 BC.

With this monumental rise to power came the benefits and, at least some of the riches of the Roman Empire. Around its peak, the 20,000 residents of Aventicum sprawled out over the plains below the hill on which Avenches was eventually built.

For three Centuries, Aventicum thrived as a regional and cultural hub. The Forum at the center served as a meeting place, the ampitheater, one of the highest structures on the hill above the town, played host to gladiator fights and hunts, and the theater hosted plays direct from the heart of the empire. Perhaps most importantly, Aventicum’s many temples appeased the Roman Gods in the days before Christianity.

After leaving the tower museum I headed through an arched entrance and into the middle of the Roman amphitheater. I promised Corinne when I left the house that I had no intentions of pretending to be a Gladiator, but I will freely admit that the urge was quite strong. It was just too easy to stand there alone at the center of this remarkably well-preserved stadium and transport myself.

View of Avenches from the entrance to the Roman Amphitheater at Aventicum

Day dreaming complete (for the moment), I followed signs from the Amphitheater down the hill and across a busy street into the middle of a farm field. While a bit of an akward position today, this field was once the bustling center of Aventicum. There is readily available evidence for several of the larger sites including a temple, a theater, and large bath house in the field but, all together, these amount to less than a quarter of the city unearthed.

Wandering the field between the visible ruins of Aventicum, I really had a hard time coming to terms with the seeming lack of concern for Switzerland’s cultural heritage. Directly in front of the terracotta and mosaic filled bathhouse, a recently plowed field chock full of smashed terracotta and carved stone… thousands of artifacts.

Coming from the United States, it is safe to say that this site would be protected, if not a National Park. To be fair though, in a place with as much history as Switzerland, it is hard to find a single place that wouldn’t qualify.

A recently plowed field full of fragments from Roman times

Looking out over the Frontier of an Empire

The Eastern Gate of Aventicum

Around Aventicum's peak, a 5.6 km long (semi) defensive wall was built around the town primarily to demonstrate its high status in the Roman empire. Several small portions of this wall still exist and its eastern-most gate is stunning. The spot provides sweeping views over Aventicum and far beyond. This sightline proved useful far beyond Roman times leading to the expansion and preservation of the wall at this site over the ensuing centuries. The eastern gate is a perfect spot for a picnic lunch with shady benches and a couple small towers to climb.

As I sat on one of the benches, munching away and looking out over Aventicum, it was not so hard to imagine the rise and fall of this frontier capital. Aventicum, on the far edge of Roman territory, profited from the abundance of the Roman Empire but ultimately disintegrated under the weight of its collapse.

Political turmoil in the 5th Century saw most of Aventicum’s once great structures demolished. The stones were required to build defensive fortifications against an unstable, and less than friendly, world.

In the wake of the fall of the Roman Empire, Aventicum fell from grace and consolidated but never completely dissolved. Residents collected along the bottom of the hill and made do all the way through to the Middle Ages and the construction of the walled city of Avenches.

Views from the Eartern Gate at Aventicum

To the Shores of Lake Murten

From my picnic spot at the top of the rise overlooking Aventicum, I followed the remains of the town wall in the direction of Lake Murten.

My path from Aventicum to the lake was less than ideal. I took a narrow sidewalk along the side of a busy road (where I received evil glares from drivers passing by), passed over unprotected train tracks next to a Nespreso coffee factory and finally wandered a forest road up to a water treatment plant outletting treated sewage into a small, revitalized wetland. Yummy.

To be fair though, once I got past the treatment plant the wetland was quite nice and very quiet. I saw lots of waterfowl and a proper beaver dam, excellent evidence of the prolific, but hard-won, return of Switzerland’s wetland habitats.

The wetlands themselves outlet into Lake Murten in the middle of an inexorably jam-packed Swiss campground. Doing my best to subvert the chaos of frisbees, soccer balls, and bikes, I made my way to the water with a nice view over the lower lake. Unfortunately, to my dismay, most of the path between here and Murten was in an out of neighborhoods, forests, and farm fields with rare pocket views of the lake.

Feet aching and dying of boredom, I tried to abandon the walk and catch the train at Faoug, about half-way to Murten, but significant delays willed me onward. Thankfully the second half of the walk had slightly more diverse views but, really, it wasn’t until I was just outside of Murten that things started to properly look up again.

Wetlands between Avenches and Lake Murten

Murten, the Fortress on the Hill

As I trudged my tired feet up the hill and into Murten, it quickly became clear that the town would stand in stark contrast to the rest of my day. Where Avenches had been downright quiet and local, Murten was bustling and in tip top tourist shape.

The defensive wall surrounding Murten with great views over the rooftops

I stumbled upon the highlight of my visit to Murten while wandering the town center. In a hidden corner behind a church, you can climb a narrow staircase up onto the town’s eastern defensive wall. The views over the rooftops are fantastic and it was fun to explore a bit of medieval history in relatively unparalleled fidelity. There are not many towns in Switzerland where you have such unfettered access.

Views into the town of Murten along the shores of Lake Murten

These walls, still pock marked by canon fire, came under siege during the Burgundian Wars on June 11th, 1476. The ensuing Battle of Murten on the 22nd, was a crushing defeat of Burgundian forces.

While Burgundian forces were well prepared for a Swiss counter offensive to their siege, they did not expect a delayed Swiss attack and were largely caught off guard when the Swiss finally arrived. For every Swiss casualty, there were an estimated 20 Burgundian casualties securing Switzerland’s reputation as a fierce military power on a global scale and marking the beginning of the end for Burgundy.

This bilingual town with its impressive Castle and Medieval town defenses stands guard over the lake and surrounding valley. The town center is incredibly charming and, unsurprisingly, sees a significant number of visitors.

Calling it Quits

While the wine bars and restaurants of Murten appealed to me, the holiday crowds did not. I was getting a bit burned out and decided to call it a day after climbing down from the city wall.

According to the Fitbit, my day totaled around 22 km’s, or 14 miles, of walking and I was pretty much beat but you could easily cut this down considerably by making use of the train.

Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend the walk between Avenches and Murten. Unless you are staying in the incredibly packed lake shore campground (I pity you), you are better off spending your time in the towns. For a taste of the Lake Shore you can easily take a stair case down from the Murten old town.

Murten is on my list for a closer look in the future and I would highly recommend going out of your way to drop by both Avenches and Murten. Just make the most of the train!

If you enjoyed hearing about this trip, check out the other articles in our series One Year: 26 Cantons. We post a new blog each week so stay tuned for more.

Until next time, gute Reise, and feel free to leave a comment on our social media!