An Easy walk through the "Gorges du Gottéron" (Galteren Gorge) to Fribourg

July 15, 2019 -- Vacation Week 2, Day 1: Another week of hiking, and we had a visitor from Canada staying with us. We had a very lovely hike planned with her, in the central part of Switzerland near Lake Lucerne (where we have been doing a lot of hiking recently), with cable cars, grazing cows and cowbells, meadows thick with flowers, lunch at a mountain hostel, 360 degree views and so on, but as luck would have it, this was one of the worst days for weather lately. In fact, we had a hard time finding ANYWHERE in the country where we might find some nice weather. 

Forecast was best for the West, so we decided on a hike through a gorge (Gorges du Gottéron) into the city of Fribourg (near Bern), which lies right along the language line between German- and French-speaking Switzerland. Since we had no view, there was no point going into the mountains. And if it rained, we'd be a bit sheltered in the forest. And we also didn't want to spend 8 hours on the train for a 2-3 hour walk, and Fribourg was only about a 2-hour ride from home.

For us it was a so-so outing. We would have done something like this anyway, but wanted something more spectacular for our guest. At least the countryside was very green and fresh and sparkling-looking and smelled nice. And we had a walk through the very pretty town of Fribourg, and a very nice Turkish lunch in the Marionette Museum Café, a place we loved last time we were in Fribourg. And our day ended with an "exciting" ride on a historical monument: The last funicular in Europe which still operates on city waste water (no motor). Fascinating, but rather stinky! That's the way to impress your out-of-country guests!

(As a side note, she had two beautiful days after that with some very memorable excursions and fantastic views to make up for it).

We started our hike in the small village of St.Ursen, Urs' namesake (it was not intentional). Highlight was this little chapel called the Ursus Chapel, first mentioned in literature in 1424. 

The interior of the chapel was interesting in that it had a very low wooden ceiling. I had never seen one like this before

Heading down the trail to the creek which we will follow northwards to the entrance of the ravine

Behind Urs, the Ursus Chapel (1424)

At least everything was fresh and green and smelled good

We found a place for a coffee break but the bench was wet so we had to first cover it with plastic and a blanket

At the entrance to the gorge was a warning sign: If there was an orange flag on this pole, then you could only pass if you had an important reason to go through. If the red flag was flying, you were not at all permitted to pass. Luckily, there was no flag flying, or it would have been a totally failed excursion for us.

Once in the gorge we passed along many interesting cliffs. The stone here is sandstone and used to build most of the structures in the city of Fribourg.

There were also lots of stairs and bridges, so it made the hike interesting.

Looks like some kind of calcium deposits (like stalagmites or stalagtites in caves)

And every once in a while we were surprised by carvings in the sandstone! (Actually I had missed this, walked right by. My walking companions brought it to my attention!)

Some lovely old buildings in the gorge, with sandstone details (gargoyles and such)

And then suddenly you come right upon Fribourg's City Wall

 

As an extension of the city wall is this beautiful sandstone divider. In the archway we spied something special...

... this addition to the sandstone divider looked very realistic

Crossing the Sarine/Saane River into the lower part of Fribourg. The large bridge is the renowned Zaehringen bridge (named in reference to the Zähringen family who founded the city in 1157)

Wooden bridge across the Sarine/Saane River

Part of the old city wall

We had a very tasty meal at the Marionette Museum Café next to the river

This visitor liked the look of the curry-chicken kebabs

The beautiful medieval city of Fribourg

And this fellow followed us from the café!

St. Nikolaus Cathedral in Fribourg

And the last attraction before heading to the train station: Riding the little funicular that runs on city waste water! (2 minutes down, then 2 minutes up again!)

The funicular, opened in 1899, links the town center with the lower city (basse-ville). This is a historical monument and the last funicular in Europe to be operated on city wastewater.

Altogether this was about a 10-km hike and we walked for a good three hours. But there was no difficulty at all in the walk.