Spiez, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

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The gem of this castle complex is the old castle church, the Schlosskirche.  Irish missionaries arrived here about 500 AD - a Carolingian church, think Charlemagne era, was built in 762 AD.  This church probably dates from 900-1000 AD. S, but the square tower could be from the original church, ee ://www.sacred-destinations.com/switzerland/spiez-castle-church?source=ge

Schlosskirche, Tower, Castle Church, Spiez Castle complex, Swizerland

Early churches also served as refuges. Many had no windows, or very narrow ones at a higher height, not easy eye level, suitable for archers.

Schloss Kirche, Castle Church, Spiez, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Frescoes inside Schloss Kirche, or the Castle Church, are faded - Christ Enthroned - but lighting is provided.  Just put on the spotlights for yourself.  Turn the lights out when you leave.

Frescoes, Schloss Kirche, Castle Church, Spiez Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Narrow doors also were a defensive measure in many early castles and churches.  Persons in armor had a difficult time passing through, and had to go single file.  Meanwhile, on the other side, waited the ....
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Narrow interior door, Castle Church, Schlosskirche, Spiez Castle, Switzerland

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See the dim insides, with no windows at eye level.  All the light just tumbles in at the altar.

Altar area view, Spiez, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Dignitaries had to be accommodated. 
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Bishop's Chair, the "Cathedra", or for other dignitary, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Spiez Castle, Switzerland

Here, the Bishop's Chair, we believe. The enclosed foot and leg space would keep out drafts. No heating. Look at old pews as well - often high backed, with partitions and doors to the aisle.

But most of the oldest churches did not provide pews - just straw on the floor of a large milling-around area, where people stood, not sat. Later there may be individual chairs to move about.

Choir stalls, however, may have seating, including fold-up seats with little shelves you could arrange your behind upon, and look as though you were standing but you were really just butt-balancing.  People in the choir and doing the services were not free to leave at any time.  They needed support.

Crypt:  Always ask for one. The crypt here was locked.  Those tend to look alike, so we did not mind. Go down the old stairs, see the niches, the big coffin-holders, the sculptures on top of those within. Was this one different? We'll never know. In Germany, many crypts served as good bomb shelters.

This I hesitate to identify as part of the view from the Schlosskirche, because I am not sure. Is this later Murten, another town to the far west?  Need to check.  The Schlosskirche is on Lake Thun, with a lovely view of the little harbor there.  Spiez or Murten? We think this is Lake Thun, despite the lower mountains to the other side. But the roof tiles look Murten. Will get back to you.
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Spiez Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Spiez, Castle at the Town on Lake Thun

The castle complex here at Spiez is located for maximum views of the lake, mountains and countryside. The castle itself, here (see the church at another post) shows the transition from defense to residence, old tower, later stately mansion. Rooms originate in the 1200's through the 1700's, but the castle itself dates from the 10th-11th Centuries. Fortified colonies here date to 1000 BC.

The name:  More Celtic connections - the name of the town came from the Gaelic word for corn, says this site. See ://www.swissqualityhotels.com/hotels/Switzerland/spiez/about.asp?_lang=en/ *

* Corn? We thought that crop was North or South American?

Spijates and Spiez.  The word is "spijates". Have to look that up.  Just did.  Can't believe all you read. Spijates here is defined as "thorn" and not corn at all.  And it is indeed Celtic, not Gaelic. See http://www.epinions.com/review/trvl-Dest-Europe-Switzerland/trvl-review-7D6D-9EC060-394B064F-prod1/  Isn't Gaelic later than Celtic?  Yes. Celts were all over Europe before being shoved into the British Isles, and finally the remotes of Ireland and Scotland. See their history at ://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/celts.html

For looks at the relationship of Gaels and Celts, see ://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/  There are six languages in the Celtic group. Gaelic is English for a cluster of three of them:  the Irish, the Manx, and the Scots.

Spiez Castle, residence side, Lake of Thun, Switzerland

Spiez Castle, Tower, Lake Thun, Switzerland

The tower is Romanesque with 13th Century Graffiti, we now learn, but did not see.  Is that it above the window, preserved? This site calls it medieval castle with baroque style, but that can't be right.  Centuries separate medieval from baroque. Fine to say originated as medieval, later redecorated in baroque.  See //www.interlaken.ch/erlebnisse/sommer/kultur/schloss-spiez.html?L=3

Einigen, Kirche, Church and Legend; Lake Thun

There are twelve churches on Lake Thun, and this, St. Michael's,  is apparently the "mother" church, see //www.myswitzerland.com/en.cfm/destinations/nature/offer-About_Wedding-Wedding_Chappels-308480.html/ It was built in 1223, see http://www.ywam-einigen.ch/?p=region/.
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Einigen Kirche, Einegen Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

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Read the legend of the Duke Strattlingen, his patron, the Archangel Michael, and the miraculous return of the Duke to his wife just before she was to be remarried (he had given permission years before, if he did not return to claim her), and the building of this church in thanksgiving.

See that and more legends at Legends of Switzerland, at google books at page 116 give or take; at ://books.google.com/books?id=k_8YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=Einigen+church+Switzerland&source=bl&ots=phhulMRaoO&sig=i_5dN8MsqNbdgMDHNnoQoFYqzDU&hl=en&ei=60MdS_KGJYzjlAfK1e3xCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false/.

Oberhofen Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Castle Oberhofen, Schloss Oberhofen, Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland

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Oberhofen am Thunersee

Drive around Lake Thun, going the high road, not the easy coastal lake road, and find Oberhofen - dating from the 13th Century, passed into the hands of the Austrian Habsburgs, then the Bernese from the north (also German-speaking), other comings and goings and, ultimately a museum, and now an independent foundation again. See ://www.schlossoberhofen.ch/en/home/history/; remembering that schloss means castle.

Oberhofen Castle, Tower Detail, Lake Thun, Switzerland

There are parks and gardens along the lake, Lake Thun. The castle is a branch of the Bernese Historical Museum. See also ://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/top_attractions/attractions-museums/castle-oberhofen-museum-and-park.html/ Oberhofen am Thunersee. We even tried to find more of its history using the non-English, and find little. Still looking. Who were the original people?

Schloss Oberhofen, Gated Entryway, Lake of Thun, Switzerland; Castle Oberhofen

Interlaken: The Golden Pass RR, Changing Demographics.

Interlaken. 

Interlaken is a venerable, old Grand Tour Town between Alpine lakes, with famous peaks - the Junfgrau, the Eiger and the Monch nearby.  Some like railroads to get there - The Golden Pass Line, the narrow-gauge railway takes the scenic route from Montreux through Gstaad to Interlaken, see ://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/default.aspx?titleid=86&xid=idh558351960_0160/; and ://www.switzerlandflexitours.com/goldenpass-line.html/. You can also take a scenic railway Jungfraujoch Top of Europe.  We were running out of time, and will do that next time.  Be careful of the high altitudes if you have heart and blood pressure problems. Go to the NYT Archives, Sunday January 19, 2003 at Travel section p. 11 for a fine overview and photos. The Aletsch Glacier is there.

You will probably not stay in Interlaken, however.  It has changed.
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1. Getting there: The Way to Interlaken. In the old days, passage was treacherous: carriages, horseback, mules and donkeys. Here are some donkeys.
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Donkeys, farm en route Montreux to Interlaken, Switzerland

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We like the drive. There were more switchbacks, indecipherable signs to the smallest possible destinations rather than a big town on a map that would have been more helpful, but finally we found Gstaad and the ski resort, farms, cliffs, valleys, and - exhausted - Interlaken.

2. The beauty. 

Here is the gorgeous view to Lake of Thun, from above Interlaken, the high cliffside route toward Thun, the town.

Lake of Thun, high cliff road Interlaken to Thun (town)

Switzerland is in the news lately with its recent ban on construction of minarets.

3. Now:  Fast forward to Current events, balance of interests. Minarets.

What is the place, in such a place as Interlaken, of tradition and whether tradition should be maintained at the expense of other people's desired architecture for their places of worship.  Would minarets here add to, or not, the breathtaking sight.

3,1.  Pro: a blanket ban on minarets preserves traditional views that lure tourists, foster a local and national economy, establish identity for its people sharing its history. 

3.2.  Con:  a ban on one group's desired architecture may be too broad.  Why not go a lesser route, to impose height restrictions.  Minarets are not necessary to the worship, but, like steeples, evolved and serve secular as well as religious-symbolism purposes.

3.3.  Require reciprocity.  As soon as the homelands of the newer people will foster steeples and churches for Western worship styles (United Arab Republic, for example, permits none) in their countries, then figure out a reciprocal fostering for Eastern worship styles in Western countries.
.Lake Thun, Interlaken, Switzerland

4. How to weigh the issues.

These height/zoning restrictions do not denigrate the Eastern religion, but instead balance the interests of vacationers from other cultures who may want, or do want, to settle, set up their own communities; against the nation's established tourism and the views that produce it.

Explore the issue. See it at ://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/resorts/holiday-destinations-in-switzerland/interlaken.html/. The Bernese Oberland. Aljazeera is wrong to frame the issue as mere misogyny.  See ://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/12/ 200912281637353840.html/  It is more like Connecticut restricting home construction on mountain ridgelines - have your home, but preserve the view for the rest and, in Switzerland, a country dependent on photography and tourists, for its economic health.  Or allow steeples unrestricted in other countries.  Would that be fair?

5. Back to Interlaken itself.

Even Rick Steves says not to come here. Or of you do, you will probably stop briefly then move on, as we did.  It is a haven for backpackers, and a multitude of ethnic groups those styles of shops etc. have changed the town completely.  That need not be a bad thing financially because it looks like the town is prospering, with well-heeled visitors.  But it changes what the town means. 

• The name of this town, Interlaken, means between two lakes, here the Lake of Thun and the Lake Brienz, in lovely Alpine Switzerland.  The name used to mean large Victorian hotels, the Grand Tour of the Uppers,  a town where carriageways and private passages by horse and mule (luxury along the way, of course) and trains converged;  with the ladies in large hats with huge wooden trunks (the domed steamer trunks were preferred and indicated status, because they had to be at the top of the stack, in the baggage rooms, deep in the steamers coming over the oceans, and were retrieved first; the flat-topped steamer trunks were for others, or for less important accoutrements/ The trunks opened to reveal a side for hanging things, and the other, had drawers for the bloomers).
  
• We were here in the 1960's - a different family era.  It is little like that now, perhaps for the good, but the issue here is an industry.  Do a search on Maps - there are no easy roads over to Interlaken - either you take the autobahns going like huge pentagrams from urban center to urban center, Lausanne to Bern and down: or you go over the mountains and through the woods, and after a while, with all the beauty, it gets to be a slog.

6.  For us, see Interlaken, but do not expect it to be "Switzerland."  

We did the heavy narrow road sneak past the blind turns up and over from Vevey, Montreux, Villeneuve - across, not up easy and down. Dan and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the big hotel, still there, tablecloths, people discreetly bowing hither and yon, old days. Go outside, and that atmosphere is no more.

Now, Interlaken is a skeleton.

It has the bones.  It offers excellent food, fast service where you may want that, but only the shape is there:  Lake Brienz on one side, this little isthmus that is Interlaken, and Lake Thun on the other. The old hotels are still there, but the street levels that used to house fine watches and couture is immigration central, are now fast food, trinkets. Vacation central for all parts of the world. 

Enjoy it as the east-west global vacationer magnet that it is.  For the old Swiss Switzerland of the Grand Tour, head elsewhere.