Date and Time of Visit: September 18, 2017, approximately 11:00 a.m.
At the time of writing, a year has already passed; we are updating our 2018 travelogue at the same time, and we hope to keep a good record of this series as well, even if it takes some time.
In September 2017, there were 14 French-speaking villages registered in Switzerland, with a few more to come in 2018. (Which means I’ll have to visit them again for a complete list!
On this day, we visited every beautiful village around Lake Neuchâtel in northern Switzerland. There are many beautiful villages around Lake Neuchâtel, and it is one of the highest density of beautiful villages in the whole Switzerland, that is to say, it is the most important area in this trip. In addition, we came to Lake Neuchâtel the day before. Lake Neuchâtel itself is not so big, and it’s a little bit plain area compared to Bern on the east side and Lake Geneva on the south side, so it’s not so crowded, and as a beautiful village lover and country lover, it’s very worth visiting.
By the way, northwest side is Jura region in Switzerland. There are also some beautiful villages in this area that I have visited. I will introduce them soon.
Avenches is a beautiful village located on the south side of Lake Neuchâtel. However, it is a few kilometers away from the lake, so you can’t see the lake from the village. However, it was very beautiful to see it standing on a little hill in the middle of the wide flat land. I just couldn’t find a good spot to take pictures for a good round.
Arriving at the village, the village is surrounded by a wall. There are several parking lots (free) scattered around the area so we didn’t have any trouble parking.
Avranches, now a small town, used to be the capital of this area in Roman times. In other words, the town has existed for more than 2000 years. The population at that time was also amazing, nearly 20,000 people. There are remains of a Roman theater in the city because of the Roman era. It seems to be used for concerts even now.
The city itself is also very nice. The walls, castles, and other buildings retain a strong medieval feel. It’s fun to just walk around.
The tourist information center was also nice.
It also offers convenience. There is a lot of street parking on the main streets (as is the case everywhere in Europe), but there is a full range of restaurants, cafes and shops, as well as several accommodation options, so it is safe to say that the village is many steps ahead of other villages in terms of tourist resources.
After I came back to Japan, the official website of the village was upgraded and it has a lot of good photo spots.
Fortunately, the number of registered beautiful villages has increased again and it is very easy to get to by car between Bern and Lake Geneva, so I think I will have a chance to visit again soon. If I get the chance, I would like to find out more about the music festival at the Roman Theatre. So we will probably stay one night in the village.
