River Aare starts its journey at a glacier high up in the Swiss Alps and runs through the two lakes that I have visited in previous posts, Brienzersee and Thunersee. At the northeast end of Thunersee it continues towards and through Bern, the capital of Switzerland, before finally join the Rhine. It is the largest river in Switzerland that runs fully through only Switzerland.
At the northeast end of Thunersee, river Aare drains the lake and that is where the town of Thun is situated. It is a medieval, very beautiful town at an altitude of just above 500 metres and with around 50,000 inhabitants. Jennifer and I visited it as part of our tour around the lakes.
To control the level of the lake locks are built up at the entrance of the river after the lake. Those locks, the upper and lower locks or Obere and Untere Schleuse are very old and mainly built of wood. And above is a walkway connecting the mainland to an island dividing the river. And the sides of the locks are covered by flowers, making it a very attractive part of Thun. And on either side of the Untere Schleuse is the old town, Altstadt.
Overlooking all of Thun is the Thun Castle from 1190, more than a hundred years before any real town was built below it. It is very imposing and look in my opinion more menacing than beautiful or romantic. And it was a hard climb to get up to the top, where apart from the Schloss also the town church is situated. But the Swiss are of course used to climb up and down as there is hardly and land that is flat in this country.
