Showing posts with label Basel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Basel. Show all posts
On our walk through downtown historic Basel (Switzerland) we had the lovely opportunity to really see and explore the Basel Cathedral, known as the Basler Munster.
This beautiful church is one of the main landmarks and tourist attractions in Basel. In addition to the beauty and unique architecture with its two slim towers, the cathedral is listed as a heritage site of national significance in Switzerland.
Originally the church was a Catholic Cathedral but today (after the reformation) it is now a Reformed Protestant Church.
The Basel Cathedral was built between 1019 and 1500 and contain both the Romanesque and Gothic Styles.
In 1356 the building (Romanesque structure and style) was destroyed by the Basel Earthquake. Eventually it was rebuilt and the final southern tower was completed in 1500.
In addition to the varied and unique combination of the two styles there have been several important historical events that have taken place at the Cathedral.
First, in 1424 Pope Martin V shared with Basel's government at the time that Basel had been chosen as the site of the next council. The point of these meetings was to implement a church reform.
What is interesting to note is that the church continues to hold meetings, one of which we experienced when we were in Basel. On the day that we were there there were almost 20000 teens that were gathering for a conference from all over points of Europe. It was truly amazing to witness and to see so many teens gathering for a religious gathering.
Another important historical event that happened was the destruction of religious paintings that took place. Unfortunately during the Protestant Reformation there were many pieces of art that were destroyed. Citizens stormed many of the churches in Basel and demolished many religious paintings and statues.
Despite this the church remained and eventually became a protestant church.
After we toured throughout the Basel Cathedral we walked out to the back of the church courtyard. From there we could see more of the city of Basel.
It's tiny but in this picture (on the left) on the bridge you can see a tiny tower. This tower was built a couple of centuries ago to show they unity between "big" and "little" Basel (the two different sides of Basel separated by the river).
Even today ferries transport people going to and from work across the rivers.
I hope that y'all have enjoyed this brief glance into Basel, Switzerland from our trip with Viking Cruises! It is definitely a place that I would recommend visiting!
Happy Monday friends! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend! Mine was so much fun! One of my favorite parts of the whole weekend was getting back to dancing after so many years of fighting for my health! I shared on instagram what a tremendous joy that this is to be at this stage of healing! It is definitely something that I don't take lightly at all.
Today I am so excited to share about a walk through downtown Basel, Switzerland that we took a couple of weeks ago while we were on our Viking Cruise on the Rhine River. The cruise traveled from Basel to Amsterdam and on embarkation day they had the option for joining a walking tour of the city if you wanted. We were so excited for the opportunity to spend a bit of time in the historic section of Basel and today I am excited to share with y'all pictures of this area. If you haven't been to Basel before I hope that you will add it to your trip bucket list because it was simply lovely.
The signs outside of our ship were so cute! We were so excited to be starting our river cruise!
One thing that I loved about how Viking did their tours was that if a tour included a bus ride they always would spend time taking us throughout parts of the city that we wouldn't see on the walking part of the tour. It was just an extra little thing that really allowed us to see so many parts of where we were traveling. (In a future post I plan to talk specifically about the tours that are offered with Viking so stay tuned!)
After driving for about 20 minutes we got off of the bus and started our walking tour throughout Basel.
One neat note about Basel is that these fountains that are historic are located throughout the city and provide clean water for people to drink out of!
I loved walking throughout the city, taking in all of the buildings with the adorable and colorful shutters! I also loved how you could see the Basel Cathedral from a distance on our walk. (You can read more about the Basel Munster (Basel Cathedral) HERE!)
As y'all know I love big European doors. They just make me smile.
I love all of the artistic and architectural things that are in Europe. These bars on the lower story of the house even look pretty with the intricate detailing up top!
I saw this beautiful archway and I just stopped and took about a hundred pictures of it. I loved the colors, the flowers that were painted on it and the archway itself. For some reason standing here in this section truly made me feel like we were in Europe. Have y'all had that experience before when you are traveling? Just the pure realization that you are getting to see a completely new area of this beautiful world?
After we explored the Basel Cathedral (you can read more about it HERE!) and the square outside we continued our walk throughout Basel.
Walking down this section was one of my favorite parts of the tour. It was such a quaint area!
Because we chose to go on the later walking tour of Basel our tour was still going on as it started to become dark. It was so neat to see how Basel had decorated for the Christmas season and to walk and see the town throughout the evening too. This square that was located where the town hall was was a really neat place in Basel.
Basel Town Hall
Inside the Basel Town Hall Courtyard
After we finished with seeing the Basel Town Hall our tour concluded. At this point we had the option to walk about 25 minutes back to the bus that would take us back to our ship or to walk about 25 minutes on our own to the ship. We chose to walk on our own just so that we could have more of an opportunity to see the city a bit more. We were so glad that we did this and would recommend doing this if you are going on a similar cruise!
Walking through Basel at night on our own was a lot of fun!
Basel streets at night held lots of white lights which were just gorgeous!
It was such an adorable and quaint city to see and we were so excited to have the opportunity to explore it a bit. Have y'all ever been to Basel?
Happy Monday friends! I hope that you have a beautiful day and start to your new week!
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