I love medieval villages.  (Murten/Morat, Gruyères, Stein am Rhein and Chur to name a few.)  The more crooked the structures, the more mismatched the bricks and stones and wooden beams, the more I’m fascinated.  Whether in Switzerland, France, Italy or Portugal, I roam up and down the roughly cobbled streets of these labyrinthine villages, ooh-ing and ah-ing at the imposing doors and the seemingly indestructible ironwork.  I could listen for hours to my husband (or his encyclopedic father) share historical tidbits, while I gaze up at the years engraved into the buildings going back well beyond the 15th century.  All I can say is, thank goodness for digital film.  Every blink of the eye is a photo opportunity.

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Thank goodness a friend of mine has an apartment in Murten (Morat in French).  To miss out on this medieval-walled village (and its little gem of a chocolate shop) would be a shame.

And this is why I love Switzerland so much… in every direction, in every canton and in every region, there are countless villages with picturesque old towns just waiting to be discovered.  And in most, a sweet specialty of its own.

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