On the southern shore of the Murtensee, just west of the medieval town of Murten, a little point of land juts into the water at Greng, and here, beneath the shallows, archaeologists found the posts of prehistoric lake villages. Greng-Spitz is one of the Swiss sites in the UNESCO group of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, and while there is nothing to see but reeds, water and the occasional marker, it is pleasant to know that people lived on this shore some five thousand years ago.
Murten, two kilometres away, is the real star. Its old town is one of the best preserved in Switzerland, with arcaded streets, a castle and a complete ring of medieval walls that you can walk along, looking down on red roofs and across the lake. In 1476 the Swiss Confederates defeated the army of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, outside the town in one of the decisive battles of Swiss history. The town sits on the language border, French to the west and German to the east, and both Murten and Morat are used.
The riding around the lake is gentle and lovely. Roads follow the shore through vineyards and villages, and the Mont Vully, a hill of 653 metres between the Murtensee and Lake Neuchâtel, has small roads climbing through vineyards with views over the Three Lakes region and the Alps on clear days. The Seeland, to the east, is a flat land of vegetable fields, reclaimed from marshes by the Jura water corrections in the nineteenth century. Traffic can be busy on summer weekends, especially in Murten, and speed limits in villages are strictly enforced.
Murten has fuel, shops and plenty of restaurants. Lake fish, especially perch fillets, are the local specialty, and the Vully wines, mostly whites made from Chasselas, are light and fresh. A special local treat is the Nidelkuchen, a sweet cream cake from the region. Swimming in the lake is popular in summer, and boats link Murten with Neuchâtel and Biel through canals. In the evening, the walls of Murten glow in the setting sun, and the lake turns gold.