Switzerland’s Biel/Bienne: 🏛️AltStadt

Biel/Bienne, the largest bilingual city in Switzerland, is known by two names even in official documents (Biel in German and Bienne in French).

The city was formed in the 11th century on the site of the Celtic settlement of Belenus, named after their deity, which is where the modern name of the city comes from.

In the AltStadt ( old town), we admired the 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿-𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗻 (Fontaine du Banneret), 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗶𝗲𝗹, and a lot of antique shops.

The antiquity here is authentic, unlike what often occurs in Switzerland, where structures are rebuilt and artificially aged for tourists. Here, everything has aged naturally.