On a road trip back to Germany from Italy, we made our last day all about practicality. We faced ten hours of driving to get home, so we looked at the map, pointed to the spot at the midpoint of the journey, and ended up spending one fabulous night in … Altdorf Switzerland! We weren’t even thinking about where William Tell shot the apple! But… Surprise! I wouldn’t want to ‘point and travel’ all the time, but you really can’t go wrong in the land of snow-capped mountains, sapphire lakes, chocolate to die for, and cows with bells!
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Altdorf’s Claim to Fame
Altdorf means “old village” and as near as anyone can tell some time between the third century BC and its first known settlement, and the 1600s AD – people moved closer to the Reuss River. Then periodic flooding drove them back to the old village (alt Dorf).
Altdorf has a couple claims to fame – first, it has lots of amazing hiking trails. This shouldn’t surprise anyone since it’s all nestled up in an incredibly picturesque little valley. It also has ridiculously quaint chalet houses and cows and a rest stop with various Swiss souvenirs like Army knives, chocolate, and the usual shot glasses, t-shirts, and so on.
William and Walter Tell
But its BIG claim to fame is that the town square is the location where, according to legend, William Tell (whose name was actually Wilhelm) shot the apple from his son’s head. Tell, legend says, was an expert marksman, and was annoyed at Habsburg rule from Austria (he wasn’t alone). So when the Hapsburgs sent a tyrannical reeve named Albrecht Gessler to Altdorf, things were bound to go south. Gessler supposedly hung his hat on a tall pole in the town square and made everyone bow down to it. Tell was having none of that, and publicly walked right by the hat on the pole and refused to bow.
Gessler had him arrested and both Wilhelm and Walter were destined for execution (you can see why Gessler was not a popular man). But, intrigued by Tell’s supposed prowess with the crossbow Gessler said that he could save both his and his son’s life if he could shoot an arrow off Walter’s head with one try. And the rest is apple-splitting-on-the-first-try history.
The Legend
The lengthy legend goes on from there. Here’s the whole legend of William Tell, but long story short, Gessler wanted to know why Tell had taken 2 bolts from his quiver when he only had one shot. Tell said if he had killed his son, he planned to shoot Gessler also. So Gessler had him arrested, Tell in shackles, big storm on a boat, Tell saves the day, escape and chase through the forest, Tell assassinates Gessler with a bolt from the crossbow. The tyrannicide inspired a rebellion which led to the birth of the Swiss Confederacy. Somehow I didn’t remember all that from the childhood story!
Two fountains stand in the market square. The first commemorates where William shot the arrow, and the other where Walter stood with the apple on his head. I don’t know the exact distance between one and the other, but it’s farther than I would want someone to be located who was shooting a crossbow at my head, I can tell you that.
The town has gone all out to embrace the legend, with a huge bronze statue of Wilhelm and Walter right in the market square where it all went down.
Where to Stay in Altdorf Switzerland (and Happy Anniversary, Altdorf!)
As we checked into the Hotel Goldener Schlussel, the manager said that the restaurant would be closed because they had a food table set up outside for the party. We wondered what kind of party, so we settled Helga the frenchie in the room, and went to check it out.
It turned out to be the 800th anniversary of the town! What are the odds that the one night we stay in Altdorf, Switzerland, they would be celebrating their 800th anniversary? I have crunched the numbers and it’s exactly 1 in 292,000! How about THAT?! David tried to buy a commemorative 800th anniversary beer, but they only took cash and we didn’t have Swiss francs. Switzerland does not use the Euro, and is actually not even a member of the European Union. Next time we’ll hit an ATM first!
Hooray for Credit Cards!
Luckily the Restaurant Schützenmatt took credit cards! We had a banging dinner of local favorites like venison, and braised veal. We topped it off with a dessert of crêpes Suzette – with the flames at tableside and everything. The service was great and the whole evening was just unforgettable.
After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we walked around town looking at all the shops, checked out the statue, and climbed the old Medieval clock tower.
What an enchanting way to end our epic 16-day road trip to Italy, and a good reminder that you don’t always have to over-plan. Sometimes pointing at a map and seeing what you get works out better than you could imagine! Thanks, Altdorf Switzerland! Maybe we’ll see you again!
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