Faulensee

I thought that it’s about time that I write a little bit about the village where we live, given that we moved a year a half ago and I’ve since had the chance to (intermittently) extend my collection of photos.

Faulensee is a small village tucked into the curve of the lake shore between Interlaken and Spiez; cascading down the hill side at Hondrich to the lake shore. It’s a twenty minute walk from both the town centre and harbour in Spiez, and the village affords really spectacular views across the lake to the Niederhorn and to Interlaken.

Records of buildings on the site date back to at least the 11th century, and the village has increased in size threefold since the 18th century. However, it still only has around 1200 residents, whose numbers are swelled by the tourist industry on a daily basis by the connections to Interlaken and Bern by train, and the other lakeside towns and villages by BLS ship. Most visitors come for the “seaside” feeling – given that the nearest real sea is several hours away in Italy – and to avoid the more heavily visited towns elsewhere on the lake.

Despite the modern beauty of the village, its name translates – unfortunately – from the German words for “foul” (as in rotten) and “lake”! The reason for this has nothing to do with Lake Thun, but a former, much smaller lake in a shallowly depressed piece of land between Spiez and the modern village. The piece of land had no natural outlet and so standing water formed a stagnant – and apparently stinky – lake. The land has long-since been drained and is now given over to various smallholdings, including a deer farm.