The view here is from the area of St. Croix on the Jura, high above the lake of Neuchâtel. Down below is the city of Yverdon and the fertile midlands. In the background are the alps rising up to 4000m. Yverdon is part of the canton of Vaud.
The canton of Vaud is french speaking. It is the fourth largest canton of Switzerland and joined the Swiss Federation only in 1803. Its main city is Lausanne, sitting on lake Geneva. The famous Lavaux area is also part of this canton. On the other end of the lake Geneva is the city Geneva itself, which forms another, smaller canton.
Yverdon owns a castle. The counts of Savoy were running the castle from the 13th onwards. In the 15th century the Bernese took over the canton. They also introduced the reformation and protestantism. From 1805 to 1825 the Swiss German Pestalozzi, a famous educator, used the castle of Yeverdon for his purposes of raising delinquent children.
Yverdon has remains dating back to the period of the Romans. Already then the hot sulfur springs were known and used. Yverdon-les-Bain (the “les-Bains” meaning the baths) still points to the long period of the city with the hots springs, even in use still today with beautiful modern facilities.
