Erlach Old Town

The beginnings of Erlach are dated to the end of the 11th century. After the turn of the millennium, the Counts of Fenis asserted their power in the area. It was Burkhard von Fenis (Bishop of Basel 1072 to 1105) who built Erlach Castle and his brother Kuno (Bishop of Lausanne 1093 to 1103) who founded Erlach Abbey. The Benedictine Abbey of Erlach or St. Johannsen soon occupied most of the parishes in the area. Count Rudolf ll of Neuenburg-Nidau (a descendant of the von Fenis family) granted Erlach charter around 1266, i.e. various rights and special provisions that distinguish the town from the village. It is possible that the reason for this was the war that broke out in 1264 between Habsburg and Savoy, in order to strengthen the citizenry of the exposed Erlach. In Erlach, the Handfeste represents the first news of the town and its citizens, while the church and the knights or squires of Erlach have been mentioned several times since the late 12th century.
Source: Erlach municipality

Erlach (French: Cerlier) is a small town, a political municipality in the Seeland administrative district of the canton of Bern in Switzerland and was the capital of the administrative district of the same name until the end of 2009. The small town of Erlach is located on the shores of Lake Biel at 433 m above sea level. The Jolimont, a 603 m high hill from which you can see Lake Biel, is located in the municipality. St. Peter's Island (actually a peninsula) can be reached from Erlach on foot and by bike. The Swiss Minister of Defense from 1920 to 1929, Federal Councilor Karl Scheurer, was a citizen of Erlach. The name of the Bernese patrician family von Erlach goes back to the town of Erlach. Source de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlach_BE

Beautiful old town, Erlach is worth a visit.