Swiss Tales: July 2012

My friend Tracy was here from the US, and we decided to go to Montreux and visit Château de Chillon while we were there. I love castles, so I was pretty excited to go and see it. It's on tons of postcards of Switzerland, with most pictures taken from the lake. We had expected to spend about half an hour at the Château, then most of the day at Montreux, but there was so much to see, we spent most of the afternoon wandering around the Château, exploring the castle and the grounds!

The weather was fantastic: warm, but not hot, and sunny. We took a pleasant train trip from Geneva to get to Montreux, then took a short bus ride to the Château. On the way, a quick read through the guide books taught us that was "made famous" by Lord Byron, who wrote the poem The Prisoner of Chillon. It has become a very popular tourist destination, It's in the very corner of Lake Geneva, and surrounded by tall mountains.

It is on what is now a very busy street, so it's hard to imagine how it was centuries ago. It must have felt like such a serene place to those who lived there.
Upon crossing a small bridge, you can see the natural moat.

The map given to us showed a suggested path to follow for a self-guided tour, which we chose to do. One of the first places we went to was the cellar, where we got to see the dungeons made infamous by the afore-mentioned poem. It's quite chilling to see pillars and posts where you can almost picture prisoners being shackled. I think if the lighting was any dimmer, it would be a very ominous place.

There are windows dotted around that show the stunning lake and mountains. Nowadays, a large ship full of tourists will sail by (very rapidly) or smaller boats.

The tour continued to 30 more different points of interest... it was full of narrow staircases leading to big halls or small private rooms.

There are many signs that this castle was built in stages, over centuries. There were three or four courtyards, for instance, and more than one private quarters.

We spent a good few hours exploring this lovely castle, with great views looking out and into the grounds. There were so many windows and scenic spots!