Montreux & Chateau de Chillon

Just up Lac Leman, about 45 minutes from Geneva sits the Chateau de Chillon, a medieval fortress used by the Counts of Savoy. The Chateau (as you can see in the photo) clings perilously to the side of a mountain and is built on an outcropping into the lake. It offers some of the most picturesque views of Switzerland, apart from being an affordable and interesting tourist destination. Wow, I sound like a travel guide. So, here is the real scoop on my trip to Montreax and the Chateau de Chillon:

Sarah, another student on the program with me, and I left about noon for the train station in Geneva called Gare Cornavin. We purchased round trip tickets for 50 CHF (about $50 USD) and jumped aboard the train. This all sounds like an easy enough process until you take a moment to realize that a) the ticket machines don't 100CHF bills, so we needed to get change; b) if you have never had to do Eurail before, it can be confusing...especially if you must switch trains in the middle and didn't know that ahead of time, and c) are afraid that you purchased the wrong ticket because you have never used said train before. (Yes, I know I sound like the 'typical American' traveler.)

Okay, so, we arrived in Montreux and walked down to the lake. The town is absolutely beautiful. It had the feeling of a small resort town with shoppes, high-rise hotels, and cafes everywhere. We began the 30 minute walk down the coast to the Chateau, stopping to take pictures of the scenery, the local vineyards, and a random statue of Freddy Mercury (don't ask me why) on the water front. Eventually, we reached the Chateau. The following pictures will hopefully give you just a taste of the unique nature of the castle.

The Chateau has a really interesting history; namely, that is was never besieged which is why it is still in relatively good condition. Also, if you can see the crest in the second picture above, this crest (used by the Counts of Savoy) is the precursor to the Swiss flag. After the castle, we headed back to Montreux for dinner. The meal was enjoyable--and much less expensive than Geneva. However, our waitress, was not exactly friendly... okay, that was an euphemism. The views from the cafe were absolutely spectacular, which made up for the lack-luster service (see first picture in upper right corner).

We returned to the train station after dinner and tried to jump on the first train headed towards Geneva. Unfortunately, it was leaving right as well approached the platform. Apparently, the traveling gods were not smiling on us that day. We waited for the next train, which was not a direct train and stopped 4 or 5 times before Lausanne, and had to switch train before winding up in Geneva. The good news about missing the first train was that we were able to befriend a group of people from Malaysia (yeah Qiao!!!!). They were confused about the train system so we were able to help them get back to Geneva safely and hear about their travels around the world.

Back in Geneva, we headed to Old Town to get some ice cream... what a great ending to the day!

The next blog post will be about my internship with the ICMH and will hopefully be up in the next few days. Also, our first break week is coming up this Friday and I am headed to Copenhagen and Stockholm. I hope all is well back home.

Love & Honor,

Matt