So after Lausanne we continued towards the village of Vevey, where we would catch the ferry which would take us along the lake towards the Castle of Chillon.. One our way there though, we passed by the big headquarters complex of Nestle which is a Swiss founded company. Incidentally, our guide also mentioned that the design of the building was similar to that of WHO in Geneva.
Our ferry ride was like this mini steamship kind of thing. It was quite interesting to note that it carried both the French and Swiss flags on either side of the boat. The scenery along the river was great. It was clear that there were a lot of French speaking tourists on their way to see the castle of Chillon as the boat only really emptied once we reach Chillon! Heaps of small kids running around the clambering around the boat.... while the old french men sit patiently, still dressed in a blazer/suit despite the summer heat...
Our ferry actually stopped at Montreux briefly before Chillon so we got to see a bit of the harbour side. While on the ferry, I notice a very pretty castle complex on the top of the mountains (top right picture) and I mentioned it to our guide. That was where I learnt that it used to belong to Empress Sisi of the Habsburg empire and it was her summer palace when she stayed in Geneva. Incidentally, if you remember, I did mention at the beginning that Sisi was assasinated in Geneva... how cool is it that you're able to piece history together when you visit 2 very different cities!!! Today the summer palace is no more and is now a private medical facility.
At last Chillon castle... I thought that my guide was exaggerating when she said that the castle doesn't look real, it looked like it was just standing on the water.... but as the ferry got closer, I began to see what she meant. It's a very surreal feeling, seeing a castle built directly on the edge of the coast, and with no land jutting out, it almost looks like it's standing on the water surface itself.
The dungeons and prisons of the castle, where we were able to see that the castle was built directly on the natural coastal rock as its foundations. The door openings were so small and short for me that I had to take a picture with it to show how short it was!
It was made popular by Lord Byron, who wrote the poem The Prisoner Of Chillon (1816) about François de Bonivard, a Genevois monk and politician who was imprisoned there from 1530 to 1536; Byron also carved his name on a pillar of the dungeon.
Religious painting on dungeon wall for reasons unknown.
Castle courtyard
Interior of the castle. We got to see the dining halls/trunk collections and bedrooms of the castle. Notice how the bed is very short.... evidently people used to sleep sitting up in the middle ages as lying down meant that they would die...
The hospitable thing in the middle ages was to offer your guest a bath when he had arrived at your castle. Due to the long travelling times, visitors always arrived at their destination dirty hence the offer. An interesting tibbit I learned was that many people were under the impression that people in the middle ages did not bath and were dirty, but it was not true. It was only discouraged (baths) in the later centuries as back then baths were always assisted by servants (usually female) and the church realized that alot of copulating was happening in these baths and tried to discouraged it by putting down baths...
Funny toliet jokes...
Montreux along the River...
Interesting fact about Montreux: this is the place where Freddie Mercury of the band queen had his second home and this is where he died. In memory of him, there is a statue of him here in Montreux
My guide was so cool... she asked me if I had any more questions towards the end of the tour and I asked her if she could recommend a cheese fondue place since it's like a national dish of Switzerland basically. And she recommended this good place in Geneva. It's called Petit Chalet, on Rue de Berne street. She even wrote down in french what I should order so that I would not have any problems with the waiters, though the menu in that restaurant was in english as well and all the waiters spoke english too.... Good recommendation for anyone wanting to try cheese fondue in Geneva. It has pretty decent prices (for a Swiss town)...
Here's what I had...
Assiette Viande Sechee (thin beef slices-> as a starter)
Fondue au Fromage (Cheese fondue)
vin Blandle.. (White wine)
Our ferry ride was like this mini steamship kind of thing. It was quite interesting to note that it carried both the French and Swiss flags on either side of the boat. The scenery along the river was great. It was clear that there were a lot of French speaking tourists on their way to see the castle of Chillon as the boat only really emptied once we reach Chillon! Heaps of small kids running around the clambering around the boat.... while the old french men sit patiently, still dressed in a blazer/suit despite the summer heat...
Our ferry actually stopped at Montreux briefly before Chillon so we got to see a bit of the harbour side. While on the ferry, I notice a very pretty castle complex on the top of the mountains (top right picture) and I mentioned it to our guide. That was where I learnt that it used to belong to Empress Sisi of the Habsburg empire and it was her summer palace when she stayed in Geneva. Incidentally, if you remember, I did mention at the beginning that Sisi was assasinated in Geneva... how cool is it that you're able to piece history together when you visit 2 very different cities!!! Today the summer palace is no more and is now a private medical facility.
At last Chillon castle... I thought that my guide was exaggerating when she said that the castle doesn't look real, it looked like it was just standing on the water.... but as the ferry got closer, I began to see what she meant. It's a very surreal feeling, seeing a castle built directly on the edge of the coast, and with no land jutting out, it almost looks like it's standing on the water surface itself.
The dungeons and prisons of the castle, where we were able to see that the castle was built directly on the natural coastal rock as its foundations. The door openings were so small and short for me that I had to take a picture with it to show how short it was!
It was made popular by Lord Byron, who wrote the poem The Prisoner Of Chillon (1816) about François de Bonivard, a Genevois monk and politician who was imprisoned there from 1530 to 1536; Byron also carved his name on a pillar of the dungeon.
Religious painting on dungeon wall for reasons unknown.
Castle courtyard
Interior of the castle. We got to see the dining halls/trunk collections and bedrooms of the castle. Notice how the bed is very short.... evidently people used to sleep sitting up in the middle ages as lying down meant that they would die...
The hospitable thing in the middle ages was to offer your guest a bath when he had arrived at your castle. Due to the long travelling times, visitors always arrived at their destination dirty hence the offer. An interesting tibbit I learned was that many people were under the impression that people in the middle ages did not bath and were dirty, but it was not true. It was only discouraged (baths) in the later centuries as back then baths were always assisted by servants (usually female) and the church realized that alot of copulating was happening in these baths and tried to discouraged it by putting down baths...
Funny toliet jokes...
Montreux along the River...
Interesting fact about Montreux: this is the place where Freddie Mercury of the band queen had his second home and this is where he died. In memory of him, there is a statue of him here in Montreux
My guide was so cool... she asked me if I had any more questions towards the end of the tour and I asked her if she could recommend a cheese fondue place since it's like a national dish of Switzerland basically. And she recommended this good place in Geneva. It's called Petit Chalet, on Rue de Berne street. She even wrote down in french what I should order so that I would not have any problems with the waiters, though the menu in that restaurant was in english as well and all the waiters spoke english too.... Good recommendation for anyone wanting to try cheese fondue in Geneva. It has pretty decent prices (for a Swiss town)...
Here's what I had...
Assiette Viande Sechee (thin beef slices-> as a starter)
Fondue au Fromage (Cheese fondue)
vin Blandle.. (White wine)
