Dream Destination
Trip Start
Nov 05, 2006
1
35
48
Trip End
Ongoing
Montreux,
Vaud,
Switzerland
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Well, Montreux is one of those places for me. It hit me when I departed the train, and seeing Lac Lamon reaffirmed it. I felt calm and still. Enough weirdness. Here are the facts:
I had planned on purchasing a Swiss Rail Pass this morning, as single tickets in Switzerland are very expensive. So is a Rail Pass, but it makes sense if you're going to be travelling quite a bit. So the plan for today was to buy the ticket, and then hit Lausanne, home of the Winter Olympic Museum, and of course Montreux. I was told by the receptionist at my hostel that I couldn't buy one as she was very busy and 'kindly' offered to sell me one this afternoon. Thus ruining my day's plans. Instead I bought a return ticket to Montreux from the vending machine at Geneva station (ha! My French is better than I thought!) which was 59CHF (!!!) around £30. This of course meant I couldn't go to Lausanne, but if I can get a ticket tomorrow, then I may return at the end of my trip.
It only takes an hour to get there, making it a perfect day trip from Geneva.
The highlight of Montreux at Christmas is Le Marche de Noel - obviously a Christmas market. Completely outdoing the frankly shit Geneva market, this one had everything you could want from a Christmas market, and more. And also some things you never wanted, like panpipes. More on that later.
A series of stalls disguised as wooden chalets decorated with festive fake snow etc comprised the main Christmas Market, with everything on sale from cuddly toys, to furniture, to Canadian clothing, maple syrup, candles and handicrafts. Among the food stalls everything from nougat, churros, waffles, pizza, curry, cakes, crepes were for sale.
It had a kind of smokey gingerbread smell, mixed with cinnamon, and hot wine.
In the middle of all of this was a statue of Freddie Mercury, overlooking the lake. I had thought that it was more remote and harder to get to, but it is actually on the pavement at the side of the lake. Fans had decorated the bottom with messages (not like at Abbey Road, the Swiss are more respectful and write messages on notecards) and flowers. There are actually two vases at the front built into the base so you can leave flowers.
I was totally enchanted by the scenery of the lake and mountains and carried on walking along the lake for about an hour, until I came to the other icon of Montreux, Chateau de Chillon. (www.chillon.ch), made famous by Lord Byron's poem "Prisoner of Chillon". The first written mention of the castle was in 1150, but archaelogical work has discovered that the site has been occupied since the Bronze Ages. I wasn't intending to visit it at all but was strangely drawn to it. I'm not sure why; but the secret corridors and cold stone rooms freaked me out quite a bit. It's well worth a visit, especially if you're into history, but I would probably recommend the audio tour. I didn't take it, I just had a map, and this was pretty confusing. I kept getting lost and was never quite sure if I was supposed to be in a certain room or open various secret doors! The view over Montreux from the watchtower was great though, and there are so many views out over the lake, it's quite easy to be drawn to them instead of the castle itself. I felt especially chilled in the dungeon where Francois Bonivard was held by Lord Savoy for four years, tied to a pillar. As the windows are high up, he thought that he was being kept below sea level. There is also a monument to Byron in there, due to the poem.
After my castle visit, I made my way back to the centre of Montreux, noticing strange little sculptures as I walked. They seemed to be of goblins in various poses (see pictures and work out what they are for yourself!) They were literally everywhere. As I got back to the market, I could hear Christmas carols in English from various strategically placed speakers (including Noel Gallagher's cover of Slade) and also, ironically Simon & Garfunkel's Sound Of Silence played live on panpipes from either end of the market. Who can tell why.
Awesome day.
