Local Travel 1: Destination -- Montreux/Veytaux, Switzerland

January 30, Sunday. As I began my mission to see at least 10 Swiss cantons and 5 other countries in Europe in one year, we decided to kick it off by visiting the Chateau de Chillon at Veytaux (just around 3 kilometers away from Montreux).

With me: Carol, Ronson and Cecile

Going there…

Carol, Ronson, Cecile and I met at the pharmacy at the Gare Cornavin at around 2.30 PM. We got train tickets to Montreux which is more or less an hour away from Geneva. The train ride wasn’t that interesting because I’ve passed through the same railway a couple of times already. When we got off at the Montreux gare, we just crossed the street waited for a bus (I actually forgot which bus we took). It’s definitely colder in Montreux in Geneva…well, that’s just my opinion. After about 10 minutes, we reached the Chillon station (bus stop for Chateau de Chillon). In case interested, entrance fee is something like 12 swiss francs per person.

Chateau de Chillon (The Chillon Castle)

It says that the oldest written account of Chateau de Chillon was around 1150. Lord Byron, a famous English poet, lived in that castle.

I enjoyed the tour a lot especially the dungeon area and the keep (highest point of the castle). The castle reminded me of the Lord of the Rings for 3 things: this amazing ceiling at the dungeon that resembles the Great Hall of Moria, a long sword that reminded me of Andúril and the White Tree of Gondor (yes, I’m an LOTR geek!)

It was my first time to see a medieval castle so I really enjoyed it a lot. It took us less than 2 hours to tour the castle but I feel like we still missed some interesting stuff.

Going home…

We missed the direct train to Geneva so we took the train to Lausanne then transferred to a train to Geneva instead. We were planning to grab dinner at our favorite pasta place near my apartment (La Primavera) but Cecile and Ronson were tired already.

I don’t have much to say because we practically just toured the castle but photos are found at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=300609&id=740488999