Historic Jewel Monument - Chateau De Chillon

On the rainy day on Saturday, 3 of my colleagues and I decided to visit Chateau De Chillon in Montreux. Montreux is also known as the pearl of the Swiss Riviera. The place could be reached by boat or by train from Lausanne, unfortunately one of my colleague easily get drunk on the boat, and the boat was only sailed on Sunday, so we decided to take the train, it cost CHF 20.4 for round trip. While waiting for my colleague bought a local phone card in the train station, I took some pictures of the train station, there’s a big clock in the middle of two beautiful guardian angels with the wings.


The train strolled along the edge of the beautiful lake which is surrounding by Alps mountains. Around half an hour we had arrived in Montreux, unfortunately we could not see the chateau when we went out from the station. I’ve informed that we could just walk from the station along the lake’s shore, because the castle is at the lake side, and you could see the castle right away. I didn’t bring any brochure or map about it, I think we would find it easily as informed. Unfortunately we could not see any castle, so under the rain and strong wind, I tried to find a person to find a person to ask the direction and any transportation needed. The worse thing that most people in Montreux speak French, they could not speak English. Lucky that I have written the place name, because when I pronounce it, people there could hardly understand it because of accent difference. Lucky that I could ask a girl at the bus stop, I tried to speak English with her, it seemed that she didn’t understand me, so I showed her what I wrote. Thanks God, she told me to go across the street and go down through the stairs that you could find many buses there. We didn’t know which the way, accidentally I saw a sign for tourist information office, I ran there to find the info.

The office was not too big, a girl at the receptionist desk gave me a very clear info with a map, she’s also so kind to give me coins change to ride the bus. It took 45 minutes to walk along the lake, while just 10 minutes by bus. I was confused to find my colleagues, none of them presented in front of the office. It’s very windy and chilly, I had to wear my gloves to avoid the chill breeze. Alas, finally I could find them at the lake shore, taking photos. Not taking along time for me to join them taking some pictures  Then, quickly we went to the bus stop, it cost CHF 3.2, we could see the castle when we step down from the bus.

An architectural jewel located in the most beautiful setting imaginable, between the shores of Lake Geneva and the Alps, this monument with over 1,000 years of history, has always inspired artists and writers, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Victor Hugo and Lord Byron, from Delacroix to Courbet. Excavations carried out from the end of the 19th century, in particular by the archeologist Albert Naef (1862-1936), affirm that this site has been occupied since the Bronze Age. Entering the chateau costs CHF12, and additional audio guide (iPod) rental costs CHF6 with French, German, English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese language. It takes 1.5 to 2 hours to go around the place.

In its current state, the Chateau De Chillon is the result of several centuries of constant building, adaptations, renovations and restorations. The rocky island on which the castle is built, was both a natural protection and a strategic location to control the passage between northern and southern Europe. We didn’t rent the iPod, but we could go through the chambers because they provide numbers in each place, so the visitors could explore on the subsequent way, although they don’t understand exactly what’s the story behind each chamber. I met with cute children during the visit, I got a chance to take pictures with them. From the window of some rooms, you could see the lake with its beautiful scenery.

Unfortunately we could not finish visiting all rooms, because we’re starving. After taking the bus back, near the train station we stopped by an Indian restaurant, its chicken kebab was very delicious.

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