As usual our hotel was at the farthest end of town to the railway station, but there's a very good reason for this - they are considerably cheaper. We had a walk along the lakeside promenade to call into the Tourist Info office only to find it had unexpectedly shut, so we decided to continue walking to our hotel past the statue of Freddie Mercury. Apparently Freddie lived in Montreux for a time and also Queen recorded 6 albums at a studio here.
I'm fascinated by these timed fountains.
And always hopeful that someone will be brave (or stupid) enough to give me a photo opportunity.
Our hotel is perfectly fine and although we were early the room was ready for us. Additionally all visitors to the resort are given free transport passes which will save our legs and Ian's lungs. Once we'd picked these up we headed back to the now open Tourist Information who suggested a visit to the nearby Chateau de Chillon followed by a boat trip around the lake - both of which appealed as it was quite a warm afternoon.
The castle in its current form is the result of several centuries of construction and redevelopment and excavations in the 19th century indicate the site has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The rocky island the castle sits on gave both a natural protection and a strategic position to control passage from north to south of Europe. The word Chillon meant rocky platform in an ancient language. The castle's history is marked by 3 great periods of ownership, the first being the Savoy family who controlled much of the region for a long period of time.
I thought the model was rather good.
We had a good wander round following the numbered route with explanation in a leaflet. Nothing of exceptional interest to note really, so just a few pictures as we went. Imagine being held in this dungeon.
This painting depicts Bonivard, Prior of Saint Victor's Monastery in Geneva who was imprisoned at Chillon for his anti-Savoy views. Bonivard was immortalised by Lord Byron as the hero of his 19th-century poem, The Prisoner of Chillon.
The view up the coast to Montreux and beyond. I wonder who gave permission for the solitary block of flats to be built - it rather spoils the skyline.
It's rather a beautiful setting but I'm not entirely sure that half a stag really fits - why not a whole stag sculpture? The whole scene has a very Scottish feel to it.
Looking south(ish) across Lake Geneva towards Les Dent Blanches mountain range.
Luckily we didn't have to go back into town to catch the boat as it stopped just a few minutes walk from the castle and so we made our way to the landing stage for the 5 o'clock sailing.
A couple of views looking back.
