Our European Holiday Day 13 - Montreux

We had approximately half a day remaining in Montreux. We woke up and found a Patisserie for breakfast. Alison had an apple pastry and I had a chocolate-covered (and filled) croissant. As we ate our breakfast we walked along the shores of Lake Geneva. While we were walking the sun rose over the hills and onto the lake, it was beautiful.

Our destination was Chateau de Chillon. This castle was built on a small island on Lake Geneva. It was a big part of the reason we selected to visit Montreux. As we researched things to see or experience in Switzerland the castle caught our eye. It helps that Montreux is a resort town situated between the high Alps and the lake.

Chillon castle was the most interesting castle we visited on this trip (Neuschwanstein was the most beautiful). This castle has a lot more history and was used for more practical purposes. The first available written records indicate the castle existed in 1005. The castle is built in a very strategic location because it is on the main Alpine pass between France and Italy. This allowed the Dukes of Savoy to charge a toll on all the goods that passed.

We spent our day exploring the castle. This castle is the subject of Lord Byron’s poem: The Prisoner of Chillon. Lord Byron even carved his name into one pillar in the dungeon area. We visited many areas of the castle – grand dining rooms, living chambers, the chapel, and the crypt. In some areas, they had restored furniture and tried to give a feeling of what it would have been like to live in the castle. There were also medieval murals (unlike others we have seen these are very old and very faded). It was fascinating to explore this castle. We ended our explorations on the ramparts.

After we finished exploring the castle we collected our luggage and caught a train to Bern. This is our last stop in Switzerland. We actually passed through Bern earlier on this trip on our way to Zermatt. From the train station, it did not look like much. We began to wonder if we should have skipped Bern and headed straight to Paris.

Turns out that we (especially Alison) loved Bern. We stayed at the Hotel Alpenblick, which is another boutique-type hotel. We very much enjoyed the hotel. They were very hospitable. They welcomed us by giving us a jar of their own honey, produced by bees that were kept on the terrace of the third floor of the hotel. They also gave us passes that allowed us to use public transportation throughout Bern.

After checking in we headed out to explore. We made our way across a large bridge that had great views of the city skyline. Our first stop was the Zytglogge. It is a medieval tower that was built in the 13th century. Today it functions primarily as a clock tower, but it also functioned as a guard tower and the center of the city in previous centuries. It is quite a clock tower. From there we wandered down one of the main streets in Bern. There were lots of shops, selling everything from watches to chocolates. We stopped and bought some chocolate truffles. They had to be some of the most expensive chocolates we have ever bought, but they were sure delicious and so worth the Swiss francs. As we wandered we would stop and enjoy many of the fountains throughout the city. Bern is known as the city of fountains and bridges – it lives up to both of those names. There are fountains with bears on them, or with Samson killing a lion, or Moses holding the tablets. One of the most famous fountains depicts an ogre and he is eating a bundle of babies. This particular fountain is one of the most recognizable in the city. It has been attributed many potential meanings, it may stand as a warning for children to behave or watch out for the bear pits, or it may be a representation of the blood libel the people of the time had with the Jewish people.

As we walked along this street we passed the Einstein house. This was an apartment that Einstein was living in when he developed his theory of relativity.

We ended up at the Bear pits. Bern has used the brown bear as a symbol of the city. Near the center of the city is a park that houses three brown bears. Alison and I were surprised by how entertained we were with the bear pit. The bears were all very active and there were lots of places to watch them do their thing. Our favorite was near the bottom of the pit with a large area of water where the bears would swim. They swam all around and were only a few feet away from us.

When we were done watching the bears we walked along the river and enjoyed views of the city. Then we made our way over to Bern Minster, which is the central cathedral in Bern. It appeared to be closed due to renovations that were taking place, but we enjoyed views of the outside of the building and spending time in the public square.

Afterward, we wandered back to our hotel and found some dinner. Then we called it a night. We have one more partial day to explore Bern and then we will be on our last city and country of the trip.