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CASTLE CHILLON
Chateau Inspiration of the Romantics on Lake Geneva
The
rocky little island at the eastern edge of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman)
must have seemed the perfect, natural spot for a fortress since before
the dawn of the written word. The first indication of a fortification
dates from the Bronze age. The first written record of a castle at Chillon
near Montreux in the Vevey region of French speaking Switzerland appears
in the 12th century. The castle’s heyday as a medieval fort and
residence castle guarding the narrow passage on the lake shore was from
its time under the Counts of Savoy who controlled a large portion of
southwest Switzerland, the valley of the Rhone between steep Alps peaks
to form a fertile valley passage between Italy and France called the
Vaud. The Savoy’s lost their grip on the region to the Bernese
in 1536. The lords of Bern lost their control in the Vaudois Revolution
of 1798.
Under the canton of Vaud, the
castle of Chillon lost its value as a fortress and became mostly a
storeroom for weapons and a prison, inhabited by a few
guards. But the striking image of the castle on the lake waters surrounded
by magnificent snow covered mountains, often caressed by morning mists
on the lake, inspired the imagination of writers and poets of the Romantic
Age. Jean-Jacques Rousseau of Geneva in his romantic revisiting of the
medieval legend of Abelard and Heloise (see Nogent-sur-Seine),
set a chapter at the Castle of Chillon.
Lord
Byron, while staying in Geneva with friends Percy Shelly and Mary Shelly
in the famous literary
summer
of 1816 (see Byron
Villa Geneva),
took a rowing trip on the lake with Shelly, on a tourist’s tour
to visit the sites of Rousseau’s work. His stop at the Chateau
de Chillon with its dark donjons where a Genevan monk François
de Bonivard, was held a captive under the Savoys, inspired Byron to abandon
the gothic vampire scare tale he’d begun as a parlor bet with the
Shelleys (see Mary
Shelley London) and write the haunting poem
of Bonivard’s
endurance under unjust punishment “The Prisoner of Chillon”,
crystallizing his view of the romantic hero. Byron even left his name
scratched in
a pillar of the prison dungoen, still there, like a literary vandal.
Ever since the publishing of Byron’s poem, the Chillon Castle has
become a must see tourist stop for visitors to the eastern Lake Geneva
region, inspiring painters
and photographers as well as writers, like Victor Hugo and Henry James.
Chillon
is perhaps even partly responsiible for the rise of nearby Montreux as
a stop on the Grand Tour of Europe of the 19th Century’s La Belle
Epoque age of aristocratic touring. Today Chillon is the most visited
historic site in Switzerland.
Known
for is beautiful 15th Century turrets, the Chillon castle is a walled
fortress from the land side, with the lake forming a natural moat
crossed by a dramatic wooden bridge to the gate. From the lake
side the castle takes the form of an elegant manor residence with the
water lapping
at its stoney foundation. The other factor which has made Chillon such
a tourist destination is its location. Unlike many medieval castles,
you don't have to climb a mountain to get there. The main line railroad
tracks run between the castle and the coast road and the high autoroute
freeway passes on a viaduct along the hillsides high above, making it
very easy for a stop on any trip through the area, just
an hour plus from Geneva or Bern (see Switzerland
by Rail).
The Castle of Chillon is only ten minutes from Montreux, either by rail
from the main station or by the regular municipal bus line No 1, which
travels along the shore of Lake Leman from Vevey to Villenueve just beyond
the castle. The Chateau Chillon can also be reached by the ferry boat
which stops along the towns of the Lake Geneva Riviera. The boat perhaps
provides the most impressive view of the castle from the water, but only
makes the trip every few hours and just twice a day in the off-season.
The Chateau de Chillon is open from 9am to 6pm and sells its own exclusive
wine, Clos de Chillon, to support its upkeep. Group castle and wine tasting
tours can be arranged. A special guide book for kids with the castle's
dragon mascot DraKo is available in English and other languages for family
visits.
If visiting Chateau Chillon and the Vaud and you feel the need for other Savoy castles, from Montreux you can take the "Chocolate Train" scenic day rail excursion to Gruyeres for a visit to the Nestle chocolate factory and the Gruyeres Castle (see Chocolate Train) or take a regular regional train from Montreux, or the bus from Villenueve, about 30 minutes to Aigle, to the Vaudois Wine museum at Chateau Aigle (see Wine and Vines at Castle Aigle). © Bargain Travel Europe
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Chateau
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SEE ALSO:
SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM - MEIRINGEN
BEYER
CLOCK & WATCH MUSEUM ZURICH
GORNERGRAT
BAHN - MATTERHORN RAILWAY
HOTEL INTERLAKEN - BYRON'S LAST STOP
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