|
| |
|
VEVEY AND MONTREUX |
| |
|
|
| |
East of Lausanne, trains meander through steep vineyards to VEVEY ,
a small market town looking over to the French Alps across the lake.
Vevey's charm centres on the huge lakeside Grande Place , a few minutes'
walk southeast of the station - known also as Place du Marché and packed
with market stalls (Tues & Sat) - and the narrow streets which lead off
into the old town to the east. Vevey's excellent fine-art museum, Musée
Jenisch on Rue de la Gare (Tues-Sun: March-Oct 11am-5.30pm; Nov-Feb
2-5.30pm; Sfr10), has Europe's largest collection of Rembrandt
lithographs, as well as graphic works by Dürer, Corot, Le Corbusier and
others. Uphill from the big green building west of the centre (Nestlé's
world HQ) is CORSIER , location of the grave of Charlie Chaplin, who
moved here from the US in the 1950s to escape McCarthyism; there's a
statue of "The Tramp" just east of Place du Marché. To head on to
Montreux and Chillon, ditch the train in favour of bus #1, which plies
the coast road every 10min. If you have time, walk the floral lakeside
path at least as far as the town of LA TOUR-DE-PEILZ , which is
dominated by a whitewashed thirteenth-century castle now hosting the
hands-on Museum of Games (Tues-Sun 2-6pm; Sfr6; www.msj.ch ).
MONTREUX , 6km east of Vevey, is a snooty place, full of money and not
particularly exciting, but it enjoys spectacular views of the Dents-du-Midi
peaks opposite and hosts a colourful Friday market. The whole town is
protected from chill northerly winds by a wall of mountains and so basks
in its own microclimate, nurturing lakeside palm trees and exotic
flowers. The zigzagging streets and hillside terraces of the old quarter
above the train station provide marginally more interest than the
thronging honky-tonk of the Grand-Rue below (head 100m left out of the
station and cut down the stairs between buildings), although you should
make time for the touching statue of one-time resident Freddie Mercury
silently serenading the swans on the lakefront beside the vast covered
market.
The climax of a journey around Lake Geneva is the stunning
thirteenth-century Château de Chillon (daily: April-Sept 9am-7pm;
Oct-March 9.30/10am-5/6pm; last entry 1hr before closing; Sfr7.50;
www.chillon.ch ), one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Europe.
Whether you opt for the 45-minute shoreline walk east from Montreux, bus
#1 from Vevey or Montreux, a local train, a bike, or best of all a lake
steamer, your first glimpse of the castle is unforgettable - an elegant,
turreted pile jutting out into the water, framed by trees and craggy
mountains. At the gate you'll get a follow-the-numbers pamphlet, which
starts you off in the dungeons where the dukes of Savoy imprisoned
François Bonivard, a Genevan priest, from 1530 to 1536 (he was manacled
to the fifth pillar along); Lord Byron, after a sailing trip here with
Shelley in 1816, was so affected by the story that he spent the next day
in his Ouchy hotel room writing the poem The Prisoner of Chillon .
Byron's signature, scratched on the dungeon's third pillar, probably
isn't genuine, but has been absorbed into the legend nonetheless. As you
look out onto the lake, it's sobering to realize how sheer the rock is
that Chillon's built on: just below the castle walls yawns 165m of cold
water, enough to swallow the Eiffel Tower without a trace. Upstairs
you'll find more wonders: gloriously grand knights' halls, secret
twisting passages between lavish bedchambers, Gothic windows with dreamy
views and a frescoed chapel.
|
| |
|
