We went to Montreux without a real plan, and actually planning on going onto Bern later in the day. We put our luggage in the train station lockers and started heading down toward the waterfront. We had seen pictures of the castle Cheteau de Chillon , and this is why we chose this city.
We also heard that there was an iconic Freddie Mercury statue there, which we wanted to check out. We walked along the waterfront and saw a lot of art, and of course the statue of Freddie Mercury. He owned a studio in this city, which is one of the reason that many of the residents in the city love him. We got some photos with the statue, then continued on toward the castle.
We could see it on the other side of the lake, but didn’t realize how far away it was until after we were about halfway there (it was 4 kilometers away). When we finally got to the castle, we paid the admission and decided to do a self-guided tour (with the brochure they provided). This castle was overwhelming and really I don’t know what to say about it, so I say check out the pictures and if you ever get a chance check it out. After the castle, we decided to to take the bus back to the area of the train station and figure out the next steps. We got ice cream (which was WONDERFUL) and looked up places in Bern. By this time, it was about 5pm, so we ended up deciding to stay in Montreux that night. I decided that I wanted to try fondue, so we found a hotel near the train station and near the train station and near a fondue place that I found on yelp (Caveau des Vignerons Montreux). When we checked into the hotel, we saw that guests have the access to the pool at the casino across the street. However, it had closed a couple days before (August 31st) even though it was still hot outside. We decided to go down to the lake (lake Geneva) and swim there. The casino pool was open and there was a brief discussion on which one we should do, but, really, how many times can we say we swam in Lake Geneva? I’m glad that is what we chose to do, as the water was great. There were “no swimming” signs everywhere, but there were sections that looked like it was made for people to swim. There were even lounge chairs set up in the area. After the swim, we headed toward the fondue place. It was wonderful. Also, I didn’t realize that there was a difference between meat and cheese fondue (I was envisioning meat that you dip in cheese). I’m glad the server spoke English and explained the difference! We also got the creme brulee, which was delicious as well. After dinner, we decided to stop at the Hotel bar and ended up talking with a doctor who was there for a medical conference.
Where we stayed: Hotel Helvetie
