Two Chateaus in one day

We walked along the shores of Lake Geneva from Montreux city centre to Chateau de Chillon and spent several hours exploring the various rooms and cellars, reading up on its long and sometimes torrid history. It looks beautiful but has some dark episodes in its past.

Chateau de Chillon, Montreux

We then boarded a train and climbed up into the hills behind Montreux, through delightful mountain valleys, to Montbovon where we changed to a smaller train to get to Gruyeres. Yes, the little village of Gruyeres famous for its cheese. We paid a few euro to go to the cheese museum near the station but it was a waste of money but we did get a packet of 'free' cheese and there were lockers there to store our luggage for a few hours. We were soon out of there and climbed the hill to the old town of Gruyeres where there are a number of houses, shops, a church and another chateau. We really liked the chateau at Gruyeres and the delightful traditional architecture but the trouble was that so do lots of other people so the village was full of tourists. Oh well. It was well worth a visit but I think I would avoid August if I revisited.

They love their cheese in Gruyeres. It was hard to find anything on the menu that didn't include cheese so we just went with the flow and ate cheesy quiche, salads and potato cakes. Yum.

Gruyeres

The formal garden at the Gruyeres chateau

Chocolate factory, Gruyeres