Sightseeing Montreaux and Lake Geneva

Our second day of the pre-cruise tour started with a quick breakfast before meeting the cruise line representative, Gabriella, who was going to take us on a walking tour of Montreaux.

Sunrise over Lake Geneva

We met her in the hotel lobby along with another couple who had also purchased the pre-cruise tour.

The abbey and vineyards

Hailing from the Austin, TX area, Dayne and Pam Carlson had previously taken a Viking river cruise of the Danube and enjoyed it so much they decided to do the Rhine.

Tailing our guide, we left the hotel and boarded a bus that would take us up a very steep, one-mile incline that would take us to the old historic district of Montreaux.

Abbey of Les Echarpes

This district was located, for strategic defensive purposes, high atop a mountain that overlooked a good part of eastern Lake Geneva, and was once a monastic kingdom.

View of Montreaux and the lake

From this vantage point we had excellent views of the newer parts of Montreaux that have been built along the waterfront. The Montreaux region became an important wine producing area in the 12^th century. A Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit administered estates and a hospital in Montreux starting in about 1309, and the abbey of Les Echarpes Blanches was founded in 1626. Our first point of interest was the original abbey.

Public water fountain

The monks maintained vineyards on the abbey’s surrounding hillside which gives the abbey an interesting setting. Today the grapes grown around the abbey are used to produce Montreaux’s exclusive wine that is only served in the city’s finer restaurants and is not available for purchase.

As we continued our tour, we came upon a number of public water fountains that collects the runoff from higher elevations.

Eight of the 12 family crests

This water is so pure that it is potable, but the guide offered a caveat that clothes were washed in the fountains further down the mountain, and you had to take it on faith that no one was washing clothes higher up.

Street buildup over time

Originally, the cantonment was formed by 12 different families, each having a different family flag and crest. This district was very quaint and picturesque. Today it serves mainly as a center for artists and craftsmen who make their productions available to the public. The buildings had a lot of period architecture.

Steep Rue de Marche

Over time the streets surrounding the buildings would be gradually built up as people discharged sewage into the streets and the streets were periodically repaved. In some instances the doorways on these older structures would be 2-3 feet below the current surface of the roadway.

We started our descent toward our hotel on the Rue de Marche roadway the was a straight, steep descent down the mountain.

One of the cave restaurants

Gabriella took us into a couple of “cave restaurants,” which are windowless and very dark inside and served as large supper halls in times past. Further along the descent we spotted a couple of al fresco restaurants, one of which

Colorful shutters

Capt. Larry and Jane decided to return to for a lunch. But the major reason for returning was that the staff spoke English, something that many Frenchy establishments in this area don’t think is important. We always patronize those establishments that try to cater to us.

We descended to the main level of Montreaux, winding our way onto the waterfront park area, and eventually making our way to the ferry terminal.

Old district architecture

We had looked at this earlier and decided that we would do a round trip ferry ride from Montreaux, probably the following day. However, having befriended Dayne and Pam at this point, and Pam having observed the weather for the following day would be less desirable, we were persuaded to purchase our tickets and strike out with them.

Tower in the old district

Dayne and Pam purchased a ticket that would allow them to exit a ferry and board another at any of the stops along the route.

Back to the hotel level

We wanted the same, but even though the ticket agent spoke English, we had a difficult time communicating that we wanted the same. Finally, Gabriella appeared out of nowhere and got everything straight in French.

Boarding the ferry

Chateau de Chillon

At Saint-Gingolph

A very handsome chimney

More Saint-Gingolph decorative chimneys

Saint-Gingolph pharmacy

We boarded the ferry and started our tour. The first major attraction was the Chateau de Chillon, a historic castle and the country’s most visited place. The castle is located on a very small island on Lake Geneva, and is the inspiration for Lord Byron's poem, The Prisoner of Chillon. The ferry had stops at a couple of other beautiful lakeside towns, before stopping at Saint-Gingolph on the southern shore of Lake Geneva. This stop was recommended as a great place for an open-air lunch at a lakeside restaurant. We walked along the lakefront and considered different restaurants before coming to the end of the lakefront business area. We climbed to the main business district that ran parallel to the lakefront, but about 30 yards above it. We found a couple of really “local” dining establishments. We decided to return to a lakefront restaurant we spotted that featured fried perch caught in the lake. As we walked looking for a way back down to the lake, we came upon a border checkpoint that divides the town between Switzerland and France.

Border checkpoint

Overlooking Saint-Gingolph

This is one of two borders on Lake Geneva  that divide the lake so that it is around 40% French controlled and 60% Swiss. We found our restaurant and the four of us all decided on the perch special with cold beers. The meal, ambience and company were simply great. We went to pay our bills and Capt. Larry presented his credit card, but the waitress couldn’t use it because her card machine didn’t have the capability of reading the card’s magnetic strip (the Europeans have moved on to microchip embedded cards).

Our boat the Vevey

No problem. We had lots of Swiss francs that we wanted to get rid of. But the restaurant was west of the border, in France where the Euro was the medium of exchange! We hadn’t used Euros since we left Germany.

Powerful paddle wheel

One would think that businesses in a border town such as Saint-Gingolph would be a little more fluid in currency exchange, but the waitress seemed to grow impatient as we dug for Euros. Dayne and Pam offered to loan us some Euros, but after digging through Jane’s purse, we were able to come up with just enough to pay our bill.

Montreaux at sunset

We returned to the dock just as the next ferry was arriving to take us on the remainder of the loop. Our ship, the Vevey, was originally a paddle steamer built in 1907, but since converted to diesel electric paddle wheel. The ship was as intriguing as the panoramic views from her decks were beautiful. And fast! We sped across to the northern side at speeds estimated to be in the vicinity of 15-17 knots! That’s comparable to putting Bavarian Cream up on plane. We returned to our hotel and had a happy hour on our balcony overlooking the lake, lakefront, and main street while the sun slowly descended behind the Swiss alps. What a wonderful day.