The Swiss Riviera

Moving to the Riviera

I had a slightly later start on the trains today at 0740.  I probably could have made the earlier one but I didn’t think.  Today, I leave the Swiss alpine areas for the riviera, meaning the northern coast of Lake Geneva, from around Montreux westward to Geneva.

The combined ride to Vevey on two trains, changing at Visp, took a little under 3h.  I had hoped to stay in Montreux but even 3 months out, it wasn’t possible to book a reasonable hotel due to the jazz festival.  So, it’s Vevey as my nightstop instead.

I continued from Vevey station to the Abaca Hotel in the residential area by bus, with railroad works closing the line.  I was lucky to be given my room straight away even though it was only 1100, along with lots of information about what to do here in Vevey and Montreux.

Three cities in half a day!

Back to Vevey’s town centre by bus, I explored the waterfront.  A food fair appeared to be on.  There was a band playing in the open-sided hall nearby.

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I moved on to Montreux pretty quickly because I had timed things to allow a cruise from there to Lausanne.  Montreux is a split-level city, perhaps like Algiers.  I walked down from the station to the waterfront where the jazz festival looked more like a food fair by day.  I could see various setups for the evening for performances.

The city, especially the railway station, was looking decided filthy due to people leaving litter everywhere after drinking to music.

I continued by train to the edge of Chillon Castle which I only saw from the outside before boarding the old steamer from the nearby pier at 1415, to Lausanne.  The company that runs the steamer have a fleet of these graceful old ladies plying the lake daily.  They are all around a hundred years old.  Amazing work keeping them in tip-top condition.

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During the 1h20 cruise, I saw Montreux and Vevey from the water to complement what I had seen on the ground.  I passed new territory after Montreux and it was vineyards in the area heading towards Lausanne.  The Olympics museum showed up set amongst a wooded area before we docked in Lausanne.

The ride was made more interesting when I recognised my neighbour speaking Farsi on the phone.  We had nice chats and was impressed by my travel in and knowledge of his home country, Iran.

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Lausanne’s heart is located up on the hill, accessed from the waterfront by metro.  I went up and had a good lookaround the cathedral and town hall area.  The walk down was a little further than expected, even though I only came down partway to the railway station.

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I headed back to Vevey arriving at my hotel around 1700.   I’ve done very well exploring three city centres in just half a day, to get a flavour of the area.  I’ll know better what to do and where to stay, if I ever came back.

The non-alpine area of the country is scorching right now with temperature around 30 degC.  So it was a cold salad in my room (again).  The temperature outside had come down and having a rooftop room, I was now able to open all the windows and let the breeze in.