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Montreux

Let there be night!

Montreux by night/sunset

Sunsets at a lake have their own magic, that applies to Montreux too, of course…

Montreux by night/sunset Montreux by night/sunset

Montreux by night/sunset

Montreux by night/sunset Montreux by night/sunset

Ships are still running when it’s getting dark:

Montreux by night/sunset Montreux by night/sunset

Montreux by night/sunset

The old market hall (Marché couvert) from 1890 – the lighting is probably more modern:

Montreux by night/sunset Montreux by night/sunset
Montreux by night/sunset Montreux by night/sunset

From Friday night after the shows – taken with the small camera, for as I mentioned I didn’t want to carry the large one with me during the concerts, and this was the only night when the lake was quiet enough for larger reflections:

Montreux by night/sunset Montreux by night/sunset

At the end, a few “strange” stripes from Sunday – surely some conspriacy theorists got their own ideas of that ;) – and an almost boring cloudless evening on Monday:

Montreux by night/sunset Montreux by night/sunset

Funiculì, Funiculà

Funicular Territet-Glion

From nature to technology – to the funicular Territet–Glion (about 300m above the lake). (The Italian title is from the song about the opening of such a train on Mount Vesuvius, see Wikipedia.)

One of the cars and a look at the mechanism:

Funicular Territet-Glion Funicular Territet-Glion

On the ride down a look through the window (in which my bright t-shirt is reflected) shortly before passing the other car going up; and a bridge along the way (photographed through the opening of a small horizontally pivoted window at the top):

Funicular Territet-Glion Funicular Territet-Glion

One view from the very top and two from the very bottom:

Funicular Territet-Glion Funicular Territet-Glion Funicular Territet-Glion

An old car still to be seen in the lower station (already partly visible on the previous photo):

Funicular Territet-Glion

And speaking of railroad vehicles, let’s turn quickly to the Glion station of the cog railroad from Montreux to the Rochers de Naye (the Mountain behind Montreux), right next to the funicular station:

Glion station Glion station
Glion station

And further below where it passes a bridge at the top edge of Montreux:

cog railway Montreux cog railway Montreux

Speaking of the Rochers de Naye: One current photo from lakeside and one from four years ago when I was up there:

Rochers de Naye Rochers de Naye

Gorge-ous

Gorges du Chauderon

After the castle, let’s head back to nature: into the Gorge du Chauderon, the gorge behind Montreux through which the torrent called Baye de Montreux runs – more specifically into its lower, steeper part.

Here, too, all photos are also available in the Flickr set (without comments, though).

A look back to the beginning – or rather the end, the bottom part where the torrent passes the stilts of that ugly highway, but I was walking up; and we have a look at the rock face:

Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon

A detail of the torrent – on the left with 1/400 second exposure time, on the right 1/25 second:

Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon

Rocks on the ground:

Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon

The largest waterfall in the gorge, due to its little bend and the many trees (Cut them down!! The tourists want to see the waterfall!!!) it can hardly be seen completely from one spot – so first the upper part that seems to spring from the trees, then the lower part, again with 1/400 and 1/25 second exposure:

Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon

Two other parts of the gorge – and all roads lead to… somewhere.

Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon

One of the refuges (and barbecue sheds) in the area, with the comforting realization that Uri Geller wasn’t around recently:

Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon

I didn’t go through the entire gorge to Les Avants this time (I went down from there two years ago), but turned right towards Glion where you soon leave the forest and encounter the first houses. (And a funicular railway that I’ll show on one of the next days.)

Gorges du Chauderon

At the end we have a look at the opposite mountain where also the Montreux-Oberland Bernois railway is passing to Les Avants and on via Gstaad to Lenk.

Gorges du Chauderon Gorges du Chauderon

Château & Co.

Chateau de Chillon

The Chillon Castle (Château de Chillon) is located on the shore of Lake Geneva near Montreux, Switzerland. The castle consists of 25 independent buildings that were gradually connected and now form a single whole.

The oldest parts of the castle have not been definitively dated, but the first written record of the castle is in 1160 or 1005.

(Wikipedia)

And since then, there have been many additions and reconstructions on this Château de Chillon (official site) that’s the topic of today’s photo collection.

As with the flowers yesterday, you can also view all the photos in the Flickr set in the same medium size (and click to get the large size, of course), whereas I’m using different sizes here and add a few words, too. If it’s too much at once, if you’d prefer more small thumbnails or, on the contrary, more larger photos, please speak up…

After the wide-angle view above, let’s have a look from northwest and southeast:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

And now with a ship in the front – and the ugly stilted highway in the back; as well as from 300m higher and with maximum tele zoom (and post-processing to remove the haze):

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

Let’s get inside – across the bridge that replaced the drawbridge in the 18th century:

Chateau de Chillon

A few looks into and from the courts (not in the order of the tour):

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

The gothic cellar vault, part-time jail, and a cellar with a small opening in the top:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

There was a photo exhibition in the coat of arms hall, and I was glad I had that wide-angle lens in the chapel:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

State-of-the-art cooking equipment and the latest in men’s fashion can also be found in the castle:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

On the left a mechanism for the drawbridge or the gate, on the right the view tall people like me (1.90m = 6 ft 3 in) get in many places without bending down:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

A bed, a chair that doesn’t look very comfortable, and a 15th century coffered ceiling:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

An old wall painting, a barred passageway, and a crenel made for firearms:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

Two pictures combined with HDR tone mapping (which I have yet to practice…) from photos with varying exposure:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

And at the end panoramic views from the keep, the highest tower, to the northwest and southeast – and downwards:

Chateau de Chillon Chateau de Chillon

Chateau de Chillon

The Bloom on the Quay

The “Quai des fleurs” in Montreux got its name for a reason – but also other parts of the lakeshore with other names have nice flowers. Following is a small selection of 29 of my photos that can also be seen on flickr (there all in the same medium size; here on the blog, I decided to feature some in larger sizes, some as thumbnails only).

Montreux flowers

Help, aliens!

Montreux flowers

Montreux flowers Montreux flowers

Montreux flowers Montreux flowers

Montreux flowers Montreux flowers Montreux flowers Montreux flowers Montreux flowers

Montreux flowers

Let’s use the portrait format for the transition from the closeups to the arrangements:

Montreux flowers Montreux flowers Montreux flowers

Montreux flowers Montreux flowers

Montreux flowers Montreux flowers Montreux flowers Montreux flowers Montreux flowers

Montreux flowers Montreux flowers
Montreux flowers Montreux flowers

On the rainy Thursday, there were at least some breaks in the rain on the afternoon inviting to a photo walk:

Montreux flowers

Montreux flowers Montreux flowers


» All 29 fotos in the Flickr set