Germany-France-Switzerland: From Chillon Castle to Zermatt #zermatt #roadtrip #chillon
Chillon Castle (Château de Chillon) is built entirely on a massive rock along the shores of Lake Geneva. Backed by the rugged Alps, from a distance it looks like a stone fortress floating gracefully on the azure waters.
Beyond its imposing stature, Chillon Castle owes much of its fame to Lord Byron. Inspired by the story of François de Bonivard, a Geneva independence leader imprisoned here, the British Romantic poet penned his famous poem, The Prisoner of Chillon.
With limited time, we skipped the interior tour and instead walked along the lake. We spotted plenty of photography enthusiasts posing for shots, while a few small boats drifted on the calm water, casting crisp reflections just like the castle itself.
Leaving the lake behind, we entered the Rhône Valley, flanked by the majestic Alps. Martigny marks a dramatic turning point in the valley: here, both the valley and the highway make a sharp, 90-degree bend to the east. The surrounding mountains grow steeper and loftier, while the climate shifts from the humid gentleness of the lake region to a drier, sunnier high-alpine atmosphere.
Past Martigny lies Sion, an ancient town with nearly 7,000 years of history nestled in the heart of the Rhône Valley, surrounded by rolling terraced vineyards and towering Alpine peaks. We pulled off the highway to drive through town. Sion’s most distinctive architectural skyline is defined by two rocky hills rising abruptly from the valley floor: Valère Basilica, an 11th–13th century fortified church that seamlessly blends Romanesque and Gothic architectural styles into a hilltop fortress—its thick defensive stone walls and soaring spires symbolizing the medieval power structure of church and state in Valais; and Tourbillon Castle, a late 13th-century episcopal fortress built along the mountain’s natural precipices. Though now in ruins, its rugged fusion of natural cliff and stone masonry creates one of the most striking medieval silhouettes in the valley.
The valley slopes around Sion are covered in magnificent terraced vineyards, creating a unique “agricultural architectural landscape.” The terrace walls are built entirely of natural dry stone without mortar. To combat the valley’s dry climate, locals have constructed hundreds of kilometers of irrigation channels (bisses) along steep cliff faces since the Middle Ages. Some of these conduits hang from the rock walls in wooden troughs, forming a rare piece of alpine hydraulic engineering heritage unique to Valais.
At Visp, we turned right off the main road and drove upstream along the Vispa River, winding through steep gorges and traditional timber-framed villages as the altitude steadily climbed, until we finally reached Täsch.
After parking our car in Täsch, we caught the shuttle train into the car-free village of Zermatt. The Matterhorn was quite fascinating today: from the moment we arrived around 3:00 PM until sunset after 7:00 PM, a single cloud hovered stubbornly over its peak. The cloud hardly budged at all, looking just like a plume of smoke rising from the summit, gradually turning from brilliant white to deep crimson.
We had assumed prices would be sky-high in a car-free town accessible only by train, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that the local Coop supermarket was well-stocked and very affordable. Maybe it’s because inflation in the U.S. has been so severe over the past few years, but after spending these days in Switzerland, we honestly feel the cost of living here is noticeably lower than back home in California.