Swiss Christmas markets in Montreux

MONTREUX

We leave Varese around 7:30. It's a quiet trip. Even at the Simplon Pass everything is fine. The roads are clear and clean. There's snow only on the fields along the road and on the mountains that surround us. Beautiful landscape too, even though with climbs, descents and a few hairpin bends. Everything goes smoothly until a few km from Montreux. Here we find a series of accidents, one after another but a few km apart and with continuous tailbacks. Go figure. Even at the gates of Montreux there's traffic and a line of cars to reach the city center. Montreux is a very busy city. With the Christmas markets it's sheer madness. The civil protection officers, scattered here and there, do nothing but create chaos, instead of solving traffic problems. Since we have a reservation for a central hotel, they let us through.

The Hotel Parc e Lac is very central, on the main street of the city and right in the middle of the market. We have stalls to the right, to the left and right in front of the hotel. For this very reason you can't even stop for long to unload your luggage in front of the hotel given the presence of the stalls, but we do it anyway. Unfortunately the hotel has neither its own parking nor an agreement with the nearby paid parking lots. Anyway, by a stroke of luck, we find a parking spot a few hundred meters away. The hotel, extremely expensive even though it's among the cheapest in Montreux, isn't great: 3 stars but 2 are more than enough. But the location is really ideal. The room isn't ready until 2 PM, so we leave our suitcases in the cramped reception space and go to the markets to buy something for lunch.

We find at one stall sandwiches with big wurstels and then some very good churros (elongated fried dough). Then we take a stroll among the stalls positioned along the lakeshore. Very beautiful setting, reasonably decorated little stall-houses and not very original items, with a terrible quality-price ratio. But the German markets we're used to are another thing. The atmosphere is precisely what's missing. Maybe it's because Montreux, apart from the lake and the castle, isn't a very beautiful city. It's a modern and busy city and we prefer characteristic villages with charming historic centers. We reach the little square on the lake with the statue of Freddie Mercury and take some photos. I personally don't, because I really don't like Queen, unlike my husband and my daughter who do appreciate them. If there had been a statue of Ligabue, I would have planted myself there permanently.

Anyway, the reason for the statue's presence is due to the fact that Freddie Mercury settled in Montreux for the tranquility of the town. He became the owner of a recording studio where he made his last album with the band Queen: "Made in Heaven."

We then notice a Santa Claus sleigh with a real Santa flying right in the sky, above the lake and the market, through a system of cables suspended high up. As evening falls, the beautiful lights come on and the atmosphere is there. The Christmas lighting is well done. There are even floating lights on the lake, shaped like colored stars. We reach the end of the market where there is a large illuminated Ferris wheel, very impressive, and a very pleasant covered market all in wood, next to the station. Right in that area there's a shopping center with McDonald's and Subway. We'll always have dinner at Subway: the best and cheapest solution, often our solution on trips abroad. We enjoy our mega-sandwiches 30 cm long, made right in front of us, indicating the ingredients we like most, present in the trays on the counter.

To finish, a traditional cup of mulled wine (Vin chaud) at the market and then we return to the hotel.

CHILLON CASTLE, VEVEY, MONTREUX

Breakfast at the Hotel Parc et Lac in Montreux is quite depressing; like a youth hostel. After all, what can we expect? The room costs only the modest sum of €180.00 per night! Right after, we go out to see Chillon Castle, just outside the city. The castle, from around 1100, former residence of the Savoys, is suggestively lapped by the waters of Lake Geneva. We don't visit the interior but walk along its outer side, admiring the moat, the covered access bridge and taking photos here and there. Next to the castle there's the souvenir shop. Here we find items at reasonable prices and buy the first gifts to bring home, including the inevitable super-accessorized Swiss army knives, which strangely cost less here than in Italy. Afterwards we go to the nearby town of Vevey, defined as a pearl of the Swiss Riviera of Lake Geneva, in the Canton of Vaud.

It's a smaller center than Montreux, quieter and more characteristic. Who knows why they don't hold Christmas markets here? There's even a beautiful large Place du Marché, overlooking the lake, that would be just ideal! Vevey has a nice charming historic center, with several shops. A beautiful promenade along the lake, with palm trees and flowerbeds, where we find the famous statue of Charlie Chaplin who spent the last 25 years of his life right here. In front of the beautiful building of the Alimentarium Museum, the original large fork stuck in the lake stands imposingly. At the end of the promenade, next to the square, we find many swans on the beach. There we also find a small Christmas village with little houses. In a warm wooden chalet there's a nice shop of Christmas gift items with a small counter for hot drinks (vin chaud, tea and more).

We leave Vevey and return to the Montreux markets for lunch. We find a stall with outdoor tables serving the famous Raclette, a typical Swiss dish. It's a Raclette cheese fondue. Unfortunately the portion is truly meager: a spoonful of fondue served on 3 tiny boiled potatoes. We're still hungry and so we go to satisfy ourselves by buying another bag with 12 Churros. In the afternoon we rest a bit at the hotel and go out towards evening, when the Christmas lights come on, to do some last shopping. We buy some candle holders decorated with the images of a snowy landscape. Then we go to the "magic garden" in front of the Hotel De Suisse, where giant illuminated Christmas-themed sculptures have been set up. At that moment, around 7:00 PM, there are a lot of people at the market. You can barely walk, also because at that moment there's the launch into the sky of Santa Claus with his sleigh.

Nothing to say: here in Montreux the Christmas attractions are not lacking! For dinner, we notice a large Self Service on the Grand Rue. We go in but at the buffet I don't see anything I like: a large quantity of "vegetables," a word unknown to my personal vocabulary. Husband and daughter indulge me and we go back to Subway. Right after, mulled wine and bed.

MORGES AND BACK HOME

Today we return home but first we want to make one last stop in the surroundings. Browsing the internet we discovered that in Morges a covered Christmas market is set up in a warehouse attached to the station. We go there and notice that more than a real Christmas market it seems more like a craft fair. Maybe because of the covered venue but there isn't much Christmas atmosphere. We visit all the stalls anyway but linger at the sweets one where we buy a pack of 6 of the famous Swiss Moretti. We can choose the flavors we like most: not only the traditional plain chocolate Moretti filled with soft meringue but also rum, almond, white chocolate, latte macchiato and more. Then we get back in the car for the return trip. It's a beautiful sunny day and the snowy landscape near the Simplon Pass is very appealing.

We tackle the climbs, descents and hairpin bends of the pass without difficulty and we're home by mid-afternoon. CONCLUSIONS: The experience wasn't negative. After all, we visited places we've never been before. But the German markets of previous years are another thing and next year we'll go back there. GERMANY – SWITZERLAND 3 to 0. DANI, MAX AND CLARISSA For further details