Rochers de Naye and Montreux
On Sunday morning Tanya patiently coaxed me out of the house and onto a train, mainly through promises of coffee. Our destination? Rochers de Naye, a ski resort and summer-time viewpoint located at 2045m a.s.l, above Montreux at the end of Lac Léman. It's accessible by taking a little cog-driven railway from Montreux that winds its way up 1600m vertical through the steep hills. Saying "through the hills" is actually quite literal, because it takes various improbably placed tunnelled shortcuts through the rock faces. I don't often think about brakes on trains, but on this journey I was consciously glad every time they properly engaged.
It was quite spectacular up there! These three photos were taken from the same spot.
The view east, towards the Big Swiss Mountains (like the Eiger).
The view west, over Lac Léman and towards Lausanne and Geneva.
Patchworks of autumn leaves.
This gave me and Tanya our first glimpse of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau since we arrived in Switzerland. It was exciting to see them in the distance, all looking as enormous and impressive as their reputations demand. I also poked my nose over the edge of the big cliffs at the Rochers de Naye, which are well-equiped with via ferrata routes - definitely something to come back and do sometime!
Autumn in Montreux.
After a while wandering around we headed back to Montreux. I found it surprisingly different to Lausanne - it is much smaller and quieter, with more flowers and more dogs. The old town is particularly beautiful and of course it's that much closer to the mountains, which leads to lovely views.
Looking towards Valais from Montreux.
At one point we were walking up a steepish and deserted road and a lemon passed us in the opposite direction. Not a crap car, but an actual lemon, the original acidic fruit, presumably off for a Sunday afternoon roll. Around the next corner we found the source - a very heavily laden tree right above the road, where nobody could possibly pick the fruit without disrupting the (admittedly light) traffic. On our way back down, now on the lookout, we found a trail of lemons that lasted an incredible distance from the tree; there they were in gutters of the old town. They had drifted down the streets, miraculously missing drains and dodging ridgy cobblestones. And as for us? After following the lemon trail to its sticky end, we headed back home to Lausanne.
The inaccessible lemon tree.