Marmot Paradise. That's the title of the brochure for Rochers-de-Naye, a mountain-top area above Montreux (east of us down the lake). Based on the brochure title and the features of the area described therein (marmots and an "alpine garden"), we probably wouldn't have chosen to spend our time and Swiss Francs on this attraction, but this place did come with a strong recommendation from a local (Corinne, our host). So, we went.Now, if I were in the marketing department for this tourist attraction, I would probably drop the marmots, and maybe even the alpine gardens, as the "selling features" to draw tourists. All you need are a few photos of the stunning panoramic views, sheer cliffs, flower-filled meadows, and the quaint little cogwheel train that takes you here and I'm sure you'd have attracted a good many tourists. (I'm afraid the penned up marmots - not indigenous to this area - don't add much to the place.)
After reticently forking over around 100 francs (I'm guessing $90 CDN) for train tickets in Montreux, we quickly realized that our money was well spent on this very memorable day trip. We all got on a little 3-car cogwheel train just after noon and began the steep ascent up, and through, the mountains that we've been looking at from our house for the last 3 weeks. And when I say "through" I mean it literally. The tunnels that have been built for this little rail line are pretty impressive.We enjoyed a little picnic lunch on the train, and Lucia and Elias enjoyed looking out the window and petting a big dog seated with its owners just behind us. Elias says something like "bow-wow" now, in a really high voice, whenever he sees a dog. (He tries to say "turtle", too, but it sounds like GUH-gow, with a large space between the syllables.) When we got to the top, we were wide-eyed in amazement at how simultaneously beautiful and perilous this place was. There were large expanses of steep lush green meadows, filled with wildflowers, which abruptly transitioned to near-vertical drop-offs of dizzying heights. These drop-offs make up the views that we have seen from our house, so our approach was from the opposite side.
The photos above and below are different perspectives of the train station at the summit of Rochers-de-Naye. The photo above shows one of the tunnels that the trains pass through. The white circles on the right are "yurts" that you can rent and stay in overnight. They're actually pretty cozy-looking on the inside and the thought of staying in one of these during stormy weather is one of those that'll give you shivers. (Happy shivers. Danielle knows what I mean by this - I hope others do, as well.)
On the left is a shot from above the "alpine gardens". I'm not much of a gardener (much less so than Danielle), but even I was impressed with the gardening that they've done up here. I imagine that it's quite a chore planting and cultivating plants at this altitude and with the steep, rocky ground that makes up "the garden". Nothing was growing very large in size here, but there were a lot of plant varieties. (And I can't name one of them.)
Whenever I look at the photo below, I can't help but think of that Windows XP desktop picture. The detail is lost because of the size of the area, but all those "green" areas are filled with flowers of all sorts of colours.
Here's Danielle and Lucia walking along the trail below a massive precipice. The drop-off is a little more apparent in the photo below. There were a few points where the trail fell within a few feet of the edge but it was only when you looked back further down the trail that you truly got the sense of peril. At one point, I had walked up ahead of Danielle and Lucia and even though I felt comfortable on the trail, looking back at Lucia with Danielle nearly gave me a heart attack.
Fortunately, we did come across a sign warning us of what might happen if we strayed from the path. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. And I guess while you're thinking of your own mortality with respect to falling off a cliff, the cross serves to remind you of why you're here in the first place.
Like some of the other places we've been able to visit on this trip, this one inspired us to take way more pictures than are shown here. It's a challenge to narrow down to just a few to post here, but hopefully these tell the bulk of the story. The single disappointment of coming here was not being able to follow any of the enticing hiking trails very far, knowing that we had a train to catch to go home and kids to put to bed. All the more reason to come back! (I'm already looking forward to buying Lucia her first pair of hikers...)
So that was Day 18. Seeing as there was a lot more to say about it than the previous day, I included it first. Day 17 saw us loading up the bikes and bike trailer and heading to Montreux to go riding around the lakeside promenade and into the farmland beyond Villeneuve. (For those of you familiar with Vancouver, the promenade is a lot like the Stanley Park sea wall.) It was a pretty low-key day, but the exercise was very good. On the left, Danielle is riding her bike with the Chateau de Chillon in the background.
The photos above and below are different perspectives of the train station at the summit of Rochers-de-Naye. The photo above shows one of the tunnels that the trains pass through. The white circles on the right are "yurts" that you can rent and stay in overnight. They're actually pretty cozy-looking on the inside and the thought of staying in one of these during stormy weather is one of those that'll give you shivers. (Happy shivers. Danielle knows what I mean by this - I hope others do, as well.)
On the right is one of the famous marmots, I think indigenous to Kazakhstan and Russia (not Switzerland). He was a big fella. Pretty cute, but hardly a distraction from everything else that we were looking at.
On the left is a shot from above the "alpine gardens". I'm not much of a gardener (much less so than Danielle), but even I was impressed with the gardening that they've done up here. I imagine that it's quite a chore planting and cultivating plants at this altitude and with the steep, rocky ground that makes up "the garden". Nothing was growing very large in size here, but there were a lot of plant varieties. (And I can't name one of them.)
Below are just a few photos of the view from up here. You can't see it here, but there was a picnic table right above the steep drop-off in the foreground of the photo immediately below. Amazing spot for a picnic, but not for the height-fearing.
Whenever I look at the photo below, I can't help but think of that Windows XP desktop picture. The detail is lost because of the size of the area, but all those "green" areas are filled with flowers of all sorts of colours.
Here's Danielle and Lucia walking along the trail below a massive precipice. The drop-off is a little more apparent in the photo below. There were a few points where the trail fell within a few feet of the edge but it was only when you looked back further down the trail that you truly got the sense of peril. At one point, I had walked up ahead of Danielle and Lucia and even though I felt comfortable on the trail, looking back at Lucia with Danielle nearly gave me a heart attack.
Fortunately, we did come across a sign warning us of what might happen if we strayed from the path. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. And I guess while you're thinking of your own mortality with respect to falling off a cliff, the cross serves to remind you of why you're here in the first place.
Like some of the other places we've been able to visit on this trip, this one inspired us to take way more pictures than are shown here. It's a challenge to narrow down to just a few to post here, but hopefully these tell the bulk of the story. The single disappointment of coming here was not being able to follow any of the enticing hiking trails very far, knowing that we had a train to catch to go home and kids to put to bed. All the more reason to come back! (I'm already looking forward to buying Lucia her first pair of hikers...)
So that was Day 18. Seeing as there was a lot more to say about it than the previous day, I included it first. Day 17 saw us loading up the bikes and bike trailer and heading to Montreux to go riding around the lakeside promenade and into the farmland beyond Villeneuve. (For those of you familiar with Vancouver, the promenade is a lot like the Stanley Park sea wall.) It was a pretty low-key day, but the exercise was very good. On the left, Danielle is riding her bike with the Chateau de Chillon in the background.
