Meeting point: Place du Vieux Port, Ouchy (end of Metro line M1) at 09:00

Transport: by bus

Number of participants: 20

Registration fee: CHF 17 (transport and entry fees included)

Organizer/Sponsor: Lausanne Région

NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips departs from and returns to Lausanne-Ouchy.

The most visited monument in Switzerland is Château de Chillon, a medieval fortress on a tiny island, complete with huge defensive towers, wooden sentry walks, double ramparts, moat and turrets and great halls where sumptuous banquets were held. Not just today - Lord Byron was so impressed by the dungeon, where Genevan monk François Bonivard was imprisoned for his penchant for Protestantism from 1532 to 1536, that he carved his name on a pillar (and returned to his hotel in Ouchy to write The Prisoner of Chillon). The Byronesque scrawl is now protected by a perspex screen, but be advised that you won’t get away with attempting the same today. You can take an audio tour of the impressive complex, the oldest parts of which date back to the year 1005.