Castle in a Vineyard - Chateau d'Aigle in Switzerland

Chateau d'Aigle

I have been reminiscing about the many castles I have had the opportunity to visit in my travels.  I have seen large castles on hillsides, historic castles with fabled pasts, and some small insignificant ones.   But Chateau d'Aigle in Switzerland is one that stands out in my memory as one of my favorites.



Aigle is a very small Swiss village in the French speaking area of Switzerland.  When my ex partner and I were together most of our traveling was related to his professional meetings.  He had one each year in Europe and two each year in the United States.   For some reason that neither of us understood there was a meeting he needed to attend scheduled in a remote ski resort in Switzerland in the month of July 2003.  The ski resort was Les Diablerets.  The small village was empty in July except for people attending the conference.  We took a train from Bern to the village a Aigle.  Aigle is located at the bottom of a mountain below Les Diablerets.   Other than this business meeting there is no way I would have ever ended up in Aigle so I am very grateful to whoever set up the meeting.   There were not a lot of travel web sites available yet so our research was somewhat limited for the trip.  We did buy a couple of travel guides but none of them had any information on Aigle or Les Diablerets.   So everything we saw or encountered was a surprise to us.  And I did not yet have a digital camera so all of these surprises were recorded on film.   I did not have the option to take multiple photos of things I saw.  I had a chance for a photo, and then hoping it would turn out, before taking a photo of the next location.  Luckily most of my photos did turn out alright and I have since digitized and edited them to make them look their best.

Aigle train station

We changed trains at the tiny station in Aigle and took a very small mountain train up to Les Diablerets.  On our journey, just outside of Aigle, we passed a small but beautiful castle.  The castle sat in the middle of vineyard on the lower slopes of the mountain.   It was breath taking.  I knew the moment I saw it that I would be taking that train back down  the mountain from Les Diablerets the first chance I had to visit the castle.  So as soon as my ex's meeting commenced I took the first train the next day back down the mountain to Aigle.

Bakery in Aigle

I arrived in Aigle in time for lunch and I was quite hungry.  I found a bakery located in the building in the photo above here.  I met a very nice young woman who was working there.  I wanted a ham sandwich, the kind they make in France with ham , cheese and a gherkin on a crunchy baguette.   I walked into the bakery and could smell the bread.  It was wonderful.   I also wanted a chance to try out my limited French.  I thought I was pretty good with few phrases.  I tried to ask for ham sandwich and it must have come out all wrong because the young woman had no idea what I was trying to ask for and there was no English spoken in this village.  So I tried to say it again and she still looked very puzzled.  She tried to talk to me.  I tried to talk to her. And neither of us were able to communicate with the other.  We both laughed at ourselves.  She finally let me come behind the counter and point to the items I wanted.  When I started to point to the ham, then the cheese, she knew exactly what I wanted and made me the perfect sandwich.  I left the bakery and walked over to bench in front of a church and ate my sandwich.  I was surrounded by the mountains in a village where no one spoke English and I was having what I thought was the best sandwich ever.  Then I just let myself get lost in the moment.  

The small road from Aigle to the Chateau

After finishing my lunch I found the road out of the village that followed the railroad tracks in the direction of the castle I had seen the previous day.  Once again I let my mind wander and I was in my own little world again walking down small streets in a remote area of Switzerland.  

The castle in the distance in the middle of a vineyard

I got to the vineyards and there in the distance was the castle.  I had no information on it.  I did not know if it was open to the public or not.  I just knew I wanted to see it and take some photos.  When I arrived I found out it was open to the public.  And also I found out there was a restaurant inside and a small bar serving wine from the vineyard.   And there I was.  Sitting in an old castle drinking wine made on the premises, surrounded by the beautiful Swiss alps.   And once again I was in my own little fantasy world.  Suddenly some people walked in all dressed in medieval costumes.  It was almost like I was dreaming.   Apparently they were filming a movie or commercial inside the castle that day.  It could not have been more perfect.   

The castle dates back to the 14th century.  Although it seemed romantic and ideal to me the day I visited it has not always been the most desirable place to visit.  In 1804, the castle was acquired by the community of Aigle and until 1976 it was used as a cantonal jail.  One man's romance is another man's jail.  

Visiting Karlstyn Castle - May 2004

I was talking with some of my travel friends in a little list I made on Facebook yesterday about our mutual love of photography and travel.   I have been very fortunate in being allowed to travel and see so many fascinating places.  For the start of the new year I have decided to look back at some of the great castles I have seen and share some stories about them. 

One of the first castles I was able to visit was Karlstyn Castle in the Czech Republic.  I had read a lot about the castle when I was preparing for a trip to Prague.  I had read that it was close to Prague and that it was one of the most visited castles in the Czech Republic.  So I was very excited about visiting this castle.  In my mind I had imagined one of the great castles that inspired the castles in the old Disney cartoons.  But I was a little disappointed when I finally got to see Karlstyn Castle.

I was in Prague and had a day to myself to do a day trip out of the city.  The guide book I was using suggested that it was not difficult to reach the castle and suggested skipping the tour groups who would rent bus tours to Karlstyn.  The guide book gave me good directions to the train station where I could buy my tickets to Karlstyn and go on my own without a group of tourists.   .  I was still a novice traveler and was still learning the ins and outs of exploring Euorpe so I was very thrilled with myself for finding the correct train station with no help from anyone else.  The station to Karlstyn was outside of the city center where there was a lot less English spoken than in the city itself.  This should have been my first red flag that I was in trouble.  I walked into the station and went to the ticket window and tried to ask for a ticket to Karlstyn.  I did not think there  would be any problem because there was a photo of the castle in the window at the ticket booth.  I slowly asked for one ticket to Karlstyn.  The ticket agent just looked at me.  I repeated again very slowly "One ticket to Karylstyn.   I still received just a blank faced expression.  Then the ticket agent said to me very rudely "Česká ! Česká !"   Speak Czech.   Now the panic sets in.  I was outside of city center.  No one was speaking English and I had angered the ticket agent.   But I tried again.  I pointed to the photo of the castle on his booths window and raised one finger to indicate I wanted one ticket to go see the castle.  I said politely "One".   The man pointed to me and said again "Česká ! Česká !"   So I gave up.  I took the tram outside of the station back down to city center.  At the tram stop there was a man, who spoke some English, and was selling tickets to go to Karlstyn for the next day.  Defeated, I bought the ticket and took the tour bus the next day.

The tour advertised that it was in seven languages including English, Italian, French.  So I felt comfortable that I would have no problem.  On the day of the tour the tour guide only spoke two languages.  He spoke English and Česká.   The  only people who spoke English on the bus were me, two Australians, and the guide.  Everyone else spoke different languages and they were not happy.  The tour guide handed them printed out information in their language about the tour and asked them to follow along reading as he talked to us in English.  This did not make the three of us very welcome in the group.    After some arguments over the arrangements and the language problems we were on our way.  We arrived to the little village in the photo just above.   The bus parked in the village and we had to walk up a large hill to get to the castle.  It was a good hike and some of the people on the bus were not young so it was difficult for some of them.  We had lunch in Karlstyn and there was a lot of grumbling about the language problems and the hiking.  The three of us who spoke English were the least favorite of the group.  But during the lunch meal the beer started to flow and people stopped grumbling and I did get to meet two Russian couples and have an interesting conversation with our broken languages.  The Italian speaking  members of the tour never did calm down though and were angry for most of the tour.  It did make for an interesting day.

The castle itself was empty inside.  There was not a lot to see.  It was not very exciting at all in my opinion.  I was expecting it to be renovated and beautiful inside.  So I was a bit disappointed.  But it was my first castle.  And one of my first experiences traveling in a foreign country. So my expectations were a little over the top.  I probably would have enjoyed it much more now.   So all was not lost.  All these years later I still prefer not to take guided tours.  I like the challenge of my finding my own way around, trying to communicate with the locals, and not sharing my experience with arguing tourists unhappy with their guide.    I returned to Prague in 2015.   It's much easier today.  It's very touristy.  There is no problem finding train stations or purchasing tickets.  But I am glad I was there to have the experience before the infrastructure was there.  It left me a good story to tell and something I will never forget.  

Historically the Karlštejn Castle was founded by Czech king and Holy Roman emperor Charles IV (Karel IV.) in 1348, the same year when the king founded Prague's New Town and Charles University. The hill-top castle surrounded by forests was built to hold the royal treasures and coronation jewels of the Holy Roman Empire, and served as the king's retreat. The Czech coronation jewels were also kept there for almost 200 years during and after the Hussite wars in the 15th and 16th century

Lost in Lillestrom

I went to Norway in 2005.  This was my first time to visit Norway.   I arrived on Easter Monday which is a national holiday in Norway.  This is important to know when talking about my first impression of Norway.  I bought a train ticket at the airport for Oslo.  It should have been about a thirty minute train ride.  However as usual, when I travel everything becomes an adventure and never quite turns out as planned.  I got on the wrong train.  I was told I was on the express train but that I had not paid for an express train ticket.  The train only made a couple of stops before reaching Oslo and I would have to get off at the first stop and wait for the commuter train to pick me up to continue my journey.


So here I am.  Easter Monday in Lillestrom Norway, abandoned at the train station waiting for the next train to Oslo.  As I mentioned before, it was Easter Monday.  The entire train station was closed.  There were no taxi's running because of the holiday.  There were not stores or shops opened at the tiny station.  I could not even purchase a snack.   Of course this was before I owned a cell phone.  So I could not call for help or make contact with anyone.  So I waited with my luggage, lost in Lillestrom.   Thrown off train, abandoned at a closed train station, and no where to go.  This was my first impression of Norway.  I did have a wonderful time in Norway.  So first impressions are not always the best.