DESTINATIONS — SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA


Relax in the glamour of the Swiss Riviera, says Joanna Booth


THE LADY OF THE LAKE H


ow long does it take for vandalism to become valuable? Not long – if your name is George Gordon Byron and you’re


a famously flamboyant Romantic poet and playboy. Venture into the chilly dungeons of Chillon Castle, and


you’ll see that rather than worrying about defacing history, they’re grateful for Byron’s graffiti. The poet scratched his name into one of the stone pillars in this Swiss castle and now it sits under a Perspex cover to preserve it. Today, destinations rejoice when they hear that Joanna


Lumley or Simon Reeve is planning a TV show in the neighbourhood. In the 19th century, Byron had the same effect. He visited Chillon Castle in summer 1816, was inspired by the tale of a prisoner chained up in the cellars, and had a best-selling poem about it out by that December. Tourists are still drawn by the chance to see Byron’s name, the dungeon and the pillar where François Bonivard was chained up. Chillon means ‘rock’, and great slabs of it burst up from the floor of the cellar like tectonic plates.


2 July 2015 — travelweekly.co.uk • 65


SWITZERLAND & AUSTRIA


travelweekly.co.uk/destinations


PICTURE: STST-STTP


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