A couple months ago I posted a piece on my hike up the Rochers de Naye, which featured some video and photographs of the beautiful town of Mantreux, located at the east end of Lake Geneva, opposite of our home in Geneva on the lake’s west end. That day, I had no time to actually explore the city so I have been looking forward to returning. We took advantage of the opportunity during the recent visit of Nancy’s sister Ellen and our brother-in-law Cliff.

Along with my son Chris, the five of us headed off in our rental car for the 90 minute journey east. Our initial destination was the Château de Chillon, built in the 12th Century on a rocky island just off shore in Lake Geneva. If you search for “Château de Chillon”, you will find their website with some awesome photos of the château. If I had access to a helicopter, my photo would be as good as theirs. But I don’t, so here is the photo I took.

The Château de Chilton in Mantreux

(Incidentally, I took the picture below from the same spot, facing the opposite direction. From time to time I like to include in these posts photos of what I consider to be pretty cool features of the local transportation infrastructure. I think all my bridge engineer friends might be impressed by this highway bridge.)

Highway bridge in Mantreux, Switzerland

After touring the château, it was lunchtime so we set off to find a place to enjoy a picnic lunch we had packed that morning. Those plans changed when we drove past a restaurant perched on the roadway high above Lake Geneva just west of Mantreux. I’ve always maintained the best view I’ve ever had from a restaurant was at Ray’s Boathouse in Seattle where Nancy and I dined for an anniversary dinner many years ago. Well, move over Ray’s Boathouse! The new leader in the clubhouse is a restaurant with the humbly understated name “Le Deck”, part of the “Le Baron Tavernier” Hotel. Here’s a still photo I took of our group as we waited for our meal.

At Le Deck restaurant, near Mantreux.

I know what you’re thinking: “Yeah, that looks like a great place, but you were just raving about the view. So enough of the still photos. Show us a video of the view!”

Behold. I shot this video right in front of our table. There is a shallow “pool” on the edge of the deck which provides a visual effect of the lake (500 meters below) extending right from the table. There is no window between our table and the open air. Seriously, check this out.

Since Cliff and Ellen are both oenophiles, (yep, that’s a word) we planned a stop on the way home to take a walk through the vineyards along the shore of the lake and to taste some of the local wine. We found a nice little village along the roadside and were greeted warmly by a woman who offered a table in her courtyard where we tasted a lovely dry and lightly fruity “vin blanc” followed by a hearty with a hint of oak “vin rouge”. Then we went for a stroll along the terraces that extend from vineyard to vineyard which afford this magnificent view.

The vineyards along Lake Geneva

With all that we experienced that day, the château, the view at lunch, the wine tasting in the village, and the stroll through the vineyard, the memories we made on this day will not soon be forgotten.