What do Lord Byron, Salvador Dali and Queen Elizabeth II have in common?
Last week Swiss President Pascal Couchepin joined the famous list when he inaugurated the “new-look” medieval castle on Lake Geneva, where the presentation has been revamped to better show off its thousand-year-old history. Even on a grey cloudy day in March, the 11th-century castle, built on a rocky spur on the eastern shore of the lake, remains one of Switzerland’s most evocative sights. It’s an image pinned to thousands of walls around the world. With its towers reflected in the deep silver waters and the dramatic snowy Dents du Midi peaks as a backdrop, it is easy to see why Byron and millions of others who have passed this way have been enchanted by the fortress. “There are lots of very beautiful castles in Switzerland, but [Chillon’s] architecture and setting, with lake and mountains and possibility to access by boat or on foot, is unique,” the castle’s new director, Jean-Pierre Pastori, told swissinfo. Like Zermatt’s Matterhorn, Lucerne’s Chapel Bridge and Geneva’s Jet d’Eau, th
