Chateau Chillon, Lake Geneva

Chillon was founded in the 11th Century and from the 12th Century was the base of the Counts of Savoy, who controlled the profitable strategic north-south trade route along the precipitous east end of Lake Geneva.

It was greatly expanded in the 13th Century by Count Peter II.

Never taken in a siege, it was taken by Trreaty in 1536 by the Bernese when they conquered the Vaud. They controlled it until the Vaud revolution of 1798 and it became cantonal holding when the Vaud was established in 1803.

Its chief claim to fame, apart from looking like a perfect medieval castle, is the poem by Lord Byron, who wrote The Prisoner of Chillon in 1816 about Francois de Bonivard of Geneva, who was imprisoned from 1530 to 1536 by the Savoyards.