Castles and Romans

Today, I went to a castle. A legitimate castle originally built in the 12th Century. The oldest document mentioning the castle is in 1150 and the castle had been built for awhile even then. The castle's name?

Château de Chillon

To get to this particular castle we had to pass through, what my cousin calls, Castle Country. Castles were everywhere. Castles and palaces. They dotted the land like the temples do in Utah. It was rather shocking to see. I had thought seeing one actual castle in my life would be a big deal. But I've seen at least 15 castles and palaces there and back (a three hour drive). Along with many old Catholic churches and chapels and an old (very old) Roman watchtower.

One of the Catholic Churches on the way to Château de Chillon

The castle is also located in the French part of Switzerland. Who knew that the French I learned in high school would actually come in handy? Both with neighbors and my trip to Switzerland? But here is where it is located:

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Just so you know, I could literally see the Alps that were located in France.

See? Those are the Alps, across the lake. It's also France.

Château de Chillon was absolutely amazing. Truly just... spectacular. The pictures really don't capture the intensity of it. It's huge. The castle had these signs explaining the the castle. The common theme actually was witches. As in making deals with the Devil, spell books, flying on brooms, tortures, burning at the stake. It was an an interesting theme for the castle.

This is an actual spell book. On the right, in English, it reads, "Book of Magic with many magical spells and signs. This page tells the user how to call upon the Devil to get gold from a sunken ship. This kind of spell book was still very popular in the 19th century."

An old record of a death sentence for a condemned witch.

Where they burned the witches.

The room where witches were hanged, tortured, etc.

Actual armor. The people back then must've been short, and strong, to be able to wear it.

After exploring the castle (and a lot of it wasn't open to the public). We went to this little manmade cove in the lake right near the castle. I could just see the people who lived at the castle going to the little beach often. It was a nice place. You might think that there would naturally be a beach if the castle is located on the water. But in truth, most the the lakes in Switzerland have old stone steps or a sheer drop into the water. Beaches of little stones or sand or dirt are actually rather rare. So such a beach near the castle is significant (to me). It was loads of fun.

On the way back home, we decided to stop at a town called Aventicum, also formally (once) known as the capital of Roman Switzerland. Meaning that the town was surrounded by what was left of a Roman wall, it even has a legitimate amphitheatre. You know, the kind with gladiators and animal combat and staged hunts. Since it was once the capital city, it's a rather large amphitheatre. The town was also kind of creepy because even though there were cars everywhere, there were almost no people anywhere. Really. There were no sounds besides ourselves. It was really weird.
Here's the former Roman Switzerland capital. You can see the amphitheatre:

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 The amphitheatre, which is has only been half uncovered.

This is the uncovered portion.

Another castle. This one located in the former capital of Roman Switzerland.

It was a truly fabulous trip, even in the ride to Château de Chillon was long. As well as the ride back. It was entirely worth it. I'm so lucky to be able to be here!