Pilgrimage from Lausanne to Culli 06/07/07

As we were only 25kms away from Montreux there was no hurry to get moving this morning. I went to pack my stuff up around 9am but as soon as I began it started to rain. I got straight back in my sleeping bag to wait it out.

I decided I needed a computer, so it was in to town to have a look. The funny thing was that all the shops that I could find were all the same chain. One of the shop assistants told me they had180 stores throughout Switzerland and I think I found half of them just in Lausanne. It was getting a bit frustrating, as they didn’t have what I wanted.

It was around 14:30 when I met back up with Dan and it was time to go PARTY!

Montreux here we come!!!

Ten kms down the road we were into wine country. The first place we found that was open for tasting was like a Co-Op where a different family would sell there wines every week.

Talking to the owners we discovered that UNESCO had just listed the region as a world heritage site. This is because the vines are all on such steep slopes that almost all the work is still done by hand.

The place started to fill up with locals just as we were about to leave, so we thought we should stay and socialize for a little while longer. The owners then came over to ask us to pay up. We thought that we were getting the boot. As we tried to say that we were just about to stay for a couple more glasses they surprised us with some awesome news. The reason they wanted us to pay was because for the following two hours all the food and wine was FREE as the town was having a party to celebrate the UNESCO ruling.

Well, the wine started flowing freely and it wasn’t long before we were acquainted with half the town. One of the locals had done the Camino De Santiago and was extremely excited to share stories with us. After the party he invited us back to his house with a few of his friends for dinner.

We must have made a good impression because as we were leaving to go to dinner the mayors wife came and informed us that the mayor had invited us to stay the night at their house. What an amazing town. We love Culli! Montreux could wait :)

The dinner party lasted well into the night with WAY too much wine drunk by all. It was great! Thanks guys….this was one of the best nights I have had in a long while.