To live and die in Montreux - a touch of Nabokov's work

Nabokov is the most famous persona of Montreux, a small town on Lake Leman. Nabokov is not the only creative person who chose the picturesque views of Lehman.

Next door is Vevey, where Charlie Chaplin settled, Gabrielle Chanel in Lausanne, Audrey Hepburn in Morges. But Montreux, Montreux - completely "Nabokovsky". Here the writer lived his last prosperous years, in the local cemetery he is buried with his wife Vera.

We will walk through places important for the writer – the embankment, the Montreux Palace hotel, which became his home, the favorite pastry store Zurcher, the Alps, where the passionate lepidopterologist climbed in search of butterflies. It was. By 1961, Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera moved to Europe from America. Thanks to the impressive fees for “Lolita” and worldwide success, the writer no longer needed to teach, for the first time he could live as he wanted.

So, having finally received the well-deserved prosperity, the Nabokovs traveled around Europe. During a trip to Switzerland, they stayed in the town of Montreux. Among the new bohemian acquaintances of the couple was the actor Peter Ustinov, who recommended them the Montreux Palace hotel (in the interiors of which he shot the film with Sophia Loren “Lady L”).

One of his favorite establishments was the Confiserie Zurcher. It still exists, it is worth going there. Although the menu has changed since the 1960s, you can imagine swallowing the same coffee and snacking on chocolate, as the great man did 50 years ago.

His true passion was butterflies, and the Swiss Riviera is rich in stunning specimens.

In the summer, when Montreux became too noisy from vacationers, the couple went to the neighboring mountain Villar, as well as to Gstaad and Zermatt. Nabokov on the Alps: "I love the mountains." I like to visit somewhere at a thousand meters high and every day climb to at least two thousand meters to catch alpine butterflies.