Blogs from Annecy, Rhône-Alpes, France, Europe

As we left Beaune on Friday, October 4, there was a misty rain falling. Our GPS guided us to the motorway and most of our trip was on the beautiful French superhighways. They are beautiful because they are all toll roads and not cheap! Our toll from Beaune to Annecy (250km) was 19.50 E or around 28.00 Cdn. Our trip took us south toward Lyon and then east towards Geneva, Switzerland. The further east we went, the higher the mountains became. We travelled through three long tunnels. The rain intensified and even though the traffic was not heavy, there were a lot of transports on the road which made for a somewhat stressful drive at times. We were relieved when we left the motorway and headed towards Annecy on a two lane highway. The secondary roads, ... read more

Spent this beautiful day enjoying Annecy. Started the day with a pain au chocolate from the bakery - a 1 min walk from our door. Everything baked on site with a great selection of breads and other goodies. About as authentic French as you can get. Probably a good thing we're only here for 4 days. Took a nice walk along the river that flows from Lake Annecy. Saw more of the "new" town. Very peaceful park setting and the path went forever. Once you leave the town proper fishing is allowed in the river and they even had small piers setup for wheelchair access to fish! Lunch was a special treat at a very nice brasserie recommended by the lady from whom we rented the flat. We had a great salad and a regional speciality, ... read more

Yet another beautiful day for us to enjoy. Planned to take a bus along Lake Annecy to a village and take a hike. Walked to the bus station to check on the bus route only to find the streets empty and no bus - it is a national holiday - Ascension Thursday! This bus doesn't run on holidays. On to plan B - this was planned for later in the week, but today became explore the lake by boat. We took a boat that does a 2 hour loop of the lake stopping at a number of villages. We got off at a point 3 miles from Annecy and walked the rest of the way along the lakeshore. Spectacular views from the lake of the surrounding mountains and village. Gee saw a couple of houses she ... read more

Sunday 14th April Our coach took us from Lyon to Annecy in about an hour and a half. One could see the country changing as we went along. Still morning when we arrived in Annecy, we had time to walk around and have lunch before our lake cruise at 3pm. What a gorgeous place! Beautiful lakeside parks and promenades, classic French architecture in the town, the old canals carrying fresh mountain water from the lake (yes, away from the lake, it is the outflow, which ends up in the Rhône River later on). The narrow streets are crowded with restaurants, and were very crowded with people too, as the weather was sunny and there were street market stalls. All this with the spectacular backdrop of rugged mountains. The Annecy Marathon on the Lake was also running, ... read more

From Lyon we went by car in the direction of the Alps. To see a bit more of the country and to safe the toll of the highway, we decided to take the national route in the direction of Aix-les-Bains. That was a stupid idea for the first part of the trip. On a friday evening, traffic was intense. Everyone was out to reach their week-end destination.But the closer we came to the mountains, the nicer was the route. Through beautiful landscapes with flowerfields we reached Tunnel du Chat. Once coming out of this tunnel we had an amazing view over the Lac du Bourget and Aix-les-Bains in the distance. We have to admit that this part of France or the landscapes and smaller towns and villages are much more appealing to us than the big ... read more