Annecy, France

Today’s destination is Annecy, a town I have been really looking forward to visiting. Annecy was a settlement from Roman times and this alpine town is about 35km from the border with Switzerland. Looking up to the nearby mountains we can still see they are capped with snow. It’s known for its Vieille Ville (old town), with cobbled streets, winding canals and pastel-colored houses, and is sometimes called Venice of the Alps due to the canals and a river that runs through old town. It appears on so many lists as one of the prettiest towns in France - AND IT IS! Even though we arrived late in the afternoon and the clouds were grey, it still made us stop and go “Wow”.

We did our usual thing - dropped our bags off and headed straight back out to get our bearings and some dinner.

This town lives up to its hype, with its many flowerbeds and flowerpots filled with colourful blooms, it is so beautiful and picturesque. These adorn the railings on the numerous bridges that cross the canal running through town. The water is crystal clear like we have never seen before. Set amongst the lovely pastel coloured buildings this is a town we can’t wait to see in the sunshine, so we can take even more photos than we have this evening.

It is a public holiday here for Labour Day so we had an early dinner to avoid the expected dinner rush. Brad enjoyed his salmon pasta dish while I ordered a Savoyard chicken fillet and local cheeses, which didn’t come out as I was expecting. It was still a tasty, if somewhat cheesy meal.

Part of the a French tradition on Labour Day is to give your loved one a bunch of flowers, as it is known as Lily of the Valley Day, and these pretty little bunches are sold everywhere. Lucky me, Brad even purchased a little bouquet of flowers for me.

It has been a while since we have had a gelato so to finish our day we tried one of the highly recommended gelateria on the way back to our apartment. So many new flavours to try but we both stuck with our favourite of black cherry which was delicious. A very yummy way to end our day. Can’t wait for tomorrow.Read more