Île des Cygnes

We left Lyon heading to the French Alps. We drove via Chambery, an historical city with medieval architecture from the Savoy rulers that ruled as far as Turin in Italy - it has been in and out of French rule until finally in 1860 it was ceded to France. We then travelled across to Le Bourget-du-Lac, the biggest Alpine lake in France and passed Aix-Des-Bains where the Romans first built thermal baths - the town is still a spa resort. We drove up a switchback road to Col de la Chambotte - at 650m you can see all the lake below.
Then onto to Annecy. It was Peter and Vanessa’s wedding anniversary so we had booked into a Paul Becuse restaurant by the water - it didn’t disappoint.
Annecy is called the Venice of the Alps because it is built at the end of the lake that feeds into the River Thiou and has built canals through the old city - the canals have flower windowboxes hung on the fences all along them so very pretty. It was market day in the old city so always good to try out the cheeses and saucissons available for tasting plus finally got a real latte coffee! All the time weaving in and out of narrow cobblestone streets with overhanging wooden and stone lintels, and interconnecting alleyways leading to footbridges over the canals.
We finished the day with a boat cruise of the lake - lots of little settlements along the shores - a fairytale chateau that allegedly inspired Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty - jagged granite mountain ridges up air with paragliders galore - we counted over 80 in the air!
Then a classic Savoire dish - fondue! But with white wine, garlic and onion here plus we added mushrooms. A stroll back home among the spot lit building - tomorrow Mt Blanc!
P.S. In many cities and towns there are buildings with “fake” windows - that is windows that have been bricked up and painted over to look like real windows in a trompe-l'œil fashion. That is because in France ( and England and Scotland) from the 1600’s until 1926 there was a tax based on how many windows you had! So to avoid tax people bricked up the windows but to avoid looking ugly they painted facsimile windows over them! I have put a picture of a particularly cute one we saw.Read more