The Palais de I’lsle in Annecy is also known as the ‘house shaped like a ship’. — Photos: JEREMY KOO
Annecy is a small French town on the eastern part of France, close to the Swiss border and 40km from Geneva. It is considered an alpine town, acting as a gateway to the French alps and the iconic Mont Blanc.
After being in Paris for a week, my wife and I took a train to visit Annecy. It is a little quaint town that is compact and best explored on foot, so that you can see more of the marvellous medieval town, as well as the fortresses.
The town was built around River Thiou and its water flows from Lake Annecy; the water is so clear and the lake under bright sunlight is azure.
We meandered on foot through the old town, which has many crepe shops and bakeries. The smell of freshly baked patisseries was just too enticing for us – we couldn’t help but walk into almost every bakery, with each one selling a different assortment of pastries.
But for us, this was the best way to visit little French towns and villages. We slowly walked around and discovered new things and tried good food.
There are dedicated cycling lanes in the whole town and at the lake, so one can leisurely stroll around or rent a bicycle.
While cycling along the rim of the beautiful lake, we stopped at one of the many benches and had a picnic lunch.
The next day, we got a rental car and drove the scenic route for about an hour to Chamonix, the alpine gateway town to Mont Blanc. En route, however, we took a short detour to Geneva to see the famous Jet d’Eau fountain on Lake Geneva.
The main fountain at Aix En Provence.
Chamonix is a year-round destination – great skiing in winter and amazing hiking in the summer. It is the starting point for the Tour du Mont Blanc – the 170km-long alping hiking trail through France, Italy, and Switzerland.
Perhaps we will be back someday to take part in this.
The 3,842m Aguille Du Midi mountain is accessible by cable car from Chamonix. Well, not just any cable car – the world’s highest ascending cable car, from 1,035m at the base to 3,842m at the top (that’s an altitude gain of over over 2,700m!).
More than that, though, you will need to take a lift that was built into the rock formation to get to the peak. This lookout point will give you a full view of Mont Blanc. There is also a glass box that we can step into, for a drop view of the bottom of the mountain.
There’s an open air bridge that links two rocky peaks on one side, while the other side is connected by a walk-through metal tube. We felt that it was truly an incredible site to explore for a couple of hours.
After that, we checked out the rest of Chamonix on foot. We opted to have dinner there, before driving back to Annecy. As we were there in late spring, sunset was around 9pm.
The next day, we drove from Annecy along the undulating countryside, towards the French Riviera. The old town of Nice is the ideal base for those those who want to take short trips to the many towns and villages on the Riviera.
The balmy days allowed us to gradually discover the narrow alleys in Nice, and take in the sights along Promenade de Anglais. It was not yet swarmed with the summer crowd, and we were immediately taken by the charming and relaxed atmosphere of this Mediterranean city.
A sunny day in Monaco.
From Nice, we went to Monaco via a public bus that departs every 20 minutes or so, for about RM8. The bus moved along the rugged coast and reached the centre of Monaco in 45 minutes. We visited the famous Casino de Monte Carlo, and saw how the whole city was setting up for the Formula One race in May.
We went back to Nice in the afternoon. From there, we took a short train ride to explore a charming town called Antibes.
The following day, we went on another 45-minute train ride, this time to Cannes. While Cannes is edgier, more contemporary and more luxurious than Nice, we preferred Nice to Cannes for its laid back atmosphere.
The writer and his wife in the glass box at Aguille Du Midi.
After spending three sunny days on the French Riviera, it was time to move on to the final stop in our Southern France excursion – the city of 1,000 fountains, Aix En Provence.
We actually only planned to stay for a day here before continuing our journey to Brussels in Belgium. But it rained the whole morning in Aix, so we spent most of our time in a café where I had the best cappuccino in my life.
As a group of British tourists was leaving the cafe, my wife noticed it was actually tennis star Andy Murray’s entourage! Alas, we were too starstruck to ask for a picture with him, as they quickly walked out of the cafe and into the rain. (Murray went on to win the Aix En Provence Tennis Open several days after our chance “meeting”.)
The views expressed are entirely the reader’s own.
