Annecy

Lake Annecy: Sunday 08 June 2008, alarm at 03:45, off we go to Haute-Savoie, which I've never visited anyway; we have a thousand places to see and tick off, to photograph. There's little time: 1 day. The Fréjus tunnel costs 40 euros return for small cars... exaggeratedly excessive, I'd say; we arrive in France and unfortunately the weather is not on our side at all: cloudy and not at all warm even though it's the height of June. We arrive in Annecy, a lakeside town at the foot of the mountains, in the heart of Haute-Savoie. The first thing we encounter of Annecy is its lake, and we drive around a good stretch of it until we reach the large car park. The lake is beautiful even when the weather is bad; although its colour ranges from grey to hints of blue, seeing water relaxes me.

The car park is right nearby and so we're forced to walk along an elegant lakeside promenade with benches and trees, kiosks that are obviously still closed — it's eight in the morning... There are 2 boats moored there, a step from the centre of Annecy, at the lake port: two are tourist boats and one is a sort of flat-bottomed cruise ship, white and red, looking elegant inside, with a restaurant... it's an enormous floating restaurant which, reading the sign, I discover offers meals from 50 to 90 euros, cruising on Lac d'Annecy. A lovely thing, I think to myself, romantic, original... and expensive too!! After going round the town centre we head back to the lakeside further from the centre and find another small tourist harbour with boats that do a circuit of the lake at average prices, pedalos to venture out on your own around the lake...

a verdant garden a few metres from the little harbour, benches along the lake shore, a few monuments — it's a classic tourist area, very well kept and equipped; well done, French. From here, looking towards the centre, you can see a bell tower poking up and a sumptuous, well-kept historic villa/palazzo; we walk further along the lake and a ray of sun comes out that for a moment lights everything up, including the green water that turns transparent and blue; the bottom is sandy, strange for a lake and even more so near the mountains. The water is fairly clear, someone is rowing on the lake, it's a peaceful place and the lake offers numerous attractions, draws tourists and touches several villages. The kiosks are open and are ticket offices for joining the lake tours; you can even pay 15 euros each for the full circuit, which lasts about an hour.

The scenery isn't bad at all, fresh air, lake, mountains very close, lots of greenery, plenty of people doing sport — jogging, cycling and canoeing... sporty, these locals. On Sundays there's a market in Annecy, or at any rate a kind of fair; the centre is full of stalls of all kinds and there are more and more people around. Some boats begin their daily perpetual tour of the lake, ferrying tourists here and there. The Annecy lakeside is truly interesting, a generally favoured and relaxing destination. Bars, ice-cream parlours, everything adds up... restaurants, shops, everything comes alive... Inside the lake there's a small islet of pure, lush vegetation that is home to songbirds; the islet can't be visited, it's small and close to the shore.

Many little boats are moored in the harbour, which is a canal running from the lake towards the interior of the town, and among tourist and fishing boats we reluctantly reach the car; everything else awaits us and so we can't do the lake tour, but what we're going to do has nothing to envy about Lake Annecy, which is very beautiful anyway and which I highly recommend!! Vieille Ville: The town centre. But who would ever have said that a similar Venice existed in Savoy too? It was a pleasant discovery to enter the historic centre of Annecy and notice that the waterway runs alongside houses, shops, gardens, churches, palazzi, and between bridges and little streets it really seems the most romantic place on the planet.

It's a very evocative and very beautiful landscape, ancient and small; the centre with the walk along the canal is pleasant, little places like restaurants and bars overlooking the canal, the little bridges, the evocation of antiquity — everything reminds me of Venice. There's no sun and it's early morning; we make our way through the little alleys and make lovely discoveries of picture-postcard views that are truly remarkable; then two swans, to complete it all, glide lightly on the water of the canal. There's something like a village fair and, among arcades and little squares, we leave the canal to cross a real river that flows swiftly; we come across churches and castles, climbs and some locals who classically go around with a baguette in hand.

The return to the walk along the canal is pleasant, flowers at the windows and as ornament; a beautiful strange building catches my attention — it's the handsome Palais de l'Isle, the little palace, castle, ancient and medieval, that rises and juts out in the middle of the water of the Annecy canal. The palace is truly beautiful and has a special position that makes it undoubtedly unique. You can walk all around the little palace and, photo after photo, make lovely discoveries of romantic spots with a clear echo of eras that are now part of the past. The canal water reflects all the little houses, some very dilapidated, others very old, a few restored, that line our walk. Pretty little bridges with arches over the waterway, dead-end alleys that end at the water between inhabited palazzi, many flowered balconies.

It doesn't feel like France, it doesn't even feel like a real place; it's peaceful, like an old painting by some famous painter, with essential elements and a touch of fairytale unreality. A restaurant has an arched entrance in old stone that opens directly onto the canal, reachable by boat; most of the buildings (pastel-coloured) have narrow, high roofs, typical of northern places and of places where it snows a lot in winter. It almost feels like being in Amsterdam. Then from the top of the castle climb I admire the green panorama with mountains and clouds, houses and water. Old towns with waterways are (for me) perfect to photograph and always give that extra touch... is that why I managed to take 50 photographs of the centre of Annecy alone? It's really a beautiful village; there are medieval echoes, cobbled little streets, even a viewpoint on the road up to the high castle of Annecy.

It's a truly perfect place.

The church of Notre-Dame de Liesse: In the historic centre of Annecy stands this old church, restored, open to the public. In the same square there's a fountain and some shops. Inside, the church is very rich in furnishings and statues, paintings and stained-glass windows in intense colours. It's easy to reach, not far from the main street and the Lake. The church consists of a bell tower and a basic structural complex; inside there are 3 naves and a gallery. Address: Place Notre Dame 74000 Annecy

The castle-museum of Annecy: Having arrived in Annecy at 08:00 in the morning, the castle/museum was closed; from the lake you can see the roof of the castle that dominates the town. The uphill road leading to the castle is surrounded by houses, some historic; the castle is fairly large and well preserved, on the outside. The main façade is beautiful, the square is large and there are both the castle hotel and a lovely unusual B&B. The castle square sits above the town and you can see all the roofs of the houses. In front of the castle entrance there are all the advertising boards