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It's a two hour walk if you begin from the Tourist Office and if you don't feel like walking, there are many bicycle rental places in Annecy. The spur of land going out in the lake from Albigny has the town beach of Annecy on one side with tennis courts and entrance to the beach. Walking along you come to the Imperial Hotel, opened in 1913. The Hotel isn't just a luxury hotel but also houses the Casino and Conference Center. There is a gorgeous rose garden in front of the Imperial Hotel and sculptures along with miniature golf behind it.
There are row, motor and pedal boats, some including little slides to slide into the lake...View image... available in this area and a playground for children. The Pont des Amours is an example of early 20th century ironwork...View image... and crosses the Canal du Vasse under plane trees. On the other side of the bridge are more children's games in the Jardins de l'Europe, an English style garden planted in 1863.
Continue reading "The East Side of Lac d'Annecy and Trivia" »
The Tuesday morning market in Annecy begins early and finishes promptly at noon in the old quarter. Food only! It's a market similar to all the others in Europe with the only difference. The ambiance of the surroundings. Set along narrow streets and over canal bridges, it was extremely crowded with the locals doing their weekly shopping...assured of buying the freshest ingredients and tourists noshing away on the free samples, picking up picnic lunches and eating irresistible foods, even if they weren't hungry. Baby vegetables, pork brochettes...View image, fruit (large cherries), chicken spinning on the rotisserie, small wineries (no samples, unfortunately)...View image, trout sausage....View image, it just went on and on and on. We also passed a gourmet deli with the most wonderful looking take-away food. I almost went into a food orgasm looking at the different varieties, some of which I'd never seen. Took a pass on the more "esoteric" samples, e.g. brains and "bunny foo-foo."
We wove in and out of the crowds for blocks getting hungrier by the minute. Although we had just eaten a huge breakfast, it didn't take long to get into the "feed me" mode and snarf down samples of sausages, local cheese and finish with an ice cream cone. Very bad us!
Continue reading "Annecy's Tuesday Market and Food in France" »
Talloires is only 13km/8 miles from Annecy at the foot of Dents de Lanfon (1824m/5,984')...View image, and close to the highest mountain in this area, la Tournette, 2351m/7,713' and loaded with 4**** star hotels. Hotel Abbaye de Talloires...View image, the famous Auberge du Pere Bise (a Relais & Châteaux Hotel)...View image, Les Pres du Lac, Hotel Cottage Bise and Gourmet restaurants. We didn't see one menu for under 45 Euro, prix fix...View image, and running up to 80 Euros easily. One of the most beautiful areas we've ever seen and if you can afford 250 Euros a night, not including food, go for it. Talloires is a rich, exclusive retreat and known locally as the "Pearl of Lac Annecy." It has been painted by Paul Cezanne to name just one famous artist.
The architecture of the village is typically Savoyard and walking the narrow streets, we found the Tourist Information Center who gave us walking tips and hikes for the Talloires area, swimming areas, marinas, and Church of Saint Germain du Lac. The church was built by the Monks of the Benedictine abbey in 1016 and has a communion table with a wooden balustrade dating back to the 17th century.
Continue reading "Talloires, France for Gourmets and Luxury" »
Visit the Annecy website for even more information then I'm giving. If you love to bicycle, there is an old railway line that links Annecy to Albertville, covering 30km/18 miles that can be bicycled easily. I've been told that it is totally flat.
- For water sports, kayak, rent a pedal boat, motor boat, go sailing. There are innumerable places to rent along the lake.
- You can base yourself in Annecy and visit other places in the alps. Chamonix, Geneva, Chambery, Evian, Val d'Isere, Aosta, and La Clusaz are just a few of the towns in the Haute-Savoie.
- A travel agency in Annecy, Agence Crolard, place de la Gare, sells bus tickets to the destinations around Annecy and Lac d'Annecy and Lac Léman. It also arranges excursions by minibus to sites of panoramic interest in July and August.
Continue reading "Other Miscellany and Things to Do in Annecy, France" »
We packed the hiking boots and poles away for the duration of the trip since it was seriously hot with today's high forecasted to be 86F., and going up in increments each day. Hiking is foolhardy in this heat and with exposed conditions in the mountains. Even without the hiking, it already appeared that there was enough activity in Annecy, France to keep us occupied.
Breakfast in the Hotel de Paris' adorable breakfast room with croissants, bread, yogurt, fruit, juice and good coffee while trying to decide what to do today. Since it's gorgeous and hot, what better excursion than the Lac Annecy boat cruise at 10:30 a.m. called the "circuit omnibus." Here's an all French link to the boat company but they do speak fluent English in their office. A circular tour of Lac Annecy costs 15.40 Euros which entitles you to get on and/or off the boat at any stop and reboard. The kicker is there are only three sailings a day and it would be unrealistic to think you could do any more than one or two stops at the most. Compagnie des Bateaux.
Continue reading "A Boat Cruise on Lac Annecy, France" »
It was difficult to find a hotel in Annecy, the large majority of which do not serve half pension, our druthers. A mass of e-mails inquiries sent off, I waited...and waited...and waited. I thought the economy was bad around the world and anticipated hotels snapping up my request for five nights. A resend of inquiries again stating I needed to know now brought a few replies. Don't you just hate that? Send a one word response, complet and that would satisfy me. Just respond! Beggers can't be choosers and picked the **Hotel de Paris, Annecy. They do not do half-pension but the price was right, seemed to be in a good location and had free WI-FI (that cinches the deal most of the time).
Manager and owner, Florence Deve, couldn't have possibly be warmer and more obliging. Filled with tips, happy to answer questions and obliging to the extreme. The Hotel de Paris is located an easy five-block (give or take) walk from the Annecy train station, and around 15-20 minutes from the Hotel into the center of medieval Annecy and the lake. Instead of just giving directions, Florence grabbed a map, a marker and went to work to show the easiest way into the old section and where to turn.
Continue reading "Hotel de Paris, Annecy, France" »
Annecy, France is a medieval town only 80km/50 miles from Chamonix and 45km/28 from Geneva. In hindsight, it would have been easier to fly Chicago-Geneva instead of Chicago-Paris. Annecy is called "The Venice of Savoie" because of the small canals and streams running out of Lac (Lake) Annecy. It was easy to incorporate five days exploring Annecy along with Chamonix with plans to visit the picturesque villages that surround Lake Annecy. Annecy is also 140km/87 miles east of Lyon and that would simplify the return train journey to Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris.
Annecy has a huge train station and a very nice policeman (lately it seems as if almost everyone speaks English in France) pointed the way towards **Hotel de Paris, our new home for the next four nights. It was at least a five-plus block walk dragging suitcases in the heat and a little confusing because the streets change names every block or so.
Continue reading "The Medieval Town of Annecy, France" »
Off the train in St. Gervais-Le Fayet, the Tourist Office was closed (always on Sunday) and we can't figure out how to use the storage lockers in the station. How much does it cost? Where can we get change? Does it take exact change only? And, there is no one in the train station to ask. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade...." Ex-Marine walked over to a 2** hotel across the street from the train station and asked if we could pay them 5 Euros to leave the bags for the day. Voila....instant lemonade.
Among Saint Gervais-Le Fayet's attractions are thermal baths with spa treatments, walks and hikes with over 180 km/11 miles of marked paths and trails. Other people who had gotten off the train with us were either waiting for a bus to Megeve (been there, done it...a gorgeous, expensive area), or buying tickets for the Mont-Blanc Tramway. The Mont-Blanc Tramway is a rack & pinion train that operates in the summer. It begins in Le Fayet and takes you to the foot of the Bionnassay Glacier and Nid d'Aigle. The tracks began across the street from the train station and there was a path alongside that you could hike on.
Continue reading "An Unexpected Day in St. Gervais-Le Fayet, France" »
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