Discovering Geneva: The Salève

June 27, 2012 by lauren

Just outside of Geneva, is a cliff called The Salève. It is visible from the town and towers over the city. It’s so close you’d think it was in Switzerland. But, it is actually in France.

3D Map courtesy of Alps Dream

Many women I know have hiked the Salève. It is a strenuous 5 hour hike and 100% of it is steps and steep climbs. I think a lot of the time, this hike ends up on people’s “Geneva Bucket List” of things to do before they move. It’s never been an option for me because of my feet, although ever so tempting!

The Salève is the big cliff overlooking Geneva

Good thing that there are alternative ways up. You can drive through France. We heard from A & A & D that this is only for people who don’t get car sick. They may have learned this the hard way.

You can also take the little cable car up. Since Twin & Solid were visiting, we decided to go to The Salève on the day that they landed from the US for their first ever cable car ride. It was sunny and clear that day, which is an absolute for planning a trip to Mont Salève.

From Geneva, you can take the TPG (Bus #8 direction Veyrier Douane) to the border, and walk across. It is about a 10-15 minute walk and the route is decently marked. You can also see the cable car wires looming in the air, so you have a visual reminder of which direction to walk.

At 1000m, it is a good introductory cable car compared to say, Mt. Blanc.

Enjoying the view

Panorama of Geneva from the top of Mont Salève

They have two restaurants at the top – a small chalet selling inexpensive drinks and sandwiches, as well as a fancier place. In fact, the nicer restaurant wouldn’t let us sit on the edge if we weren’t ordering food. So, we just sat a row inward so we could order a drinks.

Many friends have told me its nice to bring a picnic and enjoy it as you look upon Geneva.

Beyond hiking, Mont Salève is also known for more adventurous sports. We saw a mountain biker coming up in our cable car. We also watched this guy take off into the horizon.

Going, going, going….

….gone!

You can do the entire trip in 2-3 hours from center city Geneva.

Traversing Swiss Mountains

May 30, 2012 by lauren

After our trip to Lake Como, I am a lot more educated on how to get through, around, and over a mountain.

I remember when we first moved here, when we looked at a map, we were stupefied why there wasn’t a direct route. It didn’t take long to find out that the reason the roads can’t go straight here is because of the big freakin’ mountains, otherwise known as “the Alps”.

Within our year, we learned about the wonderful Mt. Blanc Tunnel, which can save you a lot of time getting to Italy (and also adding a big dent to your wallet, around $60 USD). We had used this tunnel to get back from the South of France, and also planned to use it to get to Lake Como.

However, I wanted to stop in Lugano and Bellinzona on our way home, putting us in the South of Switzerland, far from the Mt. Blanc tunnel. I saw on Google Maps that there appeared to be two ways though. They took longer but it was worth seeing a few cities in the Ticino canton. No biggie.

The little yellow circle is where we came into Italy via Mt. Blanc. The other two were the ways we considered coming back into Swizterland.

The week before we left, I mentioned to my PT that we were going to holiday in Lake Como and return through Ticino.

“Are you sure the passes are open yet”? he inquired.

No I wasn’t sure. Anytime we’d gone that direction before, we were in a train. This was to be our first time taking the car and it never occurred to me that in mid May some roads wouldn’t be open.

So, that week, I tried to research this. Key word – “tried”. Google Maps would still let me do directions home through the alternative ways. It hinted that “some roads would be seasonally closed”. No problem…i’ll just Google it. Surely they’ll be a key like there is during ski season showing whats open and not.

I found a few message boards but nothing definitive that suggested if passes were open or not. I did find a map showing that going up from Domodolossa there was a station in Iselle that you could put your car on a train to go through the Simplon Tunnel if the Simplon Pass wasn’t open.

See the little happy car on the dotted line? That means underground car on rail transportation.

I noted this would be a plan that could work. Although, no information about the cost, schedule, etc. Do these car trains go every hour? Only once a day? Once a weekend?

More research also found that the Gottard Pass was likely closed since it usually is open until June, but the Gottard Tunnel was open year round. A few message boards added that the wait could be up to 2 hours on a holiday weekend, creating a queue of traffic on the freeway for 10-15 km back. Curses!!!

I’ll stop and interject with some basic vocabulary. I actually didn’t really know this until our adventure this weekend.

Pass = a road that goes over an Alp. It is likely curvy, amazingly beautiful, and will make you marvel at the wonder of Swiss civil engineering. It can only be passable when the snow is gone or can be scraped. During winter, its simply not possible based on snowfall. Some passes, like Gottard, are only open 2-3 months a year.

Tunnel = a road that goes through a mountain, usually in a direct way, and will make you marvel at the wonder of Swiss civil engineering. The benefit is that they can stay open regardless of snowfall. If it is not in Switzerland, its costly. If you live in Switzerland, you have a 40 CHF highway pass that allows you to do it for free. If you don’t live in Switzerland and want to use said tunnel, guess what? 40 CHF.

The evening before we left Como, we tried to inquire about the best way home. Our sweet apartment proprietor even knocked on the door of her neighbor to inquire since he knew more about Switzerland. They said they’d think we’d be okay on the passes around Lugano and Locarno. Okay, then…didn’t even know those were in contention to worry about either. She gave us an internet password and we continued to look into it the evening before dinner. Nothing else was definitive. Thus, we decided to get to Bellinzona and see how the GPS acted.

During our awesome lunch in a UNESCO castle, we inquired at the desk about how to get back to Geneva. We mentioned what we knew. When we said Gottard Tunnel and the phrase, “but we weren’t sure because it is a holiday weekend”, she immediately blurted, “that’s a terrible idea!!”.

So, we were off to the Simplon Pass or Simplon Tunnel We entered “Iselle, Italy” into the GPS so that we could decide and evaluate the pass.

Gabe hadn’t had Ticino, Lugano or Bellinzona on his list. He found Lugano average, Bellinzona cool because of the architecture and castles, but driving through the Ticino a 10. We found ourselves curving around lush tropical mountains, feeling like we were in the Amazon. Were we really still in Switzerland? It was exhilarating for me to be in the car. Luckily, Gabe is an excellent driver, but it was still a bit scary.

I made a little movie to show you what driving on these roads was like. Mom, please don’t watch this.

We crossed back into Italy. And, two hours later, we reached Iselle. We weren’t really sure what was happening as it wasn’t evident where to put your car on a train, but there were three cars with Canton of Geneva plates and we decided to follow them. Crossing back into Switzerland, we saw this sign.

All green. Thanks, Switzerland. Would have been really nice to have this information online somewhere instead of having to drive here to verify it.

And again, we were in wonder.

Misty Alps

Lush fields with stone fence property lines

There’s still snow up here. The temperature had dropped from 20 C in Bellinzona to 2 C at the top of the Simplon Pass.

The hubby is a good driver. Thank goodness.

Driving over the Simplon Pass

: Descending into the valley on the other side of the Alps

A view of Brig coming down from the Simplon Pass.

We had talked with some friends on the way home who warned us about the Gottard traffic. We didn’t know they were returning to Geneva back through Ticino or we should have shared our information or lack thereof about the roads.

So, this post was to inform any folks trying to drive from Italy back to Switzerland. It’s not so easy!!

Route Blanche and The Mt Blanc Tunnel

May 24, 2012 by lauren

Mt. Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps. For us, its easiest to access via Chamonix, France. This adorable ski village is only an hour from Geneva and has a cable car you can take to reach the top.

However, this majestic mountain is not just a French treasure. Mt. Blanc straddles France and Italy, so it is shared. It is titled Monte Bianco in Italian. In fact, people can leave Chamonix, take a cable car, and ski down into Italy. We have some friends who skied this side, in Coumayeur, and loved it. I can’t imagine how much better skiing is if your mid-day break includes Italian food….a la dolce vita!

However, when it comes to every day life, usually you don’t want to climb Mt. Blanc but to simply get around it or through it by means of getting to nearby Italy. And so what did they do?

Build a tunnel.

Image courtesy of “Skiing the Pacific Rim of Fire”

It is amazing to think about the effort it takes to build a highway of this magnitude. France doesn’t let you forget it when you enter the autoroute. They remind you that they have spent millions of euros on the highway.

When you see the infrastructure required to build the roads, you don’t mind paying the few euro toll to drive on the side of the French Alps.

…that is just leading up to the tunnel, not the tunnel itself.

The tunnel itself takes about 17 minutes to get through, and costs about $60 USD additional than just the Autoroute Blanche. And what choice do you have if you want to get to Italy? The alternative is to take a 2-3 hour detour around the other side of Lake Geneva.

Image courtesy of Alice in Wonderlands

It was completed in 1965. It shut down for 3 years in 1999 due to a horrific accident, killing 39. They reopened in 2001 after making significant safety modifications.

And thus, they are serious. Here are the safety rules:

1- Maintain speed of 70 km/hour. If everyone isn’t maintaining speed consistently, they’ll come on the radio and warn everyone.

2- Yield control of your radio to them. Even if you have an iPod in, it redirects you to the radio station of the tunnel so they can communicate. They do so in French, Italian and English.

3- Stay 2 blue lights away from the person in front of you, to ensure there is significant stopping space. You can see the blue lights in the picture above.

We are thankful for the ability to use tunnels to make our trips shorter.

Don’t go chasing waterfalls….

May 23, 2012 by lauren

And I continue with my cheesy song title post names.

We mentioned that it was pretty neat to see the castles while driving on our road trip to Lake Como. Now that is is Spring, the glacial runoff has started and there is a surplus of waterfalls to be found while driving on France, Italy and Switzerland’s Alpine highways.

Here are just a few of the ones we spotted in our short car ride:

And my personal favorite, driving in Valais, there is waterfall spewing out of the base of a house.

Bellagio, Italy

May 22, 2012 by lauren

This weekend was a holiday weekend in Switzerland. We wanted to take advantage so planned a last minute getaway to Lake Como. I think I wanted to go there slightly more than Gabe. First of all, I love Italy in general. Furthermore, I had romanticized about visiting the beautiful Italian lake for quite awhile. I was able to lure Gabe in with the bait of the fact that a few James Bond films were shot there. Plus, we were able to get a last minute apartment in Bellagio. I convinced him that the hotel name-sake was the next best thing to being to Vegas.

However, when it was all said and done, I think he’d agree that little Bellagio far exceeded his expectations.

Lake Como is located in the North of Italy, just at the base of the Italian Alps. Switzerland is just over the horizon of the Italian Alps. While the canton of Ticino is very close to Lake Como, this part of Switzerland isn’t that close to Geneva. Thus, we drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel and down through Italy, passing Milan. It was about 4 hours to Lake Como, and another 45 minutes to Bellagio.

Image courtesy of Casa Mantra Ponto

When we’d looked for hotels about a week out, the ones in Bellagio were sold out. We’d wanted to stay there as we had heard it had the most nightlife and restaurants of all the adorably inciting mid-lake villages. The shortage on booking.com led me to search for apartments online and luckily we found availability at the cutest little apartment, run by Maria at Bellagio Centre Town.

We spent most of the weekend either eating, sitting in a cafe, or strolling down the beautiful Italian streets. We tried to see how slow we could get our pulses.

Taking in the view of the opposite shoreline, Varenna

Bellagio at dusk

Evening falls on Bellagio

The food was amazing. Par for the course in Italy. We forget how bad it is in Geneva until we travel. We gorged ourselves with the multiple courses like we’d never eat again. We sipped crisp proseccos at sunset and drank lovely Lombardy and Piedmont wines as the night continued.

Cappacino on the waterfront

Some folks enjoying the homemade gelato – we enjoyed it each afternoon…

So I stay convinced that heaven on earth is Italy.

Castles in the Sky

May 21, 2012 by lauren

We took a road trip this past weekend to Lake Como. When we used to live in the US, you could count Waffle Houses on any given drive on I-95 or similar Southern highway. Here in the heart of Europe, we can count castles.

Castles are typically on hills. This is for two main reasons: 1 – so that they could watch over the valleys and know about any incoming intruders and 2 – it is harder to overtake a castle while having to climb a big mountain to do so.

I find it incredible to drive through these valleys and see the castles still towering above. It is eery to think about what must have happened over the course of the hundreds of years of each castles’ lifetime….the battles, the deaths, the prisoners, the changes in lives that happened.

I thought I’d share a cross section of castles we saw. Mind you that this is in just one weekend trip!

And of course, had to include our favorite, in Sion:

Sunshine in Neuchâtel

May 9, 2012 by lauren

I had been feeling a little glum lately – I think a combination of missing the U.S., friends, Gabe, and a little cabin fever from the rain and surgery recovery. So, S invited me to join her, T and her two guests on an outing to Neuchâtel last Friday.

I’d heard it was a neat Swiss town so was excited for a chance to see it. Traveling with S is like having a personal tour guide. She has an amazing knack for history and even better, the retention and relation of this knowledge. I love the history, just can’t remember it and relate it all. So, as we walked the colorful streets, she pointed out a neat things to take note of (you can learn more about these on her blog).

As we walked, I just enjoyed the sunshine. It hasn’t been too frequent lately so it was glorious to soak in the rays and even remove my jacket partway through the day. Don’t you just love the puffy white clouds in the blue Swiss sky?

We concluded our walking tour of Neuchâtel with a picnic on the lake, all sharing things we brought along, before heading to 3 more interesting stops on the eastern side of Switzerland.

Thanks to S and Neuchâtel for the beautiful day.

Alpine views in Zweisimmen and Château D’Oex

May 2, 2012 by lauren

As mentioned in the previous post about our trip on The Golden Pass, we stopped in two towns on the journey back.

The first of the towns was Zweisimmen. I’ll be honest that I had no idea what to expect (not listed in my tour books) but I suggested to E-dawg that we hop off the train and spend an hour there until the next train would pass.

We found an adorable German speaking village, full of cows. We wandered around its quiet streets enjoying the fresh air.

This is Zweisimmen!

We caught the train an hour later and hopped off again at Château D’Oex. Readers might find this town familiar as we stopped there twice for the Hot Air Balloon Festival. After the Friday night “Night Glow” show failed to produce any balloon pictures, I begged Gabe to go back the following Sunday for more. And that is when I fell in love with this little village known to be the Swiss capital of ballooning.

Welcome to Château D'Oex (pronounced Shat-oh Day)

It was really neat for me to see the difference in winter vs. spring. The town is totally different. Originally, I was going to sit at a café and rest my feet while E-dawg explored. But I couldn’t help myself wanting to climb up to the top of the chapel with her for the views!

Streets of Château D'Oex

Climbing up the steps of the chapel, greeted by amazing spring flowers

After reaching the top, E-dawg relaxed near the chapel walls.

On the way back down, we decided it was an opportune time to open the mini bottle of Swiss wine we had brought to picnic on the train. We popped our shoes off, sat in the grass, and enjoyed the magnificent panorama in front of us.

After experiencing it in multiple seasons, this little village quickly lept up to one of my top Swiss places to visit.

Back on the train. Goodbye Chateau D'Oex...until next time!

The Golden Pass

May 1, 2012 by lauren

On E-dawg’s last day, we took a panoramic train. I am a big fan of these trains – you get to see a lot of the beautiful Swiss landscape. It also provides a nice relaxing day if you have been busy.

As you may have read on the blog, there are are four scenic trains: The Golden Pass, The Bernina Express, The William Tell Express, and The Glacier Express. Gabe and I have taken the Glacier Express twice, with The Captain and Swiss Miss, as well as with The Fam.

This time, we took The Golden Pass. We chose it because of its proximity to Geneva, as we wanted to do the entire thing in a day. We bought tickets to ride just until Zweisimmen in the German speaking part.

Cool map courtesy of goldenpass.ch

So, we took an hour train from Geneva to Montreux in order to catch the Golden Pass. One interesting thing about Swiss trains is that they are beautifully timed. For instance, as our train from Geneva rolled into Montreux, the Golden Pass sat awaiting any passengers. Moments later, it departed. This isn’t by coincidence. The entire system is designed for efficiency and there are rarely wait times or “layovers”.

After boarding, The Golden Pass ascended above Montreux. I had not been this way yet so thoroughly enjoyed being a tourist as it winded around, giving glimpses of the lake below.

Leaving Montreux on The Golden Pass

E-dawg enjoying the ride

Passing gorgeous pastures and rolling green fields

Passing Château D'Oex, home of the hot air balloon festival.

Fields of dandelions

Typical Swiss backyard.

Keep that delicious milk, cheese, and yogurt coming, cows!

Passing Gstaad and The Palace.

An enticing road

Descending into Zweisimann

This view never gets old to me.

Back to Lake Geneva....

God shining light through the clouds onto Lake Geneva

This entire route took six hours of travel time from Geneva. We did stop twice on the way home to explore Zweisimmen and Château D’Oex so it took us a bit longer – about nine hours. I’d recommend doing that to break up the trip. If you don’t have reservations*, you can hop on and off wherever you like.

*For our trip, we did buy reservations from Montreux to Zweisimmen not knowing if they were required. We were the only ones with reservations and could’ve saved the $$ by not doing it since it was a low tourist season. It also made it handy not to have them on the way back as it encouraged us to live in the moment and hop off at whatever towns looked neat. However, on the way home, we didn’t get to sit in choice seats when hopping back on.

Thus, if you are in a big group or sitting together is important, its a nice benefit to purchase the reservation.

Gratitude Friday: Spring has Sprung!

April 27, 2012 by lauren

A little delayed in my posting….but Spring has sprung in Geneva. I admit I am late in this post. But mainly since I have had mobility, all it has done here is rain, rain, rain so I wasn’t in the spring spirit yet.

However, we had our first day of non-rain yesterday and I am hoping that more sunshine and spring weather is on the horizon (fingers crossed). Although they do say that “April showers bring May flowers”, so I suppose there should be gratitude in the rain as well.

Speaking of flowers, E-dawg and I got to take advantage of Spring’s beauty yesterday on the AIWC photo group outing to Morges, Switzerland. There we enjoyed lunch alfresco and explored the annual Fêtes de la Tulipe.

So, this Friday, I am grateful for the flowers and beauty of spring. Finally!!! But, better late than never!

Bon weekend, everyone!