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.
Even though we don’t have children, over the past year, I have noticed a few minor difference in schools.
1 – Most of Switzerland doesn’t have school on Wednesday mornings. It’s a highly debated topic, especially during the most recent elections. Credit to my friend, C, for finding this ad which reads, “Everyone hasn’t had the luck of going to school on Wednesday mornings.
There is no school bus. At least not an organized one. Most children walk there on their own or take public transportation. However,I have seen parents waiting with children until a charter bus pulls up:
They go home for lunch. There is no lunch room. In fact, Swiss schoolchildren get a two hour lunch break each day to go home and eat. It’s my theory on why its harder for women to work here. Teenagers tend to stay out, grab something at the grocery and hang out in the parks. However, the little ones go home.
They have lots of vaca. In particular, Sports Week happens in February, just so families can take advantage of the good snow. If you remember, our friends M & C had to go with the 3rd back up doctor when they delivered their baby girl because the first two were injured going with their families on Ski Week.
On our Neuchâtel fun day, we drove through La Vue des Alpes on the way home for what else but the view of the Alps.
The view wasn’t bad:
Forests, lakes and Alps. The average view in Switzerland 🙂
As we walked back to the car, we saw a chute underneath where we were standing….the place offered tobogganing!
The three bravest members of our fivesome decided to try it out. The other two of us decided to partake in another Swiss sport: regional wine drinking.
T and I enjoying the Neuchâtel white….
When they passed, we left our perch to watch.
What goes up…..
……must…..
come down!!!!
They really enjoyed their adventure sports and joined us for a glass after they finished. The warm sunshine and views of the Alps were quite nice.
The big find of the stop for me was a little farmer stand in the parking lot. I adore buying things from local places. I bought a pack of copa, a type of meat that was Gabe’s favorite delicacy from our trip to Italy. It all has to be eaten in one sitting so think we’ll save that for when we have special visitors this month!
If you are familiar with Google’s “Street View” on Google Maps, you know that you can see an image of a building if you have an address.
It’s been pretty helpful for me to use in Geneva to research buildings that I am going to for the first time, so that I’ll recognize them. It was quite helpful when researching bike shops to find out which ones did repairs. I couldn’t find an address or a name, but knew what it was next to:
Preliminary research, courtesy of English Forum
Drilling down to Street view of the known address, Auberge de Saviese, to find Hot Point
I never stopped to think about how this might be taken by the Swiss, who have a high value on privacy. As the article suggests, many Swiss citizens don’t have their name on their letterbox to protect their privacy.
I am glad they reached an agreement – I use the application often for seeking businesses.
It’s been a year we have lived here and I think that it is only now I am getting used to “The Swiss Kiss”.
When people great each other, they kiss cheeks to acknowledge and welcome each other.
I had some exposure to this when I was working in the US, as a lot of the advertising folks I worked with at our agencies were European. I just usually followed their lead in what was appropriate. I do remember it being a tad awkward for us Americans who preferred a shake and we were afraid we’d “mess up” when it came to professional kissing.
Swiss camels perfecting their Swiss kisses.
Living in Europe it becomes more secondhand. Here are a few guidelines:
–Swiss Romandie (French speaking Swiss) people greet each other with 3 kisses: left cheek, right, left.
–The French version includes just two kisses – left, right.
–Just barely touch the person’s cheek or the air next to their cheek. I usually do the air and make a slight smacking sound.
–When in doubt, just watch what other people are doing and follow their lead.
If you are visiting us, I hope you are perfecting your Swiss kisses.
We first noticed the yellow fields when Couch Surfer was here, on our drive to the Chocolate Factory. We aren’t used to field being this vibrant! They have been a big point of discussion this Spring. So, what exactly is it?
The first thing I was told was Canola. Then I was informed it wasn’t canola but grape seed. Finally, I was told it was a type of green for salads. I think that S solved it by meeting a farmer and concluded it was actually “rape seed”.
Whatever it is, I sure can tell you it is miraculous to see:
A patchwork of yellow at the foot of the Alps
Fields of yellow
Moo cow with the yellow fields. Sorry, I still like taking pictures of cows.
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!!
Did you know there are palm trees in Switzerland??
As we have mentioned before in the blog, there are four different lingual / geographical groups in Switzerland – French Switzerland, German Switzerland, Romansch Switzerland, and Italian Switzerland.
I had wanted to check out Italian Switzerland since we’d moved to Geneva. Gabe was a bit more skeptical. He would ask, “Don’t you just want to go to real Italy…it’s just as close?”
So, when we were only an hour from the Italian part (called Ticino – in green, below) when we were in the Italian lake district, I jumped at the chance to swing through two of the towns on the way home to Geneva. I legitimized we’d need to stop for a coffee and for lunch, of course. Little did I know the travel drama that this would cause (post to come).
Image courtesy of about.com
Lake Lugano rests in both Switzerland and Italy. Lugano is at the northernmost part. This entire area is known for its mild Mediterranean climate, complete with palm trees and tropical plants. Yes, in Switzerland.
Image courtesy of escapeartists.com
As we drove into town, we were impressed by the scenery, most notably, the large hill to the left of the town.
Lugano, Switzerland
We parked and strolled through a nearby city park, sitting for a cappuccino and a espresso. Just coming from Italy, we noted we were back to Switzerland prices. And service.
Gabe commented on the little baby Jet d’eau that they had (as can be seen in the photo above).
All in all, it was a nice city. Not sure if we’ll travel back, but I am glad we got to see it.
You might want to check on Schwingen in Switzerland’s adventures there (link below). They had a sunny day and a bit more time for exploration.
Lately, I have been reflecting on how lucky I am to have met such fabulous ladies in Geneva. They had some pretty tough shoes to fill as far as awesomeness with my gals back home. However, I have been very fortunate, and thus this week’s gratitude post.
It’s always nice to have a support network. But in a foreign country, it is equally as important.
The day I met D & A, at Caves Ouvertes 2011
As culture shock comes on, or a “bad Swiss day” rears its head, I am thankful to have these women in my life. Plus, there’s only so much Gabe can take 🙂
Courtesy of Schwingen in Switzerland
A lot of the times, we have the same frustrations and joy. It’s good to know that other people usually have been through what you are going through, or just simply understand. This could include major things, or minor things. It’s pretty funny some of the stories we all share. Like, for instance, everyone has forgotten to label the produce at the store and gotten yelled at. And, everyone’s had an extremely awkward doctor’s visit.
Nutella Pizza usually makes everything better
It’s also fun to share holidays away from home with others. Both with people who are familiar with the traditions, as well as sharing what we do with others
If it weren’t for these guys, Gabe and I would celebrate silly US holidays like Halloween alone!
Montreux Christmas market 2011
It’s also awesome to celebrate the good times. Of course, many birthdays, and even I’ve had the pleasure of seeing 2, almost 3, little ones be born.
Celebrating C’s birthday (it was yesterday!)
This one’s almost ready 🙂
Geneva is a transient city. People come and people go. The length of time one might stay in a city is easy changeable and usually not very long.
This Friday, I continue to reflect on my good fortune and I’m just happy to have had the opportunity for knowing them in this period of time.
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.
The Swiss Watch Blog 