annecy, france - journeying through the venice of france

My first travel repost from my European adventures

The first French town I visited after Lyon. After arriving in Lyon and settling in nicely, I was eager to get my travels started. Having heard about Annecy and its charms, I was all for visiting this town. Unfortunately, the day I and another student went, it was raining. I suppose though, that it just made the town more beautiful. Nestled in the Northen French Alps, this town is known as the Venice of the Rhone-Alpes. A well-deserved name, as many canals runs through this small town into the Lac Annecy. The lake, as you can see above would normally be very blue and clear, but because of the rain, it wasn't quite as clear. Also, the moutains behind the lake are the Alps, and because it was raining, there was so much fog. Beautiful.

We left in the morning taking the SNCF, which took about an hour and half. It was raining on and off, but nothing too bad, which was a relief to me. After finding a map of the place, we began to wander around the charming town and just taking in all the sights, smells and sounds. We also got to see a small antique market.

Along the canals

Sur le Pont Des Amours (The bridge of lovers)

Lac Annecy and the Alps

This is known as Palais d'Isle. It is a former palace turned prison. 

There was really big castle, known as the Annecy Castle on the top of a hill so we thought we'd walk up there and check it out. The walk up the hill was an epic walk, although less epic than the walk up to Fourviere in Lyon or the Notre Dame in Marseille.  It is said that no one knows when this castle originally was built, but the estimate is around the 12th century. Of course, now it's a museum. Going to check out the tickets, I was pleased to find that they weren't expensive. I believe the price for students is 2,50 euros.

Annecy Castle

The view from Annecy Castle up top.

For some odd reason there was a huge piano in one of the rooms in the castle. I wasn't sure why but it was A STEINWAY PIANO. If there were no security cameras around, I'd open it and seriously bang out some Chopin or something.

For lunch, we just had a sandwich, since that was probably the cheapest option we had. I think the combo meal is probably the cheapest. You can get a sandwhich, a desert (which I almost always get the flan nature)  and a drink for 6-8 euros. Awesome deal.

More canals

Beautiful town, with beautiful sceneries. If you're looking to get out of Annecy, Geneva is just a little more than half an hour away. Lyon is about an hour away by car, or an hour an half by train. Chamonix is not too far either, though I've never been there. I hear it is also a charming place. I'm all for charming places and as you can probably tell, I'm easily seduced by these lovely small towns.

If there's any way to get back to France, Sign. Me. Up.