Savoie and the French Alps
Matt's last night in France
was spent in the charming hilltop village of Pérouges, just outside of
Lyon.
We walked its few cobblestoned streets that evening, then drove Matt to the
airport to return to San Diego.
Then Joe and Brian continued
on into the French Alps, stopping at Aix-les-Bains.
The Romans enjoyed the natural hotsprings here, and in the nineteenth century
a spa and numerous luxury hotels were built here for wealthy travelers.
The Musée Faure (Faure Museum) contains many works of impressionist and other modern art.
The centerpiece of Aix-les-Bains
is its casino, opened in 1850 when Savoie was not yet part of France
but its own independent kingdom. It is decorated in elegant Beaux Arts style.
That night, and for the next two nights, we stayed in Annecy, further into the French Alps.
We stayed in a nice hotel in a room with a balcony overlooking Annecy's castle and the town below.
A short but steep set of stairs took us down into the old town.
Annecy is situated where the Thiou River
flows into Lac d'Annecy, a large Alpine glacial lake.
The whole of the old town is lined with canals and canal-side pedestrian streets
and restaurants.
In the middle of the river is the Palais de l'Isle, a former prison.
Along the lakeshore are parks and marinas.
In the afternoon of our full day in Annecy, we took an hour-long boat cruise that circled the lake.
When we left Annecy, we stopped at the
sixteenth-century royal monastery of Brou.
It was built in the flamboyant Gothic style by Margaret of Austria, daughter
of the Habsburg
Holy Roman Emperor, who married Duke Philip of Savoy and who is buried there
with him.
Click here to go to the next page and see our photos of Bourgogne.