Photos

Hi TE friends,

Picture of Geneva and its Lake also called Leman taken from Cathedral St-Pierre.

This panoramic was done by stitching of 8 pictures.

The croissant-shaped LAKE GENEVA, bluest of the Swiss lakes, is ringed with villages, castles and gorgeous walks that demand attention. This is wine country, with vineyards spread around the full sweep of the lakeshore and carpeting the first slopes of the hills which rise behind. Genteel, calming small towns such as Nyon and Vevey, either side of Lausanne, have made a living recharging the batteries of frazzled urbanites for generations. Over the decades, the lake has also attracted the world’s wealthiest people, and the shores around the jetset playground of Montreux in particular are lined with opulent villas – although a lakeside stroll can still let you taste the unspoilt beauty which drew Byron and the Romantic poets in a former age. Relaxing on one of the boats which crisscross the lake beneath the looming presence of the Savoy Alps and the Dents-du-Midi mountains on the French side helps bring home the full grandeur of the setting.

The lake has had various names over the centuries. The Romans called it Lacus Lemanus. In the Middle Ages it was known as the Lac de Lausanne, reflecting that city’s importance. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, when Geneva rose to world fame, its title changed to the Lac de Genève, although a few maps stubbornly named it the Lac d’Ouchy. These days it’s reverted to its Roman name of Lac Léman, despite still being called Lake Geneva in English, and Genfersee, a direct translation, in German.

GENEVA is an anomaly, the nearest thing the world has to a truly international city, and yet with nothing of the pizzazz such a description might suggest. From its profile in world events, you’d imagine a megalopolis on the scale of London or New York, but Geneva is little more than town-sized. From its demographic diversity – 38 percent of the population are foreigners – you’d imagine its streets to be thronged with the nationalities of the world, but across most of the city centre you’d be hard pushed to spot a non-white face or eavesdrop on a conversation that wasn’t in either French or US-accented English. It’s in the most beautiful of locations, centred around the point where the River Rhône flows out of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman in French, Genfersee in German) flanked on one side by the Jura ridges and on the other by the first peaks of the Savoy Alps, but for all that, it’s a curiously unsatisfying place to spend more than a few days.