ANNECY, FRANCE (dpa) – The French Savoy is usually associated with winter sports: the ski resorts of Albertville or Chamonix are better known than the cultural cities and bathing resorts beneath Mont Blanc. For the last 200 years, the French have largely made the summer chic in high valleys of the Haute Savoie a well-kept secret.
Since the early nineteenth century, city dwellers from the west of France have spent their summers in the fresh air around the three large lakes in the Haute Savoie: Lake Geneva, Lake Annecy and Lake Bourget.
Annecy, capital of the Haute-Savoie département, lies along the northwestern shore of Lake Annecy. It is famous for its medieval old town that was built in the thirteenth century on stilts over the River Thiou, which flows into the lake.
In the summer months, tourists stream into the old town.
They press over the bridges and through the winding streets up to the Palais de l’Ile and mill around the souvenir artists, quietly painting probably the most photographed French monument after the Eiffel Tower.
This palace, once the city jail, is built on a river island. Its existence is documented back to 1132.
Annecy today still lives from its faded flair of the Belle Epoch. Classical palaces, splendid art nouveau villas and luxurious hotels are a reminder of the time when the Bonapartes convalesced here, when Queen Victoria visited and Parisian society spent their summers 100 years ago.
Such illustrious society is a thing of the past – today the town streets are dominated by elderly visitors on health holidays.
A younger crowd congregates away from the city centre on the banks of Lake Bourget, the smallest of the three lakes, the deep blue waters of which nestle between steep green slopes. “La Dent du Chat” – the cat’s tooth – is the highest summit on the opposite bank.
“Sailors and anglers hold sway here,” says Jerome Louveton of Aix tourist office, “and weekenders from Lyon”. Lake Bourget is a gourmet mecca for the inhabitants of Lyon some 80 kilometres (50 miles) away. The small resort has four Michelin-listed restaurants.
The French call Lake Geneva “Lac Leman”. The road that runs along the banks of the lake, France’s largest inland body of water, runs right up to the Swiss border.
“The only people who come to this tip of Savoy are people who mean to come here,” says local tourist guide Agnes Guinand.
Yet this secluded district is known throughout the world thanks to the famous mineral water from the town of Evian.
The spring was discovered on the upper edge of the town on the steep banks of the lake in 1790. The glass art nouveau palace alongside it, the headquarters of the mineral water company, is testimony to the wealth its discovery has brought.
Evian-les-Bains is ultimately chic, attracting Genevan high society. VIPs fly in by helicopter to spend the evening in the casino which was built here in 1912.
Less spectacular, but just as charming, is the little village of Yvoire, between Evian and Geneva.
The medieval village is like a living museum. Walking through the narrow old streets towards the lake you come across Yvoire Chateau with its “garden of the five senses”. Yves d’Yvoire, whose family have lived here since the seventeenth century, used old documents and sketches to reconstruct the chateau’s original medieval garden.
Visitors feel, smell, hear, see and taste their way through the garden.
They should set aside plenty of time for their visit, advises d’Yvoire. Best of all, they should come back every season, he says – and it is not quite clear if he means his garden or the whole Haute Savoie.
Information on the Internet: http://www.franceguide.com
