Annecy - Venice of the Alps

Annecy is a city where there is no bad mood, a city near the cleanest lake in Europe.

One view of this corner of France can fill the souls of travelers with pleasure and harmony, invigorate you if you are tired or heal your stress and depression. Snow-capped mountain peaks are reflected in the mirror surface of the lake.

Opposite these Alpine ridges on the shore lies a medieval city with winding streets and romantic bridges over the waters of the rivers and canals that flow throughout the city.

The castle on top of the hill, around which the city has grown, looks enchanting. When entering it from the walking alleys along the lake, you are greeted by another one - a castle-fortress, like a ship frozen in the middle of the river.

Not only the castle, but also the houses along the canals grow out of the water without embankments or any other structures protecting them, which may be why Annecy is compared to Venice. The water comes close to the houses, reflecting their individuality in its blue-sky surface.

The architecture of castles and houses is intriguing, frightening, and alluring at the same time. What is their secret? Of course, if you lift the veil of history, you will recognize him. But the story is not simple...

The large number of rich churches is striking.

In the 16th century, Catholicism was in crisis. A new religious movement comes from the east - Protestantism. In the neighboring city of Geneva, the center of the Reformation was located - this is the name given to this period of separation of the two branches of the church.

It is surprising that this new trend became the cause of more than a dozen religious wars that destroyed everything throughout France, while in Annecy the strengthening of Catholicism in the fight against Protestants took on a creative character, which explains so many churches and monasteries.

The small provincial town becomes a religious center surrounded by monastic buildings, church institutions and schools, as well as new cathedrals and temples. Gothic is no longer in fashion, so they are building in neo-Gothic. Alpine Venice plunged into holy waters. The old city was crowned with domed churches, rising above the bastions of the fortress.

Several centuries later, in a few weeks, the revolution will confiscate all the property of the church, dissolve monasteries, destroy bell towers and temples. Good monastic buildings, also confiscated by the state and sold to industrialists, will turn into manufactories.

Well, then it’s completely scary and creepy. Industrial progress polluted the lake so much that birds stopped flying. An environmental disaster was evident.

For the first time in the history of France, an alarm was declared and a call was made to save natural resources. All factories were closed. The lake was successfully cleaned in several stages, and a nature reserve was organized on the southern side. Now it is the cleanest lake in Europe, with protected natural areas, and the region, like its capital Annecy, earns almost exclusively from tourism. Fortunately, no irreparable disaster occurred, and every cloud has a silver lining. Today land in Annecy is more expensive than in Paris. Local residents are always happy to see tourists, but they demonstrate against the Olympic Games, either because they are afraid of losing peace, or because bitter experience keeps them from mass events.

The count's castle today houses an observatory where you can get acquainted (even without knowledge of the language) with the inhabitants of the region and their “art of living” (L'art de vivre). And in a quiet little harbor, nestled in a maple alley, a charming bridge, like many other things, allows you to enjoy the beauty of the waters and the grandeur of this quiet corner in the mountains near the lake. This charm attracts romantics, who dubbed it the Lovers' Bridge.

Pleasure boats are moored along the paths near the lake, waiting for lovers of boat trips, or you can rent a yacht or boat for an independent adventure. For those who like to dive, there is a base for divers, there is a beach where everything is simple and clean.

Chateau Montrottier – Castle of the Counts of Geneva.

Built between the 12th and 15th centuries, the castle is located on the slope of a steep hill and rises above a huge chasm made in the mountain by the stormy Fier River.

The castle once controlled an important crossing, and its medieval towers towered menacingly above the surrounding landscape. The last owner of the castle bequeathed it to the local commune with the aim of preserving it as a museum.

Today, the former fortress of Monttrottier houses a magnificent collection of weapons, faience, porcelain, glass and Flemish tapestries. Near Montrotier Castle, ten kilometers west of Annecy, is the Gorges du Fier gorge. In the gorge itself, back in the 19th century, bridges were posted along which tourists walk, admiring the bubbling water below. The gorge is deep – in some places up to thirty meters, and the bridges hang at a height of fifteen meters.

You can penetrate into the gorge, inside of which a river flows, here you can observe how the initially flat river then falls to the bottom of a huge karst fault (its length is three hundred meters and its depth is more than seventy), and at the exit from the gorge the river flow forms a bizarre pile of giant stone blocks, called the "Sea of ​​Rocks". On the surface of the surrounding walls, the play of light and shadow awakens the imagination.

As an alternative to the castle and gorge, there is a sports offer for lovers of water pleasures - the city of Sevrier (Sévrier) on the western coast of Lake Annecy - a city of water sports and sailing champions and championships. Hair blowing in the wind, the blinding beauty of the landscape around... You will be taken on a ride by a professional sailboat, revealing the most interesting corners of the alpine lake. During the trip you will be able to learn how to sail or at least appreciate this sport as an observer. Several tests of balancing the boat and several maneuvers with your efforts under the guidance of a trainer. And the result? Relax and enjoy the splash of water to the rhythm of the blowing wind.

Castle of Saint Bernard Menton-Saint-Bernard, eight kilometers from Annecy, on the eastern shore of Lake Annecy, fortified and rebuilt many times. Its majestic appearance is noticeable from afar. Here travelers from Geneva to Italy found shelter and protection.

This is an ancient dwelling, where the famous Savoy family lives to this day. The current owner of the castle, Count Manton, keeps the history of the family, knows the names of about 50 generations, although there are many more of them in the entire known history of the family. The wealthy and powerful Manton family, which means "on the rock" in Celtic, owned the territory from this very site to Geneva from the 12th century. During that era, the construction of a castle with a huge tower and living quarters for lords began. Unaffected by either religious wars or revolutionary destruction, the buildings stood for several centuries, slowly changing their appearance, moving from a fortress building to a more elegant look of a Savoyard castle.

A delicate combination of the imagination of a landscape artist and an architect has created a unique place where all kinds of works of handmade art are presented, which have taken their rightful place in this exquisite garden.