Sophie and I found a good deal on airfare to Geneva in May on TAP Portugal Air. We wanted to visit Sophie’s parents this spring, so we were pleasantly surprised to find this deal as airfare to Europe has been at record highs recently. We also have some friends in Geneva we hadn’t seen in years, and it’s only six hours or so by car to the southwest of France.
The city of Geneva is at the western end of Lake Geneva (otherwise known as Lac Léman by the French speaking world). This is a large mountain lake that borders France to the south and Switzerland to the north. The locals here speak French, one of four official languages of Switzerland (the others being German, Italian and Romansh) depending on which part of the country you are in. Geneva is right on the border with France, and even the airport has a French sector that is officially in France.
We explored the old parts of Geneva on our first day, starting along the lakefront. Here there is a famous clock made out of flowers, as well as an iconic water jet fountain (le jet d’eau) in the bay. Geneva has long been known for its watchmaking industry. In the late 1800s the water jet was a by-product of the harnessing of the strong hydro power of the Rhône river coming down from the mountain to power the watch factories. It was basically a safety valve to release pressure when the water levels became too high. It became a popular tourist attraction, which today is run by pumps that push 130 gallons per second through a 4” nozzle to reach heights up to 300 feet!
Next we visited a former 5th century Roman Catholic cathedral called St. Pierre that was converted to a Protestant church during the reformation in the 1500s. It became John Calvin’s home church. We toured the church including its towers and expansive underground archeological grounds that showed it had been a place of worship for over 2000 years. It was amazing to literally see the layers upon layers of temples and buildings that had occupied this place over the millennia. One uncovered area from over 1000 years ago showed a beautiful mosaic tiled floor that had warm water tunnels circulating through it to keep the room warm! Another area showed a baptismal pool from the days when people were fully immersed in water to be baptized. We really take for granted how much of our history is literally and figuratively built upon the foundations of previous generations!
Next we visited the Patek Philippe watch museum. We were unfortunately not able to take pictures inside, but it was filled with amazing time pieces dating back hundreds of years. Today, a brand new Patek Philippe watch starts at $20,000 – with the more interesting ones being at least $100,000 to $150,000. It is simply amazing how watch makers were able to build fully mechanical timepieces with such “complications” as day and month calendars that account for leap years, phases of the moon, location of the constellations at any given time – and even keep track of what day Easter is on! And then miniaturizing the whole thing to fit in a wrist watch! No wonder the watches are so expensive.
We ended our day walking around the old town and came across the world’s longest bench built in 1787 (nearly 400 feet long), a grand staircase built in 1542 whose side was covered in blooming wisteria, and a large memorial wall with statues of influential people from the reformation.
Traveler Tip: Geneva is a really easy city to get around via public transportation. There are trains, trams, buses and boats that can get you to any destination in town in no time at all. Hotels provide a free pass via email that is valid for all of the above anywhere within Geneva and its immediate surroundings for the duration of your stay. When you book your hotel, make sure they have your email address so they can send you the pass in advance. If you book via Expedia or other booking engine, you will need to contact the hotel directly to provide your email address. All modes of transport allow you to hop on and off without the need to validate or show a ticket, which made it very convenient. I assume they have periodic controls, but we didn’t experience any during our stay.
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