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Je suis retournée – Geneva: Day One

Je suis retournée – Geneva:  Day One

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We are back from our trip to Switzerland and France.   We just stayed for four days and five nights but all four days we left early in morning from the hotel and returned late in the evening.   Before leaving I wrote a post and promised to give you some of the recipes I made for my husband’s name day.  I will have to postpone that for another week as I prefer to tell you all about the trip.

I have taken lots of photos and videos and hope to show you around Geneva and Grenoble.  There are some recipes I also want to share with you so I am thinking of posting three or four posts to cover the four days we stayed there.

We traveled with Swiss Star Alliance and apart from the snack they served which was inedible, the service of the crew was great and the whole flight was fantastic.

The view over the Alps  was breath taking and the colours of the sunset were fantastic.

We stayed in a Hotel on the French side of the borders which is at the beginning of a small village called St. Genis.  We preferred to stay there as my son lives in this village and it is very close to CERN, where he works.

Our son met us at the Airport and we arrived at the hotel at about 19:00 p.m.

After checking in at the hotel, we went to my son’s apartment and later on we went to the village on foot and we chose to eat at a nearby Creperie.

My husband and son had Savory Crepes and I had a Crepe flambé.

We were very lucky as the weather was great and although the temperature was lower than in Athens, I was really surprised that I did not feel cold even for a second.

The hotel was situated on the main road leading towards Geneva called Rue de Geneve and there was a bus station just next to the hotel.  Our room was on the first floor and on the corner so we had view on two roads.   On the side road we had a view of some lovely country houses and just a few meters away there was a field with lots of cows.  On the front side view we could see Mount Jura.

The weather was fabulous and it just rained on one day.  Although the temperature was lower than what we are used to in Athens, we did not feel cold at all.    The last morning before leaving we were very happy to see some snow on Mount Jura.

Next to the bus station was this lovely house and a bit further there was a bridge with a side path which we walked the following days in the morning before breakfast.

On Saturday morning, after breakfast at the hotel we met our son and went for our first visit towards Geneva.

We stopped at CERN and my son showed us around the microcosm exhibition, with hands-on experiments, models, videos and computer interactives.

Outside Cern

The entrance near the Reception

The first Internet Server

The first Internet Server

We then took the bus and  from Gare Cornavin we walked to the Lake.

The first thing we saw was the Jet d’ Eau and descending a few steps below the bridge we saw some lovely swans and ducks in the lake.

 

View of Jet d’ each from the boat.

Walking a few meters further we came across a boat which toured up to Nyon and back and as it said it was a Gourmand Restaurant.  We ordered the plat du jour, a fixed menu, which was a creamy mussel soup with saffron as a starter, then salmon with carrot and potato puree and a framboise (raspberry) cake for dessert.  We drank a lovely white wine and although we tried to find it in the supermarkets to bring some with us, unfortunately we did not find it.  The wine was generally good.

The whole tour and back lasted three hours and was worth every minute of it.  The scenery was very picturesque and the boat went from one side of the lake to the other, stopping for a couple of minutes at each little village.

When we returned back we walked to the ancient town.  Our first stop was at the Cathedral of St. Pierre.

We had a tour of the Archaeological site which was discovered during 1976, when its foundations needed reinforcement.

  • late Roman mosaic floors;
  • two 4th-century Christian shrines;
  • portions of three more early churches; and
  • an 11th-century crypt that was part of the first Romanesque cathedral on the site (completed c.1000 AD).

Inside the Protestant Cathedral of St. Pierre:

Outside the Cathedral there was a crowd queuing for something and when we approached we found out that they were giving hot wine with cinnamon and fruit.  We just made it for the last cup of wine.


We then walked to the Reformation Monument.

This imposing structure, appropriately located in the city dubbed the “Protestant Rome,” is the most impressive general monument to the Reformation there is. The giant wall (325 feet long, 30 feet high) dominates the large Parc des Bastions and centers on 15-foot-tall statues of four Geneva luminaries.

On our way back to the hotel, we had to get our connection from Avanchet Station and before going to our station we stopped at Balexert Centre, which is a very big Mall.  After walking around we visited one of its restaurants for dinner.

We preferred to eat Mexican and thanks to our friend Ben, the Menu sounded so familiar to me.   I could not resist trying Pollo con Mole Negro, which was chicken with a spicy chocolate sauce, nuts and sesame seeds.

My husband and son preferred something more familiar and they had Flauto con carne, one with beef and one with chicken.

I am sorry if it was a very long post and I hope it was not too boring.

See also Geneva Part II

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!

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Jess and Brandon

Thursday 19th of February 2015

Amazing experience you had, and the food you have tried looks amazing and delicious.

cazare costinesti

Thursday 12th of February 2015

Loved the photos. Can't wait for the summer to start my trip to France.

Sam Sotiropoulos

Friday 21st of November 2008

Great post, don't apologize for entertaining and educating us! Your sone works at CERN? Wow! What does he do there?

pixen

Monday 17th of November 2008

I love Geneva as well. Your picts made me missed her so much. I didn't know your son's in Geneva. Next time, I'm there, I may ask you for his contact :-D

Bellini Valli

Saturday 15th of November 2008

It sounds like you had a wonderful time wirhg my "nephew" sis. Loved looking through the photos. I am off to look at you second installment:D

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