Annecy

A month ago on a Sunday, I went with another intern to a quaint little town called Annecy. We caught the train from Grenoble and it took us two hours to get there. Was a very rainy and dull day but the trip was still very enjoyable.

Annecy is to the north of Grenoble. It is called the little Venice of the Alps because of the canals that run through the city. The bridges, canals, arched walkways, pastel colored houses, old churches, and castle are enchanting.

The picture below is outside the church -Notre-Dame de Liesse. The fountain in the middle of the square had water spouting from the lions mouths and the obelisk in the middle supported on the backs of the turtles. When we went into the church, mass was just over and we met an Indian priest at the entrance :)

The canals had some locks built in them and plenty of ducks and swans were lazying around.

Below is one of the most crowded bridges in the town and it over looks the Palais de L'Ile


The Palais de L'Ile below, I read somewhere is one of the most photographed monuments in France. It served as courthouse and prison for centuries and is now a museum.
The Castle de Annecy below is I think the first real castle I visited :)..
The castle is located on the limestone spur of the Semnoz mountain. The oldest portion of the castle dates back to the 13th century.


It was inhabited by the Counts of Geneva and then by the Dukes of Savoy and after World War II by homeless people. The castle also survived a fire and after the restoration it has been used as a Museum.

Below, me! In one of the large rooms which I imagined to be a ballroom :P


View of the town of Annecy from the chateau.
The view of the castle courtyard from one of its towers. I was imaging how it must have been in the old times..with royals, soldiers, and horses ;)
Inside the castle, one of the tiny rooms which looked like they were built only to look outside.
We got a glimpse of lake Annecy and the sail boats on it from this window.
Check out the archways in the ground floors of the buildings. They were of great use when we visited cause that day it was raining soo much all the time. There was a statue of our Lady built into one of the wall of the buildings.
We had lunch and dinner at the same place, I loved the crepes soo much...they are like dosas with meat and other fillings

Lake Annecy is the cleanest lake in Europe.. there was a time when it was endangered but much effort was made over the decade to protect it and now it is the cleanest lake!

The water is very tempting and you can see the sand at the bottom where it is shallow, it is amazingly clean. There was a diving tour in the middle of the lake, like the ones you see at swimming pools and also the lake had metal bars to step in and out like the ones in swimming pools. I haven't seen many lakes but I don't think it is very common to have these things in a lake :P

Le Pont des Amours crosses the Canal du Vasse below in the distance..


We sat at the edge of the lake and ate chocolate and peanuts :)...looking down at the bottom of the clear lake and wishing it was a warm sunny day...would have been nice to dive in...I hope to go snorkeling here someday...seems like I have to visit all these places again sometime....