In the early hours of Saturday morning, we headed to the train station in pursuit of booking the next train ticket out of Annemasse. Stu and I weren’t sure where the next train would lead us but we were dressed for an epic day in the mountains. In hand, we had a takeaway coffee - life was already good. We decided that we were off to Annecy, which is an alpine town in southeastern France. It is a quaint, romantic Vielle Ville meaning “old town” with beautiful natural scenery surrounding it. As a tourist, you walk through winding cobbled stone grounds, and over canals on oldy-built bridges, and high European buildings. Pastel-coloured houses can be found among the coffee spots, restaurants and clothes stores. You soon pass through the old town and will come to Lake Annecy which feeds into the Thiou River.
We arrived at cloudy skies and few people in sight and soon set off to our trail for the day. As we climbed up the mountain into the forest, the air got thicker and more humid. The rain jackets came off and before we knew it we had reached the top. I had a literal moment of gasping for air. It was a vision of the whole of Annecy. We could see the old town, homes, the lake, and Mont Blanc with snowy tops and beautiful clear skies simply showing off. We sat at the top admiring how beautiful life can feel and ate our lunch.
The autumn colours and the change in seasons made an extra special appearance and we headed back down the mountain and back through the newly built-up Annecy as we headed home. The crowds were out and the buzz of the holiday season was all around us. Every water sport was out to play, bikes, booze, and braais. We sat down in the old town enjoying pizza and traditional chocolate before heading home with a good day of walking on our legs.
Annecy we shall be back!