Palais de l'Isle jail
We awoke early and had a very civilised buffet breakfast. After loading up the car again, we made our way back to the lake. Annecy is situated at the northern end of the lake. It really is stunning with the mountains rising up behind it. Many people were swimming in the clear blue water. Sadly we could not spare the time to swim so had to make do with a paddle this time and yet another note to come back with more time in the future. Before we left Annecy, we wanted to find the Palais de l’Isle jail (the old prison) which is apparently one of the most photographed monuments in France and the Pont des Amours (Lovers’ Bridge). Having made our token visits, we noted that there was plenty to return to including the The Château d’Annecy (Annecy Castle) which houses the Art and History Conservatory of Annecy and the Regional Office of the Alpine Lakes, and the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre which was built in the 16th century and is home to a number of artworks and baroque pieces from the 19th century. For now, we had to get back on the road to find La Grande Chartreuse.
Musée de la Grande Chartreuse
We made our way to St Pierre de Chartreuse for lunch. This was a pretty town with stunning alpine scenery. We feasted on sumptuous salads whilst gazing at the mountains surrounding us. It was like a fairy tale. We had to ask for directions to the monastery and then discovered that not only is it not open to the public but that vehicles are prohibited on the surrounding roads. Grande Chartreuse is the head monastery of the Carthusian order and is supported by the sales of Chartreuse liqueur, a liqueur which can be either green or yellow and is aged with around 130 herbal extracts. Luckily we discovered that it was not a wasted trip as the Musée de la Grande Chartreuse (museum) which was formerly La Correrie monastery was open to visitors and offered a fascinating insight into the life of the Carthusian order. This former monastery is in a beautiful setting, standing in the mountains with forests all about. I am not usually too interested in museums (I blame a very boring history teacher at school!) but this one really did give us a feel for what life in a closed order might be like and we left with a real sense of peace.
We were now far behind our self imposed schedule but we felt that it was well worth it, considering all that we had discovered. We hit traffic which meant a late arrival at our guest house in Vézénobres. Vézénobres is a medieval town sitting on top of a hill and is known for the religious wars which lasted for hundreds of years. Its proximity to Nîmes airport and town with its important remains of the Roman Empire meant that, yet again, we noted a place to return to. Our guest house was an absolute delight. The rooms were set around a courtyard with a beautiful swimming pool at the end of it. The room itself was furnished beautifully with great attention to small detail, including a CD player and a selection of relaxing CDs. After settling into our room followed by a quick swim, even though the sun had gone down, we wandered up to the town. Unfortunately, we could only find one restaurant in the town and it was fully booked, a pity as it had a very pretty courtyard where one could eat under the stars. We had to make do with crêpes which were nice but not quite what we had in mind after a long day.
Breakfast the next morning was fresh melon, bread, hams, cheeses, jams and vanilla yoghurt. Bliss! This was a definite find and well worth coming back to. No children allowed but perfect for a weekend break. Next destination: Soutwards.
To be continued…
By Megan Oliver
