Annecy - the Venice of the Savoie

We visited Annecy, France near the end of our vacation. It is a beautiful town located in the Haute Savoie region of France. Annecy (pronounced an-si) is on the northern tip of Lac d'Annecy (Lake Annecy) and is between Grenoble and Geneva (35 km to the north).

 

"Annecy in the North of the French Alps, is the Venice of Savoie -- a well deserved title. The medieval town centre built around a 14th Century Chateau is dissected by small canals and streams running out of Lac Annecy, which is clean, fresh and a wonderful azure colour. Annecy is also the prefecture of the département of Haute-Savoie." (Wikitravel)

In the summer it is a tourist destination for water sports, cycling, hiking, hang gliding and for its beautiful scenery and cuisine.  It is busy in the winter too as it is close to several winter sports resorts.

 

The area is famous for its cows and produces numerous cheeses (Beaufort, Savoie Gruyere, Reblochon, Tamie, Tome (also Tomme) des Bauges, Tomme de Savoie (a favorite of mine) and Brie).

The area also produces wines from the Gamay, Pinot Noir and Mondeuse grapes.

So great scenery, food and wine; is it any wonder I wanted to visit Annecy. Some of these pictures are just begging for me to paint them.

View of the old town through a Chateau window

Did I mention the food? Well the pastries were wonderful, there were many ice cream shops, one in particular seemed to have a line up no matter what time of day we went by. We had a cheese fondue, seated by the window overlooking the river; delicious, all 3500 calories (it felt like) of it.

I picked the Myrtille (blueberry) Pastry: excellent

There was a large market on the Sunday morning featuring something for everyone.

Almost endless olive and tapenade selection

Luscious fresh fruits

Great selection of cheeses

The light on the river and the canals creates magical reflections that change with the time of day.

There are many water birds, but the swans gliding around the edge of the lake were my favorites.

This is a picture of the reflection in the furniture store window across the narrow street from where we were having a glass of beer; if you look closely you can see us under the Milton Pub awning.

I started with a window and decided to end the same way, so here is a window reflecting the chimneys from across the narrow street of the old town.


We were away for a few days this week, so I don't have much to share from my studio. I did complete this drawing though:

It is a Chickadee that I saw and photographed on Gabriola Island last fall, it is done in graphite (pencil) and I have called it "Perched".

It will take me a couple of days to catch up on things here at home and to get around to visiting all my blog friends, until then, take care, and thanks for dropping by.

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week ................