When I encountered the delightful World of Wanderlust
website, my eyes lit up when I saw the blog title “Twenty-Five Secret Small
Towns in Europe You Must Visit.” I immediately went to the list to see how many
of the towns I’d visited. I had to get to item 5, Bruges, before I found one I’d
been to! But then I kept reading. I’d actually been to six of the towns, which
means I have a lot more towns to explore. But I visited two of the towns this
past summer. I wrote about Ljubjana in my previous travel blog, so today I’m
detailing the other town: Annecy, France.
Annecy [pronounced ‘ahn-SEE’] is a sweet town near the
Italian border. It’s close to Colmar, another famous town on the blog list, but
it has a charm all its own. I wanted to visit Annecy as soon as I found out
that canals ran through the town. Even without the water, I would have enjoyed
the trip. (But when I reviewed my pictures, I found that I’d taken lots and
lots of the canals.)
Annecy is a perfect tourist town. There’s not too much
traffic. The people are friendly. The old town makes for a picturesque,
historical stroll. But the town offers much more than that. It’s situated on a
huge lake, Lac d’Annecy, that offers boat rides and swimming and walks around
the lake’s perimeter. It’s close to mountains for hiking. It has large green
areas near the lake that are perfect for picnics. It has benches and cafés that
make for perfect angles for people-watching.
Even though the weather was cool, I was excited to find that
my mid-June, the lake was a comfortable temperature for swimming. I only had to
walk about ten minutes from the center to find a peaceful swimming area with
changing rooms and fellow bathers. Afterwards I spent a lovely afternoon walking
on the peninsula near the lake. It was so beautiful I asked my friend to record Chapter Three from my new book Island
Casualty with the lake in the background.
The final advantage I found to Annecy was that it’s a
comfortable jumping-off point from Geneva. A two-hour train ride takes you
right to town. Our charming hotel, Allobroges, was a five-minute walk from the
train station. Our only problem in Annecy: we had to leave!
