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| Talloires, France. Photo ©Alison Plummer |
Sun-drenched and sparkling one minute, moody and brooding the next, Lake Annecy is beautiful and as entertaining to watch as any film as the light cycles across it through the day. Our vantage point is high on a hill above Talloires, a gorgeous village a short drive from the historic city of Annecy and home of the Michelin-starred Auberge du Pere Bise on the waterfront.
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| Lake Annecy from Talloires. Photo © Alison Plummer |
Talloires is a brilliant base for hiking, biking and watersports in summer with easy access to the ski fields and resorts of Chamonix Mont Blanc in winter. The village is also only half an hour's drive or so from Geneva Airport in neighbouring Switzerland, so it's easy to fly and drive. (
easyJet.)
It would be so easy to just relax and enjoy the view, but there are places to go, things to do. A walk into the village for coffee and a stroll around the picture postcard waterfront for starters, checking out the bike hire.
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| Basecamp Cafe and Bike Hire, Talloires. Photo © Alison Plummer |
Annecy is seriously beautiful, built around canals and the Thiou River and often described as the Venice of the Alps – a twee description, but you'll soon see why. Sitting in a cafe watching the world go by is
de rigueur while the shopping is delicious French boutique style.
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| Annecy. Photo © Alison Plummer |
Local produce markets are held on Tuesdays (the best day for cheese, I'm told), Fridays and Sundays with a craft market on the final Sunday of the month. Rain stalks us on our market visit, but doesn't diminish the vibrant colours and range of local produce from the surrounding Haute- Savoie region. Cheese is a speciality of the area, made with the milk of the cows and goats that feed in the alpine meadows of the mountains and including Comte and Raclette, melty cheeses used in dishes served on both the French and Swiss sides of the Alps. Tomme (or Tome) is the generic name for a range of cheeses made from cow's, goat's or ewe's milk - here, Tomme de Savoie is made from cow's milk from local breeds such as Abondance.
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| Annecy Markets, above. Photos © Alison Plummer. |
Cows feeding in the alpine meadows are iconic and we meet some for ourselves on a hike to the Mont Blanc viewing area. The mighty mountain (indeed the whole area) is shrouded in mist so we are not to view it on this day – but the delightful Chalet d'en O more than makes up for this with delicious food in a rustic farm setting. Since our visit it has become simply a B&B, but it's made for romance, just the place for a hideaway weekend.
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Photos © Alison Plummer
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