Last October while traveling on an Ama Waterways cruise of the Rhone River, we had some favorite stops. This year while planning a quick trip (1 week) We decided to go back to Avignon and Lyon to spend a few days in both. We chose Geneva as a jumping-off point as the airfare there was very appealing. With airfares soaring and train travel so efficient in Europe you can pick a fun first stop and than take a train all over. Fun fact for this summer all tourists in Switzerland staying in
Flying from Denver we had one stop in Frankfurt and then on to Geneva Switzerland, our first visit to this wonderful (and expensive) city. Staying at the 4-star Hotel N’ VY, the hotel stars are pretty easy in Geneva, If you are on the block with Lake Geneva 5 Stars, within 2 to 3 blocks from the water 4 Star. Below find my notes for our trip. Finding Jet d’Eau (literally “water Jet”) was easy, walk to the lake look for a water cannon!
We had a wonderful couple of days in Geneva, We Got to cruise the Lake in a lovely boat with a couple of glasses of wine (booked through the Expedia travel agent site with a 12% rebate) oh the things I know. We had a couple of wonderful meals including a trip back to the 70’s for a wonderful Fondue. Good to know what the folks were doing with that cheese and Asti Spumonti!
Geneva to Avignon. The direction signs in Geneva has an arrow to France, It’s about 10 minutes to the Alp’s. Geneva the local language is French, in Stockholm it’s German! Training in Europe, it is very similar in each country where I’ve done it, a fair crush of people stand by the video monitor and wait for a gate announcement for their train. When your track is called you will have between 5 and 20 minutes to find the platform and wait for your train. Pro Tips pre purchase your tickets for a big savings. Find out beforehand which cars are first class and second, this saves a lot of walking thru crowds if you stand in the right place. Some tickets are open seating others have assigned seats. First class you will have some extra room for your luggage, I recommend no more than 1 suitcase and a backpack anything more and you will have headaches. Keep your bags in the same car as you are sitting in, this makes disembarking a breeze. We Americans might feel 10 minutes is too short, most For most Europeans that’s enough time to grab lunch.
Wonderful Avignon, Home to Popes and common folk. An ancient historic city, great for walking around or getting a wine tour through some magnificent wineries. In most wine producing area’s you will hear about how the vineyard keeps their wines consistent. All over France you will hear how each year is different. You will hear about the importance of the cork and how long you should age your bottle. Very interesting.
Wandering the Papal Palace is fascinating the Pope fled Rome and were here for over 100 years. There is a great audio tour inside the palace I highly recommend it.
Walking around hungry one night we came upon what looked like a certain tourist trap for dinner, It turned out to be a gastronomic delight. It sometimes pays to go against your instincts.
2 and a half days was about right for Avignon, an extra day would have been fine too.
