Geneva greeted us with the rain sprinkles. Not the “proper” rain that force one to stay indoors, but annoying wetness in the air, when you do not feel the drops on your skin, yet your clothes get damp and you can never decide whether you need to open umbrella or not. However, from the tourist’s point of view, this was better then the downpour, and to be fair, for the whole afternoon of our first day in Switzerland we only got “real” rain once when we were already moving towards home. So I better stop complaining.
Geneva is neither big, nor a small city. Stands on the banks of the Lake Geneva. (French - Lac Léman) first mentioned in the writings of Julius Caesar. Apparently, the quality of living there is rather high: a 2006 survey found Geneva to have the second highest quality of living in the world after Zurich. Also it is an expensive city. Not sure about the quality of living, but the tourist attractions are sure not cheap there, although good quality…
The main attractions of Geneva are Old Town and The Jet. It might seem not much, but in fact it is perfect. Switzerland is a country of countryside. Cities, while nice and cozy, are not her best selling point. When you think of going to Switzerland, you should think of mountains, of lakes, of breathtaking deeply spiritual landscape…In that sense touristy undemanding Geneva makes a perfect base for exploring the surrounding wonders…Yet still, there are things to see and things to do in Geneva, just as much as in any city of the World, really.
The Jet.
The Jet d’Eau fountain, icon of Geneva. It is just water being pumped up in a single stream. Yet the height of the fountain is about 140 meters and the speed at the nozzle is around 130miles/hour. And I would definitely say: the sheer power of it is pretty much striking. The jet can be seen practically from any place in city. Being practical as I always am, I came up with the idea of the Fountain to be used to determine the direction of a wind…and while a single jet doesn’t make an impressive fancy view, it is still the best photo shot opportunity in Geneva. Especially if you catch a moment when little rainbows play carelessly in the gigantic tower of water getting trapped within…Unfortunately, I only had one chance to see this from the tour bus window and there was no time for reaching out for the camera. So my pictures of the Fountain came out in a grayish hues of a soggy afternoon…
Old Town.
With Geneva being a no-thrills city, her oldest part is just the same as any other old town in European cities. A maze of narrow passages, fashion boutiques, street cafés and cathedral…and all of that widely scattered over the hills as well. In general, whole Geneva’s region is somewhat very uneven in terms of walking surface. I thought that going to Switzerland, I will miss out on my gym exercises, but in fact I’ve got even more intense workout – all the places we visited sit on the hills, so that days of walking was a physical challenge as well.
More of Geneva to come…
Geneva is neither big, nor a small city. Stands on the banks of the Lake Geneva. (French - Lac Léman) first mentioned in the writings of Julius Caesar. Apparently, the quality of living there is rather high: a 2006 survey found Geneva to have the second highest quality of living in the world after Zurich. Also it is an expensive city. Not sure about the quality of living, but the tourist attractions are sure not cheap there, although good quality…
The main attractions of Geneva are Old Town and The Jet. It might seem not much, but in fact it is perfect. Switzerland is a country of countryside. Cities, while nice and cozy, are not her best selling point. When you think of going to Switzerland, you should think of mountains, of lakes, of breathtaking deeply spiritual landscape…In that sense touristy undemanding Geneva makes a perfect base for exploring the surrounding wonders…Yet still, there are things to see and things to do in Geneva, just as much as in any city of the World, really.
The Jet.
The Jet d’Eau fountain, icon of Geneva. It is just water being pumped up in a single stream. Yet the height of the fountain is about 140 meters and the speed at the nozzle is around 130miles/hour. And I would definitely say: the sheer power of it is pretty much striking. The jet can be seen practically from any place in city. Being practical as I always am, I came up with the idea of the Fountain to be used to determine the direction of a wind…and while a single jet doesn’t make an impressive fancy view, it is still the best photo shot opportunity in Geneva. Especially if you catch a moment when little rainbows play carelessly in the gigantic tower of water getting trapped within…Unfortunately, I only had one chance to see this from the tour bus window and there was no time for reaching out for the camera. So my pictures of the Fountain came out in a grayish hues of a soggy afternoon…
Old Town.
With Geneva being a no-thrills city, her oldest part is just the same as any other old town in European cities. A maze of narrow passages, fashion boutiques, street cafés and cathedral…and all of that widely scattered over the hills as well. In general, whole Geneva’s region is somewhat very uneven in terms of walking surface. I thought that going to Switzerland, I will miss out on my gym exercises, but in fact I’ve got even more intense workout – all the places we visited sit on the hills, so that days of walking was a physical challenge as well.
More of Geneva to come…