24 Hours: Geneva (Terri and Finn’s European Adventure Day 11)
We had one full day in Geneva before we planned to drive to Chamonix. After a bready breakfast at Qafe Guidoline (see Day 10: Paris — Lyon — Geneva) we decided to explore Old Town Geneva.
My Swiss friend Patrick told me that we had to take one of the mouettes as they are the easiest way to get across Lake Geneva. He was right. These were easy, fast, and provided a great view from the lake. Plus it was a little novel to travel by boat adding yet another mode of transportation to our list.
We saw the Jet d’Eau from the boat and both of us decided that this was as close as we needed to get to it.
The fog was clearing and it was turning into a really nice day.
It was Sunday so it was pretty quiet. Most of the shops were closed which was fine with us as we wanted to explore Old Town, not shop.
It was quite beautiful with interesting architecture, doors, and cobblestone streets.
We walked through St. Peter’s Cathedral in Old Town.
The organ pipes were stunning.
We walked to a high point in Old Town to appreciate this view.
More of the beautiful architecture.
I’d seen the Old Arsenal cannons on the lists of things to see in Geneva. They were exactly as depicted and required about 3 seconds to apprciate both the cannons and the mosaic murals.
Water bottle refill at one of the public water fountains. Finn and I both loved this concept. The fountains run, are beautiful, and are useful, too.
It was nearing lunch time and we were determined to get to Carouge before the 2 PM lunch cut off. We opted to take the tram once we figured out which one to take. We walked from platform to platform, crossing the street, until we found the right one.
The hotel reminder email we’d received prior to arriving in Geneva included a link to obtain a Geneva Transport Card. I asked Matthieu at the hotel whether it was legit or a scam. He advised that it was legit (part of a Geneva tourism promition) and we got two of them so we could hop on and off. They even worked for the mouettes.
Modes of transportation thus far: airplane, airport shuttle, taxi, car, train, metro, Bolt, bus, boat.
We saw some cute shops and restaurants as we rode the tram and decided to get off at a stop and walk back to what looked like a town square with a church (Holy Cross Church), a small street market, and a brocante (upscale flea market).
Finn looked at the menu of one of the main restaurants on the square and confirmed there were vegetarian options. Lunch was fine but not memorable.
Finn beelined for one of the brocante stalls as soon as I’d paid the bill and purchased an antique spoon for their friend Julia who collects spoons. We perused the other stalls without making any additional purchases.
We quickly popped into a chocolate shop and had a fun conversation with the guy working behind the counter. He was French, from a small town in the French countryside, and was in Geneva studying business.
We took the tram back to Old Town Geneva and caught one of the mouettes back across the lake. From the boat dock, we walked back to the hotel and took a nap before venturing out to Les Saveurs du Libon for dinner.
The server from the night before was working and we asked to be seated in his section. There must have been some confusion as he was our server but we were in someone else’s section so service was a bit slow. The food was just as good and Finn and I left somewhat obsessed with Lebanese food. I’ve made baba ghanoush a few times since although I can’t get the right balance of flavor with the eggplant!
I slept in until 8:30, showered and started packing as Finn got moving about 9:15. We were packed and checked out by 9:45, and on the road shortly thereafter with plans to get breakfast in Lausanne an hour later.
My friend Terry suggested we stop in Montreux on our way to Chamonix so we opted for the scenic route that would take us through Lausanne and Montreux.
This is the look of a hungry and slightly frustrated 17 year old in Lausanne as we waited for our breakfast. More on this in Day 12: Geneva — Lausanne — Montreux — Chamonix including us battling the GPS in Lausanne and driving in a bus-only zone.
Terri Hanson Mead is the multi-award winning author of Piloting Your Life, Managing Partner of Solutions2Projects, LLC, and an advocate for women through all of her platforms including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and this blog. Terri is the mother of two college aged kids, is based in Redwood City, CA and in her spare time, loves to travel, cook, play tennis, and fly helicopters around the San Francisco Bay Area, especially under the Golden Gate Bridge.
