July 2005 - Evian & Yvoire

While Stephan was busy with his UN ITU meeting I had a car and plenty of time. One day trip took me to Evian and Yvoire, in France,  on the south shores of Lake Geneva - Lac Leman. 

Evian is a relatively quiet spa town and seems to have left its glory days behind.  I took a walk around town and on the lakefront.

French do like their heroes and memorials [above left]  - Switzerland across the lake [above right]

  A very decorative tree along the lakeshore [above right] and the park and its visitors [above left]

Next I went to visit the medieval town of Yvoire.  First founded in the early 14th century it has been of great strategic value and as a result seen numerous battles.  Today it is a peaceful, traffic free, paradise to hordes of tourists that come to admire its  history as well as its beautiful flowers.  In summer one can not turn corner without seeing a plethora of bloom in every imaginable color.

The entrance to town is still guarded by a gate and lots of flowers [above left & center] & flowers on Grande Rue [above right]

St, Pancrace with its stailess steel/gilded dome.  It used to be tin until rust made it unpleasant to look at and was replaced [above left]. 

Yvoire is a medieval town that was founded at the narrowest part of the lake to facilitate strategic control of trade routes along the lake.

Flowers everywhere! Rue des Pêcheurs (Fishermen Street) from Place du Thay [center above]  & a trough - one of my favorite photo subjets

The pictures above, void of tourists, took hours of waiting and patience and at times not even successful.

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