Switzerland
We chose to take Toll Roads in France and were tossing up whether we could avoid them in Switzerland. Here they have a Vignette system, where you pay a one off amount for a sticker allowing use of Toll roads. In Austria we could get a 10 day pass but in Switzerland you have to buy a yearly pass - which is actually a calender year so buying now means it is 6 monthly. Anyway we wondered if we could avoid toll roads altogether in Switzerland, but when we reached the border a police officer directed us into a particular lane then another police officer came to our window asking for money so we had no choice but to get one.
We immediately left the toll road anyway and headed into Geneva. The roads were some of the most confusing I have driven on with bike and bus lanes criss-crossing the driving lane and different traffic lights for cars and buses. Took me a while to get the hang of it all, but Geneva was very nice with some beautiful buildings and of course it is on Lake Geneva. We drove along the lake as much as we could, including sitting by the lake for lunch, before heading to our next overnight stay, Lausanne.
After checking in and catching a bus into Lausanne town it was about 5:00pm but we still managed to see quite a lot. Lausanne is one of the hilliest cities we've been to. You would walk up a street and cross a bridge, looking down onto a street about 40 feet below. Several of the buildings below one bridge were 7 stories tall and still not as high as where we were. We visited a church, a fountain, local shops and the funky Ouchy district. Ouchy is down by Lake Geneva and many younger people were sitting around having barbecues and drinking beer as Switzerland France soccer match was on that night.
Next morning we visited Sauvabelin, which is in the suburbs of Lausanne and consists of lots of gardens, a lake, small farm - chickens, rabbits, pigs, cows - and a tower lookout. We spent an hour or so here and went up the tower to look out over the city, Lake Geneva and the mountains beyond. Lausanne is a really pretty city with some great streetscapes and the ever present mountains in the background.
Leaving Lausanne we stuck to Lake Geneva and drove through some lovely villages. The ground from the lake rises quite steeply so again each of the villages is built on the side of the hill.
We arrived in our base for the next few days, Interlaken, around 3:30pm and after checking in walked into town. Interlaken is split into Interlaken East and West but both are dominated by the surrounding snow capped mountains. We walked the streets,looked in the shops and watched as 30 or 40 paragliders came floating down over the course of a few hours. The weather here is a gorgeous 27 degrees with barely a cloud in the sky and we finished the evening on our balcony catching up on things and organising the next few days.
We immediately left the toll road anyway and headed into Geneva. The roads were some of the most confusing I have driven on with bike and bus lanes criss-crossing the driving lane and different traffic lights for cars and buses. Took me a while to get the hang of it all, but Geneva was very nice with some beautiful buildings and of course it is on Lake Geneva. We drove along the lake as much as we could, including sitting by the lake for lunch, before heading to our next overnight stay, Lausanne.
After checking in and catching a bus into Lausanne town it was about 5:00pm but we still managed to see quite a lot. Lausanne is one of the hilliest cities we've been to. You would walk up a street and cross a bridge, looking down onto a street about 40 feet below. Several of the buildings below one bridge were 7 stories tall and still not as high as where we were. We visited a church, a fountain, local shops and the funky Ouchy district. Ouchy is down by Lake Geneva and many younger people were sitting around having barbecues and drinking beer as Switzerland France soccer match was on that night.
Taken from the bridge
Next morning we visited Sauvabelin, which is in the suburbs of Lausanne and consists of lots of gardens, a lake, small farm - chickens, rabbits, pigs, cows - and a tower lookout. We spent an hour or so here and went up the tower to look out over the city, Lake Geneva and the mountains beyond. Lausanne is a really pretty city with some great streetscapes and the ever present mountains in the background.
Leaving Lausanne we stuck to Lake Geneva and drove through some lovely villages. The ground from the lake rises quite steeply so again each of the villages is built on the side of the hill.
We arrived in our base for the next few days, Interlaken, around 3:30pm and after checking in walked into town. Interlaken is split into Interlaken East and West but both are dominated by the surrounding snow capped mountains. We walked the streets,looked in the shops and watched as 30 or 40 paragliders came floating down over the course of a few hours. The weather here is a gorgeous 27 degrees with barely a cloud in the sky and we finished the evening on our balcony catching up on things and organising the next few days.
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