36 Hours in Geneva

If you've been following my blog for a while then you should know that I'm currently exploring European cities in the form of long weekend city breaks (limited holiday entitlement and all that). My June destination was to a city that I had always wanted to visit, Geneva, Switzerland. It is a peaceful little city located in the mountainous region of the Alps - you can even see Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, from the city centre!

We landed quite late in the evening on the Friday night. The airport is only a couple of kilometres from the city centre so we didn't need to order a taxi. After being sat on the plane for what felt like days, we thought that a walk would do us good. Using trusty old Google maps, we found our way to the hotel in about 15 minutes, dragging our luggage behind, before being told that we were at the wrong hotel. The lady explained that our hotel was just about 15 minutes down the road, so we set off again, laughing. Our laughing halted when the next hotel told us that we were yet again in the wrong place! They gave us two bus tickets and told us to get a bus back to the airport - at this point we both felt flying home there and then would have been the best idea. Needless to say, we got on the bus and headed back to the airport before we asked the bus driver where our hotel was. He pointed, literally pointed, to the hotel sign, 100m in front of the airport entrance. We were thrilled when the receptionist gave us our room keys and we sprinted up to the room before collapsing on the beds.

The next morning we woke up bright and early for a full day of exploring the city. We had breakfast at the hotel and researched into the bus routes and the best ones to use to get into the city centre. In the UK you normally give your driver your money but in Geneva its all done through tickets that you buy at the bus stop itself, but like Stavanger, they’re not completely strict with it...

We hopped off the bus at the United Nations. The square in front is beautiful! There were children playing in the fountains in the gorgeous sunshine, however there was something that looked a little out of place… a large chair. As you can see from the photo below, this chair is actually very large, 12 meters high to be exact!

The chair is actually an art piece known as the ‘Broken Chair’. If you look closely, you can see that the right leg is broken and half of it has been removed – this wasn’t done by accident. It symbolises the opposition to landmines and cluster bombs, which acts as a reminder to political figures who visit the United Nations.

We got on the next bus which took us straight to the city centre. Geneva is located on the edge of Lake Geneva. The lake is 580km², making it one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. The little harbour had a lighthouse at the end of a pier, so we went to investigate. The pier was full of sunbathers but we managed to find a quiet spot next to the lighthouse. When you usually think about Switzerland you associate it with skiing and snow but the weather in Geneva was borderline tropical - coming from a UK native anyway. After admiring the scenery and taking some photos, we headed to the waterfront where there was a festival going on. It was still early morning, there weren't many people so we didn't even have to queue for the Ferris Wheel! I'm sure I don't have to say it again, but I will anyway, I am terrified of heights. I always do try to get out of my comfort zone, even if that means clinging onto the side of the carriage! 

The view was worth it though! It was such a clear day and you could see for miles into the Alps. The skyline of Geneva is quite low due to the lack of skyscrapers, the main feature of the skyline is the Jet d’Eau – the large water fountain that towers over the city. The Jet d’Eau sends 500 litres of water up 140m into the air per second. You might think that the Genevan’s created this as a quirky tourist attraction but it turns out that the jet does have a purpose, well, used to anyway! It was used as a safety valve for the Geneva hydraulic power network but once the technology came available, the valve was going to be removed. The residents had grown attached to this addition to the skyline so they decided to keep it for its aesthetic purpose – lets be honest, Geneva wouldn’t look the same without it!

Next to the Ferris Wheel was the L'horloge fleurie, which is an outdoor flower clock. The clock is quite a symbol of Geneva as the Swiss watches and Cuckoo clocks are what the country is known for. It was once the largest flower clock in the world, with a diameter of 5 meters, until 2005 where Tehran took that world record away from them… It’s still really pretty though! Fortunately, they still own the world record for the longest second hand on a clock.

We had a late lunch at a little restaurant in a pretty square, but we could only afford one course as Switzerland is so expensive! Fortunately, the attractions and activities were fairly priced, so we could afford to eat occasionally... Even if our meal only consisted of two of the cheapest pasta dishes on the menu and two glasses of water!

With Geneva being in the heart of the Alps, the water is very pure. The city has hundreds of beautiful fountains where the water is pure enough to drink – don’t worry, the signs even say that it’s safe to drink! This was great for us as the temperature was rising and the water from the fountains was always cold.

After lunch we walked along the waterfront to the Jet D’Eau . The pier took us right next to it which was certainly a sight to see but also covered us in water... We had gelato and ice creams as we walked around for the rest of the day before finding our way back to the hotel. On route we stopped at a little supermarket and decided to buy our tea and snacks there as it was significantly cheaper.

The next morning, we were up and out very quickly as we only had until lunchtime before we had to get to the airport. Our first activity was a boat tour which took us onto Lake Geneva for a fantastic panoramic shot of the city. 

From the middle of the lake to the top of the city, we headed up to the St. Pierre Cathedral, which towered above the city. At the top of the church we were quite confused as it brought us out into the roof but we noticed a little wooden door blending into the wall and carefully opened it to uncover the most beautiful views of the city. The other visitors were equally as surprised as we all thought that the view was limited to the ones in the little room out of the tiny windows. With that, we found a staircase that took us even higher up! As we took photos we noticed a festival was going on further into the city, as we could see colourful tents and music in the distance.

We briskly walked towards the music after leaving the cathedral and came across the wonderful sight. The Geneva Street Food Festival! Our mouths watered as we explored the endless food stalls selling food from every country imaginable. Suddenly we wished that we had just another few days to make the most out of it - aka eat as much as humanly possible! Unfortunately, our flight was in 6 hours so we didn't have time, instead we were forced to pick one thing. I went for a chicken and coriander wrap from one of the Indian stalls. I was surprised by two things; Firstly, the wrap was significantly larger than I expected as I struggled to finish it, and secondly, I really don't like coriander! My inner picky child came out as I plucked out the soapy tasting leaves and pushed them to one side, however the rest of it was lush! 

After lunch we left the busy festival streets and found ourselves in the Geneva Museum of Art & History. The museum admission was actually free which was a bonus! Unfortunately, all of the information boards were in French, so despite it being interesting to walk around, it wasn't exactly informative.

We soon realised the time and began to head back towards the hotel. The journey from the hotel to the airport was much easier than the first time. We took the bus, admittedly we could have walked as we were on the bus for about 2 minutes before we arrived at the airport. Our Swiss adventure in Geneva was nearly over, but not before our flight was delayed for 2 hours... However, the airport had a vast choice of restaurants so it just gave us more time to eat - always look at the positives!

Before we knew it, our 36 hours in Geneva was over!