Monday, August 1 2011
On the same Monday that we
dropped off Orman and Tami at the airport, it was Swiss National Day so we had
a day off from work. As mentioned in our
last post, Orman and Tami took a boat trip to Yvoire, France… now it was our turn! The boat ride out to Yvoire is about an hour
and a half cruise and takes you alongside the ritzy houses on the Swiss and
French shores of Lake Geneva. 
We hopped on the boat around
noon and enjoyed the sunny, relaxing cruise.
The boat itself was really cool – it was an old steam paddle-boat
complete with a giant Swiss flag hanging proudly out the back. It was especially cool to see the giant
pistons on display and in action.
We reached Yvoire and were
immediately greeted by the picturesque Yvoire Castle and the first of many
flower boxes that accent the town. The
cuteness of the medieval town lived up to its reputation, although we would
have to agree with Orman and Tami’s review that the historical significance of
the village wasn’t highlighted as well as it could have been. The biggest educational takeaway for us was
that Yvoire is strategically located between the two main parts of Lake Geneva,
the "petit lac" and the "grand lac" (you can see the
separation in map below). It’s strategic
placement allowed it to control the major trade routes that Lake Geneva
facilitated and it became a strong military hold within the region. Nonetheless we had a great time strolling through
the medieval streets, really feeling like we had stepped back in time.
On our way back, we decided to
take the boat over to Nyon, walk around and then the train from Nyon to
Geneva. We were pleasantly surprised by
Nyon, primarily because of the castle that overlooks the town center. We had been to Nyon briefly last year for a
rugby match, but we missed the main parts of town, especially this cool
structure. Unfortunately the castle was
closed due to the Swiss holiday but we vowed to make it back someday to go
inside and in the meantime took some pictures overlooking the city.
We caught the 20-minute
train back to Geneva and so ended our relaxing Swiss National Day.
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