13/04/25
When I originally suggested visiting Annecy the weather was still hot and sunny and I had visions of a few days sitting by the lake relaxing, occasionally taking a dip in the lake or wandering to the town. By the time we were on our way the weather was gloomy. In fact, as we exited the Mont Blanc Tunnel into France the weather was atrocious. Heavy rain washing across the roads and dripping down our windscreen.
Away from the high mountains the rain decreased in intensity and by the time we approached Annecy we had grey skies and light showers with a forecast of more of the same. We decided to forgo a campsite and opt for a parking spot instead. The ten van aire was, unsurprisingly, full up. But the next car park towards town had plenty of spaces, the height barriers were down and even more importantly it was free.
Safely nestled in a parking space we ventured out to Annecy town. Last time we were here we’d cycled around the lake but hadn’t visited the town itself. This time we wanted to see some of the beautiful buildings and canals of the historic quarter.
Despite it being a wet Sunday in April the town was busy. We hadn’t realised the French school holidays had started. The town is undoubtedly beautiful but the annoyingly deployed umbrellas made it a less than relaxing experience, especially in the more crowded areas. Every building was either a cafe, ice cream parlour or tat shop. We had fancied visiting the castle but there was a long queue outside which put us off. This was not turning out to be the visit we had envisaged. The final straw probably came when we saw an altercation between some of the street beggars. We could see why there were anti-tourist signs in some of the buildings.
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- We contemplated joining the queue
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- Signs protesting the impact of tourism
The historic quarter and it’s moody mountain backdrop are undoubtedly beautiful
We wandered back to the van, our take-away being that Annecy was a victim of it’s own beauty. I’m sure we’ll visit again but it wont be at a weekend or during a school holiday (poor planning on our part) and we would probably focus on the lake as much as the town.
Originally we had expected to stay overnight in the car park, but it was still pretty early and we decided to move on. We ended up in an aire at another lake, not to far away, near La Balme-de-Sillingy. The recreational area by the lake was undergoing a lot of building work, extending the car park and adding more play areas and seating, but the parking for motorhomes was relatively untouched. The barriers were down and the services off (several vans drove in to use the services and then drove away disappointed) but parking was still available. We popped out between the showers to walk around the pleasant lake and shake off the memory of the tourist crowds at Annecy.
A slightly less busy lake at La Balme-de-Sillingy