We spent most of this June in Europe on a long trip that started in Paris, progressed to a Backroads biking trip in the Bordeaux area, followed by in interlude in Geneva and Lyon, and culminating in a Mountain Travel Sobek hiking trip in the Swiss and French Alps.
Paris
Our first stop was Paris. We stayed in the Montparasse area of Paris - which was a bit of walk from the main sights but convenient for our train departure later to Bordeaux. We visited the newly restored Notre Dame cathedral, Tuileries Gardens, Champs de Elysees, and the Eifel Tower - had some nice meals and a pretty typical tourist experience. See Care's Rizbee On the Road blog for Paris.
Bordeaux
We took the bullet train from Paris to Bordeaux throught the French countryside. We spent the night in Bordeaux and then met our Backroads guide and fellow bikers. We took a bus about 2 hours east of Paris along the Dordogne River and then spent six days biking west staying in three really nice hotels, ending in St. Emelion. In St. Emelion, we were fortunate to witness the Jurade de St. Emelion, an induction ceremony for a brotherhood of winemakers, as well as visiting a vinyard and wine school. Here is our itinerary. The scenery was beautiful, the biking great, and the camradarie of our fellow guests was fabulous. We stayed in good places and the Backroads guides did a great job. We highly recommend this trip. See Care's Rizbee On the Road blog for Bordeaux and the Dordogne River valley.
Route map courtesy Backroads
Route map courtesy Backroads
Geneva
After our bike trip, we flew to Geneva for a week of relaxation and exploration. We stayed at the Beau Rivage, a nice old hotel right on Lake Geneva. We explored old Geneva, the parks and UN Complex, and the lake. We had a number of good meals. Geneva is a very livable city and we thoroughly enjoyed it. See Care's Rizbee On the Road blog for Geneva.
Lyon
Mid week in Geneva, we took the train to Lyon, where our friends Riko and Louise were visiting. We got together with them and toured old town Lyon, the concert stadium, and a cathedral. We had an early birthday dinner for Care before taking the train back to Geneva. See Care's Rizbee On the Road blog for Lyon.
Grindelwald
At the end of our week in Geneva, we met our Mountain Travel Sobek hiking guide and 3 of our fellow hikers at the Geneva Airport. We took a three-hour van ride to Grindelwald where we would begin our 9-day hiking trip. There we met our remaining 2 fellow hikers. Here is our itinerary. We have been to Grindelwald before and it is still a magical mountain valley. We did two long hikes in Grindelwald - one on each side of the valley. On the second day, we hiked along the face of Eiger, on a trail we have hiked before. The view was spectacular and we got a great intro to Alpine hiking and our guide and fellow hikers. See Care's Rizbee On the Road blog for Grindelwald.
Oeschinensee
We left Grindelwald en route to Zermatt and stopped at Oeschinensee, an alpine lake that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had a spectacular hike on the mountainside above the lake before boarding our van (which drove onto a train) for a trip through the mountain range to Zermatt.
Zermatt
After Grindelwald and Oeschinensee, we went to Zermatt. Our hotel had a great view of the town and the Matterhorn. We hiked a couple of hikes on either side of the Matterhorn and got some great views of the mountain and the surrounding woods and glaciers. See Care's Rizbee On the Road blog for Zermatt.
Chamonix
After Zermatt, we crossed the border back into France and hiked into Chamonix, at the base of of Mont Blanc. In fact, the Marathon du Mont Blanc was running the days we were there (but we did not participate). We did two hikes. The second hike began at the foot of a glacier and culminated in a cable-car ride to an observation station near the top of Mont Blanc. We could see ice climbers who had been on the train to the glacier with us working their way to the summit of Mont Blanc. The views were truly spectactular. See Care's Rizbee On the Road blog for Chamonix.
