After spending almost a full day around the lake, I decided to focus on the old center of Geneva on my second day. As I was waiting for the bus, I heard some Spanish ladies from my hostel talking about a free walking tour. So, instead of stopping in the old town, I stopped at the train station to ask the tourist office.
Looking For The Tourist Office In Geneva
On my first day in Geneva, I went to the tourist office. Unfortunately, they had just moved to the train station instead of their old building by the lake.
Trying Again And Again
Since it hadn’t been long since they moved to Geneva train station, there were no signs to find them. So I asked the old guy at the information point. Grumpy, he told me “1st floor on the right”. I went to the first floor and right and ended up in front of a phone store, a Starbucks and a Sushi Shop…
I went back to the old guy and said with my nicest voice “Sorry to disturb you again, but I went to the first floor and couldn’t find it.” “What were you looking for?”, he replied curtly. It hadn’t been 5 minutes since I asked, but ok. Once again, I explained that I was searching for the tourist office. He told me, seemingly irritated, “turn right, then 1st floor”. So I turned right and saw nothing going up… So I thought that, maybe, we were on floor number 2 and I should go down. Because there were escalators going down. There were shops, but no tourist office.
I went back to the train station, looked at every place, and finally decided to give up. No way I was going back to the grumpy old guy.
Finally!
As I was going out of the station, I saw a sign on the wall “Office du tourisme”. There was a door that seemed restricted to the staff, but I opened it. An old elevator was there. It took forever to open its doors, so I climbed up the stairs because I was afraid to stay stuck inside. I had to climb two floors to arrive at the 1st one (logic…).
Finally, I saw the door “Office du tourisme”, I grasped the handle and… it stayed in my hand. Hum, OK… I put it back and managed to open the door.
Two people were there. The woman helped me. “Oh we don’t do tours, but I can look online to tell you if there’s one today”. “There’s a free walking tour in English at 11am to visit the old center of Geneva”. “Otherwise, you can book a chocolate tasting tour, but it costs 100 Swiss francs. Hum, “I’ll try the free walking tour first”, I replied.
As I was arriving down the stairs, I saw an old lady a bit out of breath and she said “Is the tourist office here?”. I told her “yes” and she said that she had been searching for a while and went to Sushi Shop. I smiled, it was reassuring to know I wasn’t alone.
A Free Walking Tour In The Old Center Of Geneva
Where In The Old Center Of Geneva?
To find your guide, you wait under the clock next to a Lindt shop in the old center of Geneva. There are several tours. On that, there were two tours starting at the same time, one in English and one in Spanish (there were a lot of Spanish people). It lasts about 2 hours and a half. It’s quite long (especially as you get hungry), but it’s worth it and very interesting.
What You Learn About Geneva?
You will learn that Switzerland is a very rich and expensive country, but that its quite recent. You will learn about its 3 main “industries”: watches, banks and international relations. Nope, chocolate isn’t one of the activities that bring the biggest revenue.
As you walk on the streets of the old center of Geneva, you will see the protestant architecture and the important men that built Geneva as it is now. When I say men, I do mean men because you will also learn that Switzerland isn’t super progressive when it comes to women. I was shocked to hear that women only got the right to vote in 1971, and not even in the whole country. The last Swiss canton was forced to accept it in 1993. I’m older than that! (No comment on that please.)
You will also learn about the Red Cross and Henri Dunant, and why he used the symbol of his country as a symbol of neutrality.But the tour is so much more than all that, I really recommend doing it!
What Should You Know About The Old Center Of Geneva?
It goes up and down, you will sweat at some point. Bring good shoes.
There are a lot of free toilets that are really clean. There are a lot of fountains of drinkable water as well.
I recommend visiting the cathedral. It’s only 7 CHF and you get nice views of the city from above. Again, bring good shoes, the stairs are small and a bit high (160 steps). The Maison Tavel is quite nice too, and free if you don’t want to (or can’t) donate anything.
Food is crazy expensive and the dishes offered in the restaurant in the old center of Geneva are not that fancy. I refuse to pay 30 euros for carbonara pasta. My advice, go back to the lake, there are cheaper options that are good (near Bains des Paquis, for example).
Sit on the longest wooden bench in the world above the Parc des Bastions and enjoy the view!
What Is The Escalade?
First, you have to know that there was a big rivalry between the Duke of Savoy and Geneva. On the longest and darkest night of Winter, from the 11th to 12th December, the Duke of Savoy decided to attack the city. Discreetly, his soldiers with their armors painted in black tried to climb (escalader in French) the walls. The Duke wanted to use a bomb to open the gates.
However, one of Geneva’s soldiers saw them and rang a bell. The Duke’s soldiers had to run away, they failed.
The main legend around this event is the story of Mère Royaume. This woman had 16 children and, that night, she was preparing a big cauldron of soup. As one of the Duke’s soldiers tried to enter her house using the window, she threw the soup on him and burnt him. Now, Geneva celebrates this night every year with big parties, and people eat chocolate cauldrons.
To see more pictures of Switzerland, you can visit the gallery Switzerland.
