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Known as the Venice of the Alps, the city of Annecy is located on the northern edge of the Lac d'Annecy, a placid, mountain lake in the Haute-Savoie region. Annecy is located 30 minutes south of Geneva, and is a popular destination for weekend breaks for residents of the city, attractive for its natural beauty and picturesque architecture. Owing to its location on the border with Switzerland, the city is a mixture of French and Swiss cultural heritage.
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In the old town of Annecy, in the middle of the river that flows out into the lake, the great, stone Palais de L'Ile is a former fortress, which also functioned as a money-making workshop and a prison at different stages of its history. The Palais is now home to a museum of local cultural heritage, and offers tours of the dungeons and prison cells, as well as other medieval rooms, representative of the palace's varied past.
The old town of Annecy is dominated by the Château d'Annecy, a 14th century castle that houses the city's museum of art and archeology. Inside the museum, there are exhibitions on contemporary and fine arts, furniture of the Savoie region, religious artifacts and chronicles of the natural history of the lakes in the region. |
Many of the activities in Annecy and the surrounding region are centred on the lake itself. There are half a dozen cruises and excursions by boat available, from an exploration of the canal du Vassé which embarks at the iconic Pont des Amours, to an Omnibus Cruise of the lake, featuring dinner and dancing with a meal prepared by a master chef. There are no fewer than thirteen beaches surrounding the lake, including the sandy beaches of Doussard and Saint-Jorioz , the green lawns of the Talloires and the shady spaces of Duingt, beside the Ruphy castle. The city of Annecy itself has its own beach, which is a popular spot for swimming and sun-bathing.
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