Europe - Switzerland - Geneva

The international city, lake and mountains

(photos of September 2004 to December 2008)

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The Swiss city of Geneva (Genève in French, map) is surprisingly small (population about 190,000) for its fame. In particular, its role in international affairs is vast, being the host of many international organizations and conferences. For instance, the United Nations has numerous agencies and offices in Geneva (see Wikipedia).

Geneva is beautifully located at one end of the long Lake of Geneva, which lies between the Alps and the Jura mountain range. Geneva is closely surrounded on almost all sides by France, which country also owns a large part of the lake, while Italy is less than 100 km away on the other side of the Alps.

Lake of Geneva (Lac Léman) and Alps

On 3 November 2006, the weather near Geneva was extraordinarily clear. I happened to be there and saw a unique opportunity to make panoramic photographs of the Alps. So I drove to a peak in the Jura mountain range, La Barrillette (map), at 1523 meters above the sea, or 1150 m above the Lake of Geneva.

The following panorama of the Lake of Geneva and the Alps as seen from La Barrillette is a result of the clear weather on that beautiful (but cold) day. I once accidentally stretched this panorama vertically, giving the second version, which nicely emphasizes the Lake of Geneva (Geneva itself is out of sight to the right). It also highlights the amazing detail available in the original high-resolution pictures. With this detail it is possible to identify and label most peaks seen here, as the third version shows: scroll it to see 313 mountain names (not guaranteed to be correct!), with altitudes and distances from the camera at La Barrillette.

The panorama above spans almost 80 degrees from near the city of Fribourg beyond the horizon at far left to near the Mont Blanc at right -- the Mont Blanc is the highest peak of the Alps (4807 m high, map) and is located 87 km from La Barrillette, as marked in the third view. The most distant peaks visible here are much farther: for example the Schreckhorn (4078 m high, map) is located 155 km from the camera just to the left of and beyond the famous Eiger/Mönch/Jungfrau trio.

I also made the following wider (210 degrees) and deeper panorama. Its left edge is the same as for the last panorama, while this one stretches all the way across the Lake of Geneva (the city of Geneva lies at its rightmost tip) and up to the crest of the Jura mountains (the radar dome tops La Dôle, map, which at 1677 m is 154 m taller than La Barrillette). The Mont Blanc clearly dominates the Alps under the sun.

A French ski resort

Not far from the center of the first panorama lies the French ski resort of Avoriaz (described at Wikipedia, map), as pointed out in the next extract (in which the foreground is French, while the mountains in the background form the border between Italy beyond the horizon and Switzerland on the near side of the horizon).

Avoriaz was designed in the 1960s as a car-free resort for skiers and pedestrians. It is accessed by cable car (at left in the next panorama) and/or from outlying parking areas. In winter the sloping main avenues are skiable downhill, while skilifts take people uphill. The style is designed to meld into the natural landscape, as seen from a distance.

On the lakeshore and on the water

We next plunge to the shore of Lake Geneva nearest La Barrillette, to the harbor of the village of Céligny (altitude 375 m, map). Both scrollable panoramas were taken from its pier in winter (about a year apart; the second was assembled with the ZoomBrowser EX software). From here, the Mont Blanc is hidden behind smaller mountains.

The pier of Céligny is served in summer by tour boats that lead to Geneva and other places around the lake. The next panorama was taken on one of these, a classic ship powered by paddlewheels and used then for lunch cruises out of the Geneva harbor. We can see the Mont Blanc left of center, and Geneva to the right of the Swiss flag, marked by its trademark fountain (Jet d'eau, map) which pumps 500 liters per second of lake water straight up at 200 km/h to a height of about 140 m. The third picture below shows the ship's engine room with its huge piston rods.

The same ship and a smaller sister ship are next seen at dock in Geneva (map) -- the big paddlewheels are tucked away under the wide overhang on both sides of the ships.

The next four views show the shores of Lake Geneva. The first includes extremely expensive properties (possibly belonging to Middle Eastern royalty, map) against the backdrop of the Jura mountains. Next are two views of Geneva's waterfront, exhibiting the city's strict and uniform limit on building height (the cathedral being the only exception). Then follows a couple of shore residents.

Geneva skyline

In December 2007, I took the following narrow panorama of the Mt Blanc range from an apartment in western Geneva close to the airport. Geneva's cathedral is at far right, dominated by the French Mont Salève behind it. The following wider panorama, taken on the same day, adds the full length of the Mont Salève, as well as lower hills in the center, and the higher Jura to the right -- all of these lie in France. The narrow gap at right of center marks the passage of the Rhône as it flows from the Lake of Geneva into France and then down to the Mediterranean Sea. At right is Geneva's mosque.

The next panorama shows much the same view as the last one, but on a frosty winter morning. Following that comes a view in the opposite direction, showing the apartment complex consisting of four similar buildings arranged around a common court. On a grayer winter day I took a complete 360-degree panorama of the apartment complex.

Often in winter Geneva organises special lighting effects, such as those visible in the next scrollable 360-degree panorama.

Modern architecture

Below is shown a commercial (vocational) school in a 360-degree panorama (with the snow-covered Jura mirrored in some of its windows). Its complex external framing structure is shown next. Last but not least follows an international organization -- the World Meteorological Organization -- projected as a cylindrical panorama.