After 17700+ steps yesterday, it goes without saying that we had a well deserved lie-in. We didn’t get up until 9:30am and then weren’t in a rush to get going.
When we were ready, we asked at reception for information about going on a boat cruise on Lake Geneva. The receptionist said that there was one going out at 3:15pm. She suggested we go down to the ticket office near the flower clock, so off we went.
The flower clock was in the process of being replanted for the summer when we went past. Last night we’d seen that all of the previous plants had been removed, and the gardeners had started on replacement of the numbers 3, 6, 9 and 12. Number 9 was missing last night but was now in place today.
We found the ticket office which didn’t open until 11:15am, so hung around until it opened.
I managed to enquire in French about going on a cruise on Lake Geneva, and we were asked if we wanted a one, two or three hours cruise. We went for the three hour cruise as food was available in the restaurant. The company that runs the cruises is CGN.
The trip actually started at 12:35pm, not 3:15pm, so it’s a good job we enquired at the ticket office when we did. It cost CHF33 each which is about £28. With tickets and table reservation in hand, we headed back to the hotel to get a jacket as we expected it to be cooler and breezier on board. We grabbed a pain au chocolat from a bakery just to keep us going, as we’d had no breakfast.
We had to board 20 minutes before sailing time. It was easy to check in and we boarded the vessel, a paddle boat called Savoie.
https://www.cgn.ch/en/savoie.html
We were greeted by a member of staff who guided us to the top deck where there was a dining room. We were given a choice of table and chose one where we had no obstructions. This gave us a great view of the scenery. The deck also had a small private deck area outside with deckchairs to sit on.
There weren’t that many people on board the boat, it was very quiet. Our waitress was very attentive and took our order which was timed for when the boat set sail. We had to wait about half an hour before our wine and food was served. The surrounding scenery was a perfect backdrop to our dining experience.
We had two port stops, at Geneva Pâquis and Hermance, taking in some stunning Alpine scenery including Mont Blanc itself. It has been shrouded in cloud most of the time we have been in Geneva so it was good to get a glimpse of it. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and all was well.
It was a bit confusing, however, because once we’d left Hermance, the boat turned and was heading back towards Geneva. We realised that our three hour trip was, in fact, only two. It didn’t matter, we’d had a fabulously relaxing time.
I had a bit of a wander about the boat and I could see through some glass panels, on the deck below, which allowed me to see the paddles and other machinery working.
At the end of our boat trip we noticed that the Jet d’Eau water spray was blowing in the right direction, away from the jetty. So, we decided to head there to get an up close and personal view of the water blasting out. It is barriered off so you can’t get too close, although someone did cross the barrier in August 2023 and was hospitalised when they put their head on the nozzle of the water jet.
It was a lovely afternoon so we walked along the stone pavers right to the end of the pier where there is a small lighthouse tower, the Phare de la Jetée du Sud. It is not accessible as it has metal fencing in front of it, but apparently it still has a light signal to ward boats away from the Jetée des Eaux-Vives when entering the harbour.
(Lighthouse of the South Jetty)
We walked back to the harbour and then sat in the sun enjoying the surroundings. We did notice that the Jet d’Eau had stopped working. I asked the barman about it and he said it is sometimes too windy to operate so it gets switched off.
Instead of heading back to get changed, we decided to go straight to Le Lacustre for our evening meal. This was our second visit to this Italian restaurant at the edge of the Rhône. It has easily become one of our favourite restaurants here. The same as our last visit, it was busy but we were seated straightaway at a table outside. The pizza was brilliant again and the local wine, a red Gamaret, was lovely.
https://lelacustregeneve.ch/en/
We noticed, on our way back to the hotel, that the Jet d’Eau was working again after a two hour or so break. Tonight we weren’t going to wait for darkness to see what colour it was going to be lit up in, we decided on an early night before our travels home on Wednesday.
jctraveller 
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