Handpicked experience · Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
A ban on jewellery that produced the watch industry, a broken chair facing the UN since 1997, and peacocks kept by the terms of a will.
A guided circuit taking in the lakeside and the city viewpoints
The upper town covered without a long climb
A run through the diplomatic quarter, with the buildings seen from outside
Short photo stops and stretches covered on foot
Live local commentary across the two hours
Two hours around Geneva by coach with a guide, taking in the lakeside viewpoints, the old town on foot or by small train, and a run through the district where the international organisations sit. Commentary runs throughout.
The route works the city centre and the diplomatic quarter, pausing where the view earns it. Buildings in the international district are looked at from the pavement rather than entered. Two hours is an orientation rather than a deep dive, and the guide will tell you what to come back to.
In 1541 the reformed city outlawed the wearing of jewellery as vanity. Geneva was full of goldsmiths and enamellers who suddenly had no market, so they moved into the one ornamental object still permitted because it was useful: the watch. Within a century the city was the centre of European watchmaking, and it is still there. An industry worth billions exists because someone banned earrings.
On the square facing the UN's European headquarters is a wooden chair twelve metres high with one leg blown off. It was put up in 1997 to press governments to sign the treaty banning landmines, and was meant to stand for three months. It is still there, because the campaign it represents is not finished, and it has become the most photographed object in the district.
The park around one of the museums was given to the city on terms: public access forever, and peacocks kept in the grounds in perpetuity. The birds are still there, wandering across the lawns beside the diplomatic missions, because a nineteenth-century donor wrote them into the deed and nobody has found a way around it.
On a December night in 1602, troops from Savoy tried to scale the walls with ladders. A woman is said to have emptied a cauldron of hot vegetable soup over the first man up, waking the town, and the assault failed. Geneva has celebrated it every year since, and the modern version involves chocolate cauldrons filled with marzipan vegetables, smashed by the oldest and youngest person present.
The water here rocks back and forth on a regular rhythm, raising and dropping the level at each end like a bath. A local scientist studied and named the effect in the nineteenth century, and every body of water in the world that does it now uses the word he took from this shoreline.
The old town portion may be on foot or by small train depending on the operator and the weather. The international buildings are viewed externally. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
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A coach circuit of the centre and the diplomatic quarter with short photo stops, plus the old town on foot or by small train. The international buildings are seen from outside.
With a ban. In 1541 the reformed city outlawed wearing jewellery, so its goldsmiths and enamellers moved into the one ornamental object still allowed because it was useful — the watch. Within a century Geneva led European watchmaking.
A twelve-metre wooden chair with one leg destroyed, put up in 1997 to press governments into signing the landmine ban treaty. It was meant to stand for three months and is still there.
Because the donor made it a condition of the gift. The park came to the city on terms of permanent public access and peacocks kept in the grounds in perpetuity, and the birds still wander beside the diplomatic missions.
A failed attack in 1602, when Savoyard troops tried to scale the walls by ladder and a woman reportedly emptied a cauldron of hot soup over the first man up. The modern version smashes chocolate cauldrons filled with marzipan vegetables.
The term for the rhythmic rocking of an enclosed body of water, which raises and lowers the level at each end. It was studied and named on this shoreline in the nineteenth century.
Either, depending on the operator and the weather on the day.