| Page Views: 772 Last Visit to Yvoire: April, 2005 I Visit Here Frequently | Magical Medieval Village at France Swiss Border by icunme - last update: Sep 24, 2009 |
The Swiss Call It the Swiss Riviera | Grazie Janet (Pawtuxet) - for sharpening my photo! |
This village won the International Trophy for Landscape and Horticulture in 2002.
Yes, indeed, the walk down to Lake Le Man is almost as good as the arrival there!
Place de la Mairie
F-74140 Yvoire
Phone +33 04 50 72 80 21
17 miles from the Swiss/France border.
The medieval village of Yvoire is located on the French side of Lac Léman - Lake Geneva. Yvoire is positioned at the end of the Presqu'île de Léman - Leman peninsula, that divides Lake Geneva into the Petit Lac - small lake and the Grand Lac – big lake. Its vantage point on Leman peninsula means you can almost get a 360° of the Lake Geneva.
This position today offers great views of the lake but centuries years ago it offered control over much of Lake Geneva and power over one of the gateways to the Alps. Starting in the early 14th century Yvoire was fortified. These fortifications lasted for a few hundreds years until the 16th century when Yvoire fell under the influence of Bern, an ally of France and Geneva. At this time there was relative peace and no need for Yvoire to maintain its military architecture. What you see today of the ramparts and walls of Yvoire are only a sample of what once was.
For a long period, Yvoire sank back into anonymity and the proud strongpoint became a village of farmers and fishermen.
Important evidence of the past has been miraculously preserved : the castle, ramparts and fortified gateways, ditches and houses.
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|  | Cars are not permitted in the village proper |
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| Pros: | "Short beautiful drive from Geneve" | | Cons: | "none" |
icunme's Yvoire Travel Tips
 Comments for icunme about Yvoire | | | | |
vinc_bilb Tue Sep 15, 2009 21:33 UTC
Hi Carol... Yvoire in Rhone-Alpes? I thought it was an error under VT, as I'm leaving in this region... So, definitively, thanks for teaching me with these great tips and pages :) | Pawtuxet Tue Sep 15, 2009 15:02 UTC
Glad you liked the pic. This area surrounding the lake seems idealic. Thanks for the tour. | Manara Tue Aug 25, 2009 13:07 UTC
What a beautiful place! Pity I did not know about it, because I was on holiday in that region this summer. Next time I will make a trip to Yvoire. | mvtouring Fri Dec 14, 2007 05:29 UTC
Such a lovely little gem, so many nice places in this world that we never get to visit cause we always running to the main events ;-) |
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