A Tale from my Thollon Balcony
Let me tell you the tale of my Thollon balcony. I fell in love with the balcony as soon as I stepped out of the door.
Clinging to the foothills of the French Alps in the Haute Savoie, my little balcony has sweeping views of Lake Geneva.
But behind me lies the best balcony of all… the ‘Balcon des Memises’. A range of mountains that dominate the little French spa town of Evian les Bains.
Below the Memises, sits Lake Geneva. Stretching from Montreux and the Swiss mountains in the east to the distant Jura and city of Geneva in the west.
This breath-taking view has inspired travellers, writers and artists for centuries.
There are so many stories to tell you about the whole region around Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman as it’s also known, but all the best stories start at home…
Home is where the heart is
My own balcony nestles beneath the eaves of a chalet-like building in a little French village that sits not far from Evian les Bains.
On hot summer nights, the balcony is sheltered from the wind and the wild storms that rattle the windows. Thunder rolls across the lake and lightning illuminates the mountain peaks for miles.
We share the balcony with a small family of bats. On warm, balmy evenings they dart from the eaves across the balcony rail. They ride out into the clear night sky and dance through the pine trees silhouetted on the hillsides.
In the daytime, we drink coffee with friends on the balcony. We watch the buzzards as they cruise the thermals way above our heads. We count the small white boats that crisscross the lake for business and pleasure.
A winter wonderland
In the winter the balcony protects us from the horizontal snow. We light candles in the evening and drink hot mulled wine that warms our hands and steams up Dan’s glasses.
The lights of Lausanne shimmer on the opposite side of the lake, like strings of Xmas lights hung up by a drunken uncle.
They make the perfect backdrop to life in this wonderful but lesser known area of France.
There is so much to enjoy and to discover here between the shores of Lake Geneva and the pre-Alps of the Chablais, that I hope you’ll join me as I blog about living in France, on the beautiful Balcon des Memises.
