Lavaux Vineyards
"Of all the cities of the world, of all the intimate homelands, of everything that a man seeks in the heart of his travels, Geneva is the most propitious place to live", Jorge Luis Borges.
Every lover (and professional) of watchmaking has visited or, even more, regularly visits the city of Geneva. Rare is the occasion when you do not land at your international airport in on the way to one of the watchmaking factories scattered around La Chaux-des-Fonds or Le Locle.
There are many trademarks belonging to the canton of Geneva, for which a law enacted in 1886 established the famous Hallmark of Geneva, standard of excellence and emblem of Genevan haute horlogerie, which is still today a guarantee of origin, quality and reliability.
The firms of this Swiss town are numerous, but if there is one that stands out above all of them, it is Patek Philippe, which in addition to its headquarters has the ** Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, an authentic temple of watchmaking ** opened in the year 2001. And this is precisely one of the reasons why thousands of tourists flock to Geneva.
The old town of Geneva, one of the largest in Europe, is full of cafes, art galleries, antique shops...
PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM
Housed in a fully restored Art Deco building in the Plainpalais area of Geneva (Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers, 7) , this museum houses more than five centuries of watchmaking art and is divided into two major collections: the Antique Collection, made up of watches created from the 16th century (which includes the first watch ever made) and the Patek Philippe collection since 1839, housing some of the finest watches in existence, including the world's most complicated watch, the Caliber 89, as well as automatons and objects decorated with miniature painting on enamel, a great Geneva specialty.
In addition, for the pleasure of scholars, it has a library of more than 8,000 works on the measurement of time. Private tours are arranged by appointment, while those open to the public are held every Saturday in English or French.
If one leaves there experiencing a new vocation (which they often do), the Initium watchmaking school (Rue de la Tertasse 1) provides the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the fascinating world of mechanical watchmaking, and for half a day or a whole day will transform you into a watchmaker's apprentice.
The practical and theoretical classes of a master watchmaker reveal the mysterious inner life of a mechanical watch. With screwdriver and tweezers in hand, you will be able to listen to the ticking of the clock that you have created yourself: an absolutely unique experience. That or take a tour of one of its manufactures, such as that of the independent firm Frédérique Constant, which, by appointment, offers a tour in French or English of its facilities for 20 Swiss francs!
Detail of a historic clock at the Patek Philippe Museum.
TIME TRAVEL
For lovers of the art of traveling both in space and time (no need to risk being crushed in a wormhole or waiting for a one-way trip to Mars) Geneva is a Premium destination for different reasons:
• Because of its 'weekend size' dimensions.
• For its charming old quarter.
• Because of the romantic and leisure options offered by Lake Geneva.
• Because of the possibility of skiing in its surroundings on a large number of days a year.
• For the quality and glamor of its restaurants and hotels.
• For giving yourself the pleasure of buying a jewel or a watch in one of the best-stocked luxury boutiques on the planet (up to a total of 55 boutiques are concentrated around rue du Rhône and its surroundings) .
• For feeling like a cosmopolitan citizen in an environment where people of more than 190 nationalities work (in the European office of the UN) .
• For pure scientific geekiness and visiting the largest particle accelerator in the world.
• Or, let's be a little mischievous, because the bank accounts there are jealously guarded… Anyway, there are plenty of reasons.
Jet d'Eau, a water jet that reaches 140 meters and projects 500 liters of water per second at 200 km per hour.
THE LAKE, THE HOTELS AND THE GASTRONOMY
If there is one element that characterizes this active Swiss city, it is its unbeatable location on the banks of the Lake Geneva, a small inland sea nestled at the foot of the Alps. Motorboats called mouettes (seagulls) offer excellent views of the city and its emblem, the Jet d'Eau, a jet of water that presides over the city, reaching 140 meters (thanks to the projection of 500 liters of water per second at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour), unless there is a lot of wind, in which case it stops so that the projected water does not reach the Mont Blanc bridge and endanger the safety of the drivers who circulate on it.
There are a few hotels that offer the privilege of viewing it from your room: the Mandarin Oriental, the Grand Hotel Kempinski, the Hotel d'Angleterre, the Beau Rivage, the Eastwest Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton - Hotel de la Paix, Le Richemond, President Wilson, all of them first-class hotels that are also home to prestigious restaurants (such as the ** Rasoy by Vineet which, under the leadership of chef Vineet Bhatia, has won the first Michelin star for Indian cuisine,** or the Café Calla, with modern French cuisine, both from the Mandarin Oriental) or the best bars and lounges, such as Kempinsky, open every night and always full.
Rasoy by Vineet Restaurant, Michelin-starred Indian cuisine, at the Mandarin Oriental.
It is clear that Geneva is a place where eating and drinking is an art –and almost always an expensive luxury– and there is no shortage of places like the Canteen with its fusion food, its designer chairs and the music of DJs or Chez Philippe, inspired by New York 'steakhouses'. But what most surprises the tourist when goes to one of these restaurants for dinner is that they are always full at any time, and you will almost never come across a “the kitchen is already closed”.
But if what you are looking for is a one hundred percent romantic dinner, any of the four restaurants at the La Réserve hotel will be the perfect setting: Le Loti, Le Tsé Fung, the summer grill by the pool, and Café Lauren, part of the 2,000 square meter spa La Réserve, the largest spa in Geneva. And it is that there are many who after dinner spend the night in this hotel who say it was the wedding gift that a father who loves great hunts gave his daughter. Surrounded by four hectares, this resort is close to the airport, although it could be in the foothills of the Kenyan bush.
Chez Philippe, a lively steakhouse restaurant.
YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS
La Vieille-Ville (Old Town) is the largest historic center in Switzerland, and is dominated by the Cathedral of San Pedro, a symbol of the Reformation. It is worth climbing the 157 steps to the top of the tower to enjoy unique views of the city. One can then stroll through the surrounding alleys and passageways, each keeping its own version of Geneva's history.
The Pâquis neighborhood, on the other side of the lake from the historic center, is the first area where the immigrants who arrived in the Swiss city settled. In it are found ethnic restaurants, bars, hotels and even a mini 'red light district'. Also, a little further north, there are two of the largest parks in the city: the Parc Mon Repos and the Parc de la Perle du Lac, one next to the other.
The Bains des Pâquis, in the old quay of the neighborhood, is the beach of Geneva, located on the lake and in the center of the city, and in addition to sunbathing or swimming you can enjoy its wellness area and a meal – a fondue, for example – in the restaurant of the same name at popular prices ( Quai du Mont-Blanc 30), almost the only ones that we will find in the city.
If it doesn't rain, the Plainpalais Flea Market is held from early in the morning every Wednesday and Sunday (except the first Sunday of the month), until 5:30 p.m. in winter and until 6:30 p.m. in summer. Old furniture and collector's items related to the world of music are sold there (CDs, vinyls, magazines, etc.) . A curious place to walk full of opportunities to buy at acceptable prices.
For its unique architecture Les Grottes is nicknamed The Smurfs, as they say their houses resemble those of the little blue Peyo characters. Connoisseurs draw a parallel between these residences built in the early eighties and the work of Gaudí. Located behind the train station, its urban fabric does not leave you indifferent and breaks with the somewhat uniform serious image of the city. Bastion for bohemians and artists for several decades, it offers picturesque bars and alternative cafes that embellish the streets at sunset; among the most popular is La Galerie on Rue de l’Industrie.
Les Grottes, the neighborhood of the Swiss Smurfs.
FAMOUS
Meals, watches, shopping and rest aside, the city, one of the cities with the highest quality of life in the world, has been and is a refuge for the most disparate celebrities. Since Empress Sissi, in whose honor the Beau Rivage hotel has a suite and a display case on the third floor with her gloves, a handkerchief, a pen, and the record of her last night, or Jorge Luis Borges, who died here. The Argentine writer spent part of his adolescence in this city and is buried in the Plainpalais cemetery, a place of pilgrimage. His last year was spent at 28 Grand Rue, surrounded by antique dealers, galleries, perfumeries and traditional cafes now converted into fashionable establishments.
Chaplin accommodated his offspring at the Beau Rivage hotel in Geneva and set out to find a home. During a walk around the hotel, the driver approached the marriage to an old abandoned farm in the middle of an impressive park. It was a crush: as soon as they saw it, Chaplin and his wife, Oona, decided to buy it. The house in Corsier-sur-Vevey, the small Swiss town where he lived for twenty-five years and in which he died on Christmas Day 1977, has been a museum dedicated to him since 2016.
other characters are Mary Shelley, who gave birth to Frankenstein on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the Villa Diodati of the poet Lord Byron. Without forgetting the 'tax' residents, like Yoko Ono. And it is that celebrities who do not want to be too accountable to their respective estates find here a flat tax rate. Celebrities such as Céline Dion, Tina Turner, Phil Collins, Michael Schumacher or the owner of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad, Carlos Moyá or Fernando Alonso have also passed through here.
Suite in honor of Empress Sissi, at the Beau Rivage hotel.
Geneva is above all the city of Calvin and Rousseau, icons of the Enlightenment. This humanist, epicurean and refined city, cradle of humanitarian institutions and international organizations, welcomed Lord Byron, Dickens or Victor Hugo, who made summer in Geneva fashionable.
Those who want to follow in the footsteps of the author of the Social Contract can visit his house-museum. Or pay homage to her sculpture, located on a quiet island near the Mont Blanc bridge from where the philosopher and thinker impassively observes the flow of the Jet d'eau. The Genevan Jean-Jacques Rousseau has a street named after him, although more solemn is the Grand Rue, where the Espace Rousseau is located, centered on his figure.
Although he was not born in Geneva John Calvin (1509-1564) is identified (apart from the fact that watchmaking owes much to the morality he imposed) with the Swiss city for propelling from there the iron corset of the Protestant Reformation, whether it was imprisoning Catholic priests, fining anyone who wore indecent clothes or excommunicating any fan of gambling or dancing. Inside of Paul's Cathedral, today you can see the so-called Calvin chair, from which he preached. His footprint continues in the International Museum of the Reformation and in the Wall of the Reformers, five meters high and with his carved effigy next to that of three other leaders of the religious movement.
At the other ideological extreme, Voltaire (1694-1778) made Geneva his nerve center, confronting Calvinist ideas. His trace remains in what used to be his house, at rue des Délices, 25, today converted into a museum dedicated to the study of his life and work. It also has a street named after him.
House of Rousseau and Literature, in the old town of Geneva.
OTHER PLACES TO VISIT
Beyond the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bodmer Foundation offers written heritage of the "creations of the human mind", an extraordinary permanent collection of papyri, medieval manuscripts, autographs of authors, incunabula, first editions, art editions, archaeological documents and drawings. Among the roughly 300 pieces are two Egyptian Books of the Dead, Dante manuscripts and original editions of Shakespeare. This exceptional building is also of architectural interest as it was designed by Mario Botta (Route Martin Bodmer 19-21 - 1223 Cologny) .
More than 35,000 liters of paint were used to bring the original to life dome-cave that decorates the ceiling of room XX of the Palais des Nations, European headquarters of the UN. Its author was the Majorcan artist Miquel Barceló, who with his multicolored stalactite-like design intended to create "a metaphor of the world that reflected the Spanish will to defend peace, human rights and multilateralism". His good intentions were soon surrounded by controversy, since part of the 20 million euros that the works cost was financed with development aid funds.
The Globe of Science and Innovation, a metaphor for the terrestrial globe, represents the message of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) to society in the fields of science, particle physics, latest generation technologies and applications . With dimensions of 27 meters high and with a diameter of 40 meters, the Wooden Globe is a visual landmark both day and night. The Universe of Particles exhibition, on the ground floor, offers visitors an immersive journey through the world of particles, right up to the Big Bang (Route de Meyrin 385 - 1217 Meyrin) .
The European Laboratory for Particle Physics includes the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest particle accelerator, an underground ring-shaped tunnel 27 kilometers long whose objective is to reveal the secrets of matter by colliding protons at high speed. The scientists themselves, voluntarily and altruistically (visits are free), explain their work, the operation of the facilities and their sophisticated technology.
The Lavaux vineyards, one hour from Geneva, are a World Heritage Site.
PLACES THAT INSPIRE
Surely the most sought-after attraction after the Jet d'Eau is the flower clock in the English Garden. Planted in the mid-1950s, this iconic collection of flowers seamlessly blends the area's botanical and watchmaking tradition. 'Planted' in 1955, forming a single circle decorated with more than 6,500 flowers, today, this clock that still works with precision shows eight concentric circles inside which is the largest second hand in the world, with more than 2.5 meters long.
And it is that in Geneva everything leads us, one way or another, to watchmaking and, in this case, leads us back to Patek Philippe, the starting point of a getaway just an hour's drive from Geneva, to visit the Lavaux vineyards, source of inspiration for the watch face World Time Minute Repeater Reference 5531R.
Today declared a World Heritage Site, the vineyards were built by Cistercian monks 800 years ago on a total area of 830 hectares. The main grape variety that grows in these vineyards is the Chasselas.
Time does not stand still, and we could keep traveling around Switzerland in search of other examples of why it is so inexorable and precise in this country.
The Lavaux vineyards inspired the dial of the World Time Minute Repeater Reference 5531R watch by Patek Philippe.