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| VanSims7. 08. 2012 18:17:18 |
After visiting Aosta, I drove over the Petit Saint Bernard pass (avoided the tunnel under Mont Blanc) and past Albertville, Annecy and on the highway around Switzerland (didn't have Swiss vignette) and then on local roads into the heart of the Jura mountains.
Jura is pre-Alpine hills, partly in France, partly in Switzerland and basically forms the border ridge between the countries. It's a pre-Alpine wavy plateau world so kind of like Styria or Dolenjska here. To make the similarity complete, Jura is also known as a wine region.  The name is not from the geological Jura period, nor from Jurassic rocks, but in Gaulish (first settlers) means forest. Actually, the region it belongs to on the French side (Franche-Comté) is first among French regions by forest density.
I did only one hiking trip, namely to Mont d'Or from the winter center Metabief near the border. Even in summer in this village there's something for everyone from hikers to e.g. mountain bikers whom chairlifts take to the top and then descend down trails that are well marked and physically separated from hiking paths.
From Mont d'Or (from whose summit to the Swiss border only half-hour walk) one should see (per Lonely Planet) Lake Geneva but due to fog towards Swiss plain no. In the fog background Alps were visible but far from seeing (again per LP) Mont Blanc let alone Matterhorn. But the Rhone river flowing through Lake Geneva was nicely visible winding towards south France. Also back to French Jura was well visible.
Despite all, it was a nice trip. Well, at the end I had a shower but nothing serious because I went nicely under a tree.
After Metabief I went to French Besançon then to Switzerland where first visited Neuchâtel then some villages and towns in Swiss Jura.
Many famous Swiss things come from there. Watches (Longines, Omega), Milka (originally Suchard company until 1996 bought by American Kraft Foods), Ricola,...
Switzerland was already pig-expensive before but since the franc strengthened so much against weak euro it became bloody expensive. The franc is exchanged almost 1:1 or about four fifths of euro, prices though: coffee 3 francs, ice cream scoop 3 francs, beer five francs, go to store buy three four items and it's already at least ten francs (and that's in Migros discount where it's supposed to be a bit cheaper),... Gasoline still cheap compared to neighbors but difference much smaller.
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