France and Italy, 2004

Yvoire is another walled medieval town, on the French shore of Lake Geneva (or, in French, Lac Leman). It must have an interesting history, but the area inside the walls is given over almost entirely to tourism. Even the tourist bureau has little about its history. But it is a beautiful town, in a lovely position.

Between Semur and Yvoire, we stopped at the Saline Royale (Royal Saltworks) at Arc-et-Senans. This extraordinary building was erected in the mid-eighteenth century to house a saltworks and its workers, on thoroughly paternalistic lines. It was to be a model village full of happy workers.

It was never a great success, mainly because of leaks in the pipeline to carry brine 15km from Salins-les-Bains. The buildings are now used partly as an exhibition centre, and it is a World Heritage site. The architect, Ledoux, was creating amazing bulidings and plans at about the time Captain Cook discovered Australia.

In Yvoire, the church has this very decorative steeple. We had more photos of this town on Lynn's new digital camera, but they were all lost when the camera was stolen.

The chateau in Yvoire is still occupied by the same family after hundreds of years. It is not open to the public, but the exterior is very pretty.