On day three of our trip to Annecy we decided to take a drive down to Grenoble, a city located in the southeastern part of France about an hour and 15 minutes away from the town of Annecy.
Grenoble is a large city situated at the base of the mountains between the Drac and Isere rivers and is sometimes referred to as the capital of the Alps. It also has a large scientific community and is considered to be one of the important science centers in Europe.
You may have noticed from the pictures that one of the cities defining features is its five pod cable car called "Les Bulles" (The Bubbles). The first version of the cars were built in the year 1934 and had a much different design. Today they have been refurbished into what you see here - translucent pods. The pods take passangers up to La Bastille which is located up the mountain on the opposite side of the Isere river. The cars travel fast, at speeds up to 6 meters per second, and reach the top of the mountain in only about 3-4 minutes - just enough time to get some amazing views of the city below.
If you are feeling a bit energetic you can also hike up the mountain to La Bastille, which is what we ended up doing. It took us about an hour or so to hike the mountain which basically became our main activity for our day.
As a note: driving up to La Bastille is also an option.
First we crossed one of the many bridges leading over the Isere river. From there we found a long set of stairs where the hike up the mountain begins. It was right next to a beautiful stone fountain depicting a lion battling a large snake. I should have taken a picture - I knew that I would regret it.
After the stairs we came to a large wooded with a switch back path that took us the rest of the way up the mountain. The ground is a bit rough in places so proper footwear is advised.
You also have the option of taking a variety of staircases along the way if you prefer a more direct route to the top. There are several outdoor work out stations scattered throughout the path as well, you know, in case you have a hankering to do some extra pull ups or additional exercise along the way. For us, the hike itself was more than enough to get our heart rate going.
Several look out spots along the way provide different perspectives of the city.
One moment you are standing level with the rooftops and the next you are towering over the city.
La Bastille is a series of historic military fortifications built up along the mountainside. Some of the structures date back to the middle ages, around the mid 1300's.
Remnants of the old fortress, along with the newer renovations, made for a pretty interesting hike.
There's also the views of the city with the mountains in the background and the river winding its way through town. I can see why La Bastille is one of Grenobles most visited tourist attractions.
At this point we were pretty high up above the town. Surprisingly, there was still a long way to go to get to the top. Here we are actually still below the main wall of the second tier.
One more flight of stairs to go.
The outer wall area was a nice flat stretch of land that wraps partially around the mountainside. It was a great place for some panoramic views of the mountains and city.
There's my wife, standing in the distance.
The cable car comes back into view just around the bend. It's kind of neat seeing it from a few different vantage points.
Its a bit surprising that even from here we aren't all that close to the top. We still had many more switch backs to go. I was impressed with how many people were actually jogging up the mountain that day.
The next photo from the top shows where we were just standing on the outer wall. Its actually quite a ways down as well.
There are several platforms at the top of the mountain with benches and viewing ports. We spent a few minutes there looking out over the city.
Behind La Bastille, a short walk along the backside of the mountain, is another part of the old fortification. Its a series of old tunnels that were used by the military to protect the backside of the fort and to ambush would be intruders.
The tunnels are quite long and quite deep. There is a pretty steep staircase in there as well.
The tunnel exits a little ways down the mountain. it takes you to a path that leads right back to the main part of La bastille as well as the cable car. There is also a snack bar and large restaurant there if you are feeling peckish from all that hiking.
And that’s it for our hike up to La Bastille and our trip to Grenoble. Thanks for Reading
If you are interested in reading more about our trip I will be posting about it over the next few days. For the previous post click the link below.