| Show lug HUB OF 0 ia W 1 PEACE X ia 0 international conferences never ruffle dignity of Switzer lands famous lake geneva one of the worlds most beautiful inland vacation spots X t A prepared by national geographic society washington D C service r HE lake geneva coun try j try self styled peace L hub of the world has learned to take international crises in its stride here for 2000 years caesars caesara Cae sars napoleons bishops and barons have fought and ruled come and gone but lake geneva stays and the ancient river rhone keeps right on rollin into one end of the lake and out the other lake geneva lies in a sort of peninsula that juts out from Switzer lands southwest corner into france in fact most of its southern shore is french territory and two fifths of the lake itself belongs to france geneva people if they want to go for a sunday automobile ride have but one main road on which they can drive more than a few miles without having to cross the french frontier most motorists like to drive in switzerland so the single highway along the lakes north shore is often jammed with traffic on pleasant sunday afternoons lake geneva f ills fills a deep mountain abyss in which the eiffel tower feet high would sink out of sight the lakes surface is 12 1230 30 feet above the sea but the deepest hole in its bottom goes d down own 1015 feet almost sea level M mountains oun feet high tower close ca ose around its eastern end but gradually give way to rolling green hills take lake fronts like follies chorus the lake fronts of all the towns to ans around lake geneva are as uniformly un lovely as the girls in a follies chorus and as much alike as their costumes nyons dyons lake front is like them all and like most lake geneva towns too it has its castle high on the hill the roofs of its five towers as sharp as pencil points but this castle seems to smile instead of frown perhaps because there are flower boxes in its windows entering the ghost gray walls through a gate dated 1572 you find on the first floor a musty museum that preserves a few bits of dyons nyons past roman tiles and carvings ancient cannon wax figures in the costumes of other days A spiral stair in one of the round corner towers leads to neat courtrooms and offices for the judges THE THE prisoners on the top floor if they have an eye for beauty must spend much time gazing out the windows across the lake beyond the green hills of the french shore to the south mont blanc highest of Eu ropes peaks looms like a white cloud on clear days the weatherworn houses of nyons dyons citizens cluster their heir white and gray walls and red brown roofs closely around and beneath the castle narrow cobbled streets with sidewalks one man wide or none at all thread between them up the hill but as you explore them the medieval peace is shattered by the blast of an auto horn and you jump aside just in time as a modern sedan rushes down over the cobbles pottery politics brought fanie fame pottery long before politics brought fame to nyon you may most waterfront towns on switz switzer lands lake geneva look the same from the shore here is a side wheeled pleasure boat heading out over the deep blue waters visit the old pottery factory its ancient wooden stairs worn hollow its walls and floor gray with the accumulated clay of years in this same building pottery has been manufactured continuously since the days of the american revolution along the lakes north shore eastward from nyon vineyards crowd every inch of space on the hillsides hill sides that rise steeper and steeper from the waters edge they are planted so close to the edge of the road that in some places you can reach out from your car seats to pick fat bunches of grapes right off the vines A S THE hillsides hill sides grow steeper innumerable terraces rise in steps from the waters edge each terrace held in place by its stone retaining wall supports a few square yards of soil that in some places slopes at almost a 45 degree angle the soil washes down when it rains on such steep slopes even with the stone walls to hold it back but every winter the farmers dig up the soil that has washed to the bottom of the terraces carry it back up in baskets on their backs and spread it again evenly over the slopes up and down the hillsides hill sides you notice innumerable tiny flashes of light twinkling against the background of green leaves they are scarecrows scare crows they are bits of polished metal hung among the vines to be swung by the wind reflect the sunlight and scare the birds bustling center of this rich farming region of the lakes north shore is lausanne sprawled over three high hills above its lake port ouchy auchy which incidentally claims the only natural bathing beach in switzerland lausanne is another of the conference cities in 1912 a treaty signed here ended the war between b e tween turkey and italy and a conference in 1922 23 resulted in the signing of 17 different treaties and agreements when lausanne moved to the hills looking down your neighbors chimney is no novelty here leaning over the balustrade on one high bridge you can see straight down into the chimney pots of houses in the ravine below while their smoke drifts up into your nostrils many a narrow street winds upward steep as a mountain path and in some places long lights flights of steps take you from one level to another history says the tool took to the hills after a disastrous defeat in the fourth century and there they stayed on a cliff on the cite chief of the three hills Lau sannes cathedral towers dominate the skyline its beautiful rose window was in place more than years before columbus came to america the cathedral has been protestant for years since the day of the great disputation in 1536 when john cal calvin reformation v n and other leaders of the reformation wrested control from the catholic clergy |
