Geneva - Surroundings

Cointrin International Airport is 5km/3mi northwest of Geneva.

6.5km/4mi northeast of Chêne-Bougeries, on the lake is Bellerive, with the 17th C. Manoir de Bonvent (near the landing-stage) and a 17th C. château.

To the west of Geneva, at the "Jonction", the River Arve flows into the Rhône, its turbid yellowish water mingling with the clear greenish-blue water of the larger river. Beyond the Arve is the Bois de la Bâtie (woodland, meadows, animal enclosure; view of town).

To the southeast of this is an artificial ice-rink, the Patinoire des Vernets (partly roofed over; seating for 10,000).

About 2km/1mi beyond " Palexpo" near Geneva is the frontier town of Meyrin, a large residential suburb with an Alpine garden. Here, too, is the nuclear research facility CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire: partly on French territory), with a 600 MeV synchro-cyclotron, a 28 GeV proton synchroton, storage rings and a super proton synchroton (7km/4mi long ring tunnel). In 1989 the Large Electronic Position Storage Ring (LEP), 27km/17mi long, was completed.

4km/2mi west of the town, in a bend of the Rhône, is the residential development of Le Lignon, a striking example of modern architecture housing a population of 15,000.

4km/2mi north of Coppet, away from the lake, is the pretty village of Céligny, in a little enclave belonging to Geneva.

In Genthod, just south of Versoix (fish restaurant on lake), are a number of fine old 18th C. houses, including the Maison Ami-Lullin, built in 1723-30 by F. Blondel, which was occupied by the scientist H. B. Saussure. In the Maison de la Rive (1730), above the railroad line, Goethe stayed in 1779 with the philosopher and naturalist Charles Bonnet (1720-93).

14km/9mi northeast of Bellerive is Hermance, a pretty little place on the lake, founded in 1245 close to the French frontier.

(12th C. fortifications, château, 15th and 16th C. houses; Stone Age tombs.

To the northeast of Geneva's Cointrin International Airport, in the suburb of Grand-Saconneux, the New Exhibition and Congress Center was opened in 1981. The Nouveau Palais des Expositions et des Congrès, abbreviated to "Palexpo", has 70,500 sq. m/84,318 sq. yd of floor space.

9km/6mi north of Ferney-Voltaire (reached by rail or boat) is Versoix, an attractive little place on the west side of the Petit Lac, near the border between the cantons of Geneva and Vaud, with a beautiful lakeside promenade. The third Aga Khan, Head of the Ismaili sect, died here in his property of Le Barakat in 1957 (b. Karachi 1877; buried in Egypt). Near this house is the Château Rouge (the property of an Arab ruler).