A few weeks ago, the Vidange du Rhône (or Chasses du Rhône, meaning Flushing of the Rhône) took place between Barrage de Génissiat (Genissiat Dam) in France and Barrage de Verbois (Verbois Dam) in Geneva. Both the CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône), which manage the dams on the French side, and the SIG (Services Industriels de Genève) cooperate on this operation: It is performed every few years in order to purge sediments brought into the Rhône river by the Arve, which accumulate and increase the risk of floods.

For a few days, the dams in the area are opened and their reservoirs emptied, in order to increase the discharge rate with the goal of flushing the sediments from the river bed. The river then turns gray, just like the Arve. Another side effect is that the level of the Rhône is lowered, almost as low as before dams were built along the river so it becomes quite the view. One other, less happy, consequence is that it is a bit of a fish apocalypse, with many of them dying because of the increase in solids suspended in the water.

I went to see this phenomenon in the area around Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, first in Éloise near Pont de Grésin, as part of a hike. Then a few days later, I visited Bellegarde itself just for this purpose and walked along the Rhône. Because of the the Corona restrictions on border crossings, unfortunately, I couldn’t visit the area upstream of the Verbois Dam in Geneva.

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The Bois des Glaisins is a park in Annecy-le-Vieux. It has an easy walking trail in the forest and along Ruisseau des Fées (a small stream).

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Last year, after visiting Turin, I continued eastwards to Milan, also taking a Flixbus. I spent one week there walking around and visiting the highlights of the city. I also went one day to Lake Como, north of Milan. After that week, I took another bus back to France.

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The railway line from Annecy to Albertville started operating in 1901 and closed to passenger traffic in 1938. Freight traffic kept running until 1964 when it shut down for good. In 1975, parts of the line on the west side of Lake Annecy were converted into a bike path: The Voie Verte du Lac d’Annecy. More of the line (until Ugine, near Albertville) was converted later in 2005. However, some of the rails in Annecy, west of the train station until a bit before Tunnel de la Puya (under the Semnoz), still remain. There is also a section of abandoned tracks in the Zone Industrielle de Vovray that used to be connected to the old Annecy-Albertville line.

I walked alongside those train tracks last fall: First, I walked from the train station to the ends of the train tracks in Vovray. Some parts were fenced off so I had to walk around. Some other time, I went back to the place where the line branched off towards Albertville and followed its course until Tunnel de la Puya, which was walled off. I walked on the Semnoz to get to the other side, in Sevrier. The exit of the tunnel was still open. I walked a little in the tunnel from there, but it was pretty dark so I didn’t go very far.

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The Turin Cathedral (Duomo di Torino or Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista) is a church in Turin built at the end of the 15th century. It hosted the Shroud of Turin from 1578, when it was moved from the Holy Chapel (Sainte Chapelle) in Chambéry, to 1649, when the Chapel of the Holy Shroud (Cappella della Sacra Sindone) next door was completed. It currently hosts it again since the fire of the chapel in 1997.

The cathedral has a bell tower (Torre campanaria), separate from the main body, which can be visited. It is quite high (63 m) and offers a great view on the city of Turin and the surrounding mountains. Tickets can be purchased at the entrance of the Diocesan Museum of Turin (Museo Diocesano di Torino), on the other side of the cathedral from the tower. After that, there is an underground passage to reach the tower then stairs to get to the top.

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After visiting Susa, I stopped in Avigliana on the way back to Turin: It is a town located at the mouth of the Susa Valley, half-way between Susa and Turin. It has a medieval town (Borgo Vecchio) which still retains some buildings of that era and is overlooked by a castle in ruins (Castello di Avigliana), with a great view on the Medieval Town, the Susa Valley, the surrounding mountains and the Avigliana Lakes Natural Park.

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While staying in Turin, I also made a short trip to Susa, a town located towards the border with France. Susa is right below the mountains so it was a nice change of scenery from the city. During Roman and medieval times, the town was the main entry point into Italy from France and still has many ancient historical buildings.

I went there early in the morning, taking one of the frequent trains running from Porta Nuova in Turin, and strolled around for a few hours.

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Parco Italia ‘61 is a park in the Lingotto area of Turin, not far from the Po river. It is built on the location of Expo 61, the international labour exhibition held in 1961. Italy expanded the event with an exposition celebrating the centennial of Italian unity and the Expo is remembered as Italia ‘61. The park is split in 2 parts, Giardino Corpo Italiano di Liberazione and Giardino Giuseppe Levi, separated by the Palavela, a building that was used during the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics.

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The Grand Synagogue, also known as Israelite Temple (Tempio Israelitico), is a jewish place of worship located in the city of Turin. It was initially built at the end of the 19th century in a neo-moorish style, then rebuilt after WW2.

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