Heritage guide: Talloires and the bay of Lake Annecy

The abbey of Talloires, a thousand years of history

It all began in 1018: Rudolph III of Burgundy, at the urging of his wife Queen Ermengarde, gave the estate to the Benedictine monks of the abbey of Savigny, in the Lyonnais region. Four monks came to found the priory, first dedicated to Saint Mary, Saint Peter and Saint Maurice. Prosperous for centuries, it was raised to the status of a royal abbey in 1674 by Pope Clement X. The Revolution brought it to a brutal end: in 1792, after Savoy was annexed to France, the monastery was looted, its archives burned and its property sold as national assets. Only the 17th-century building survived: turned into a prestigious hotel-restaurant from the end of the 19th century, it welcomed illustrious guests such as the painter Paul Cézanne and Winston Churchill. The building has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1944.

Saint Germain, the mountain hermit

Among the four monks who came from Savigny, one — Germain — left a lasting mark on Talloires' memory. Tradition recounts that, after being the first prior, he withdrew as a hermit to a cave in the heights, where his reputation for holiness soon drew pilgrims. It was above this cave that the chapel of Saint-Germain was built in 1780, still a place of pilgrimage today and a superb viewpoint over the lake. The trail that climbs to it offers one of the finest views over the bay of Talloires and, directly opposite, over the Duingt peninsula — a reward well worth the climb.

The Roc de Chère, a nature reserve above the lake

To the west of the village, the Roc de Chère raises its wooded promontory above the lake, which it overlooks by about 200 metres with sheer cliffs of 50 to 70 metres. A geological curiosity, this glacier-scoured relief brings together limestone soils on the lake side and ridges of acidic sandstone — a rarity that nurtures extraordinary biodiversity: more than 560 plant species coexist here, from the alpine rhododendron to the Mediterranean maple, under the watchful eye of the peregrine falcon. To preserve this treasure, part of the Roc has been classified as a national nature reserve since 1977, nearly 68 hectares managed by the ASTERS conservatory. At the foot of the cliff, cavities carved at water level invite exploration, by kayak or paddleboard, setting off from the beach.

Lake Annecy, a glacial jewel

At an altitude of about 447 metres, Lake Annecy is the child of the great alpine glaciers: it was born from their melting, at the end of the last ice age, nearly 17,000 years ago. It is the second-largest lake of glacial origin in France, behind Lake Bourget. Reputed to be one of the purest in Europe, it owes this clarity to a pioneering clean-up launched as early as the 1960s: its transparency rose from 3 metres in 1957 to 14 metres in 2007. Its waters still support a professional fishery that has become exceedingly rare — only a handful of fishermen now make a living from their nets, from which they pull up the féra, the emblematic fish of the region's finest tables.

1793: the night of the bells

The Tresorus quest of Talloires, "La Nuit des Cloches", plunges players into the winter of 1793. Savoy has just been annexed by revolutionary France — the Mont-Blanc department was created at the end of 1792 — and the Terror is descending on the bell towers. All across Savoy, church bells were being taken down to be melted into cannon or coinage. Driven by the deputy Albitte, nicknamed "the Savoyard Robespierre", the campaign peaked in early 1794: nearly 800 bell towers were stripped. It is against this dramatic backdrop that the night-time adventure imagined by Tresorus unfolds, in which the last monks and a fisherman from the lake try to save the abbey's sacred bronze by stealing it from the melters.

Berthollet and Cézanne, Talloires and its great names

Talloires was the birthplace of one of France's greatest scientists: the chemist Claude-Louis Berthollet, on 9 December 1748. A companion of Bonaparte in Egypt and a Count of the Empire, he is notably credited with discovering the bleaching power of chlorine — the origin of "eau de Javel" (bleach). A century and a half later, it was a painter who fell under the spell of the bay: Paul Cézanne, staying at the abbey during the summer of 1896, set up his easel there to paint "Le Lac d'Annecy", now kept at the Courtauld Gallery in London. From the scientist to the painter, from the monks to the fisherman, Talloires tells its story like a tale whose thread you hold in your hands.

What to do in Talloires with the family

Talloires lends itself wonderfully to a family day by the water. From the village beach, you can rent paddleboards and kayaks to skirt the cliffs of the Roc de Chère and slip into the caves that open at water level — a mini-expedition that children adore. On foot, the trail to the Saint-Germain hermitage climbs to its viewpoint over the bay, while the shady paths of the Roc de Chère offer easy walks in the shelter of the forest. Food lovers, meanwhile, will push open the door of the abbey turned hotel-restaurant, to savour the art of living on the shores of Lake Annecy.

Practical information