Switzerland Guide
Geneva
The Old Town
The atmospheric Old Town is characterized by quiet, cobbled streets and tall, shuttered, grey-stone houses. Entering along Rue St-Léger you arrive at the oddly split-level Place du Bourg-de-Four, a marketplace since medieval times, these days lined with relaxed terrace cafés. From here, Rue Fontaine descends to the north to Temple de la Madeleine, a picturesque Gothic church that has clung on to its Romanesque tower, but if you head up the other way on Rue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, you'll come to Place de la Taconnerie, dominated by the Cathédrale St-PierreCathédrale St-Pierre. Tucked on your right is the Auditoire de Calvin, a thirteenth-century chapel. Following Geneva's acceptance of the Reformation, refugees flooded into the city from all over Europe and, in the knowledge that most of them spoke no French, Calvin gave this chapel to the refugees to worship in their own languages – Geneva's first international building.
About 100m from here is Grand-Rue, birthplace of Rousseau, and parallel to it, Rue des Granges, named "Street of Barns" in response to the huge mansions built in the eighteenth century to house Geneva's wealthiest residents. Looming over the junction here is the Hôtel-de-Ville, ranged around an internal arcaded courtyard from where it's easy to spot the different styles of the building – going counterclockwise, the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ahead is the Alabama Room, where the Geneva Convention was signed by sixteen countries in 1864. The League of Nations also gathered here for the first time in 1920. Behind the building is the lovely Promenade de la Treille, with a view over the city framed by chestnut trees and the longest wooden bench in the world, at 126m. Opening time: DailyPrice: Free