Montreux and our base for the next three days. We stayed at the lovely Hotel Eden Palace au Lac on the shores of Lake Geneva. There are some stunning views looking across the lake to the French Alps and the shoreline walk from the hotel was a brilliant place to photograph 'sunsets'.

The Lake forms an arc shape bordered by the Jura Mountains to the west, the French Alps to the south and the Mittelland to the north east. Lake Geneva is the largest lake in the Alps. Whjile most of the southern shore is French territory, the greater part of the lake lies within Switzerland. The shores are dotted with towns and villages, many of which are departure points for boat trips on the lake. This area is very much wine country, with vineyards spread around the full sweep of the lakeshore and carpeting the lower slopes which rise behind.

Hundreds of notable writers, artists, musicians and poets have visited Lake Geneva over the centuries and the lake was a notable stopping off point during the 19th century for those taking the ‘Grand Tour of Europe’ along with Paris, Florence and Vienna.

The Lake has had various names over the centuries. The Romans called it Lacus Lemanus, in the Middle Ages it was known as the Lac de Lausanne. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries when Geneva rose to world fame it was called Lac de Geneve, although a few maps named it Lac d’Ouchy. These days it has reverted back to its Roman name of Lac Leman, despite still being called Lake Geneva in English. Aside from the people working on the lakes’ many ferry and boat services, there are some 150 French and Swiss families currently earning their living on the water by fishing for Perch, Trout, Pike and more, selling the majority of their catch directly to the local restaurants and supermarkets in the shoreline towns.