Jarsy is a village where I spent my summer vacation with my family. Savoie prefecture is spotted with such small villages everywhere, and there are many inns and B&Bs. My husband’s father found a cottage for this trip soon after Christmas last year!! Here people start to think about their summer plan when they are eating a Christmas dinner!!!

Leaving Paris early in the morning, we arrived at Annecy around noon. It is a 4 hours’ ride on TGV, and then we drove to Jarsy, taking one and a half hour. It was a fun ride in the nature. No buses, no trains around. All the roads meander in the mountains, so every time the car turned, a different landscape came into my sight.

The picture on the left shows Lake Annecy in the distance. We were going up the mountain. I don’t remember how many mountains we passed, but I do remember I met many cows and horses on the way. One cow was approaching me with curiosity when I got out of the car. And a few minutes later, one horse came to us gently, and my husband’s mother petted him. It is incredible that they don’t get scared by humans. I was a little scared, to be honest…

But, just in case, don’t touch the fence, because there is electricity running!

After saying goodbye to the animals, we kept driving, and here it’s our destination, Jarsy. Nothing but nature. Very quiet and calm. I seldom saw people, either. All what I could hear was the bell sounds of cows. At night, silence pervaded all around, and in the sky were a myriad of stars. I hadn’t seen so many stars that close for a long time. The last time I saw such a bright sky was maybe when I was an elementary school student. Seeing the twinkling stars, I felt that our earth was floating in space.

This is the cottage we stayed in for one week. It was newly built, so it still smelled of fresh wood. Luckily, we were the first visitors. 400 euros for one week.

Well, one problem we had was horseflies. They attacked us a lot. We bought an insecticide, but I got 3 bites. They even entered the cottage, and we all ran about! It was very funny.

For dinner, we had specialties of Savoie, that is, wine and ham. My husband’s parents found them at an open-air market. It was, of course, delicious.

This is the lunch we had: Savoie sausage and cheese. They are all from the local market.

Savoie Chocolate as a Dessert

Savoie prefecture is also well-known for its clear water. Can you see how clear from the picture?

This is the open-air market. They sell fresh vegetables and fruit. I bought a lot of apricots and melons. They are my favorite. Especially melons are good with Savoie ham!!

Savoie baby pig

Savoie baby cow

I had a really good time there with my family. These photos always remind me of the days when I was there, and I now miss the bell sounds.