The Téléphérique climbs up to the Fort de la Bastille above Grenoble
Jesus watching over us in one of the churches
Finding great food, despite all the closed restaurants
Back in Paris, when we were going over our itinerary with a friend, she sneered when we mentioned Grenoble, pointing out that it was very industrial, or something along those lines. That might have given us a bit of pause, but our itinerary was pretty baked in by then. And Grenoble did help break up our travels from Chamonix toward Provence. And we like to see different places even if they are not always perfect.
So we made a short stop here anyway, getting a glimpse of the most populous city of the French Alps. Grenoble offered a few charms, but it did feel like a place whose heyday was in the rear view mirror by half a century or so.
The remarkable 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris have had quite a presence throughout our trip here. And we just left Chamonix, which was celebrating the centennial of the first ever Winter Olympics there. So it was fitting to stop in Grenoble, where the Winter Olympics of 1968 are still quite a point of pride. Maybe even the heyday that has since been elusive.
Our hotel was something of a monument to those heady days of ’68. Memorabilia was everywhere. The Olympic cauldron was just steps outside the front door, at the entrance to a somewhat shabby park.
The rest of the city did have a bit of a run-down look. It didn’t help that we were here on a Sunday and a Monday. It’s frequently the case that French cities are super shut down on Sundays. And restaurants are often even closed on Mondays as well. But here in Grenoble, practically everything seemed to be closed even all day Monday. Made the place feel like a ghost town. I’m not going to insist anyone put Grenoble on their must-see list for a holiday in France. But we managed to find a few nice spots and put away some good food. So now we’ll head into Provence, glad to have made a brief acquaintance with this alpine capital.
Looking down at the city center
The historic center of the city had some elegance, though it was weirdly quiet on a Monday morning
It wasn’t easy to find a lunch spot on a Monday, but we ended up in a friendly place on a square that had kind of a shabby chic personality
Jim at work in our hotel room, which was loaded up with memorabilia from the ’68 Winter Olympics
Just outside our front door was the Olympic cauldron, at the entrance to a park that was a little run down
Grenoble has more than its share of this kind of 60s urban renewal kind of architecture
Something prettier — octopus in a fresh pea sauce with hazelnuts
And there’s old world charm to be found
An elegant park in the old part of town
Riding the Téléphérique
The Isère river and the mountains that ring Grenoble