Geneva Walking Tour: A Guide to the City’s Vices and Virtues

Geneva is a place where, as you’ll soon discover, sins and virtues often go hand in hand. On this walking tour, you’ll hear stories of the remarkable people who left their mark on the city, and find out about their virtues and vices too. You’ll also hear about some of the most important historical events that have shaped the city.

Starting in front of the Monument à l’Impératrice Sissi (the statue of Empress Sissi), you’ll make your way over Pont des Bergues to Île Rousseau (Rousseau Island). There, I’ll reveal a few inconvenient truths about Geneva-born philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau by quoting a few of his own statements, which may make you reconsider how virtuous he really was.

We’ll then wind our way further into the city to see some of its famous and lesser-known sites including Palais de Justice (a historical courtroom), St Pierre Cathedral, L’Ancien Arsenal museum, and the Paul Landowski Reformation Wall. Along the way, I’ll tell you how the founder of The Red Cross really lived, why humanist Michael Servetus was executed, and why John Calvin was widely criticized.

Before completing the tour in front of the Fontaine de l'Escalade, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Find out why Empress Elisabeth ”Sissi”was stabbed to death by an anarchist
• Hear how the sculpture Clementine by sculptor Heinz Schwarz became Geneva’s symbol for justice, while you pass through Place du Bourg de Four Square
• Decipher the symbolism around the Brunswick Monument and the Duke of Brunswick’s sarcophagus
• Discover when and why Geneva’s Monument National was created
• See Geneva’s Flower Clock

This two-hour tour uses carefully selected facts, citations, and extracts from letters to bring a side of Geneva’s history to light that you won’t find in guidebooks.