The Blue Grotto. A stay on the blue shores of Lake Geneva, in the heart of the Alps.

A stay at La Grotte Bleue
You push the door of the top floor and you arrive at my home, in the cave district of Evian-les-bains, the world capital of pure waters and hydrotherapy. I am an architect and the Blue Grotto is a living apartment that I occupy most of the time. That's why it is perfectly equipped and designed with care. A small building of only three apartments, here, no hotel corridors, no anonymous neighbours: just the feeling of arriving at home, high up, where light enters from all sides. On the coffee table, a bottle of wine is already waiting for you. The journey begins with a drink, facing the lake.

The space, first
What grabs you first is the size. A huge open living room-kitchen of 55 m² that breathes, without partitions to curb the gaze or the light. The light wood parquet runs from one end of the room to the other, warm underfoot, and catches the golden reflections of the setting sun. In the background, the wall of a deep Klein blue, this "dimensional" blue of which the artist spoke, sets the tone: elegant, vibrant, soothing at the same time. Around it, light woods, black metal, clean white armchairs, a Vertigo pendant lamp that draws the ceiling like a line of charcoal. A turntable awaits the next vinyl.

It's an interior composed like a score. Nothing is left to chance, and yet everything invites you to sit down, to slow down. You immediately feel good there.

The kitchen, beating heart
The open kitchen is one with the living room. You can cook with a flame, gas cooking, that of real cooks, precise and lively. The bar extends the worktop: it's where you lean on your elbows for an aperitif while dinner simmers, where you put the world to rights with a drink in hand, where the evening goes on without you realising it. Receiving, meeting, sharing: the apartment is made for that.

Work or relax, as you wish
Three wooden desks are spread throughout the apartment. Enough to settle down for a quiet day of work, write, read, or simply put down your computer in front of the greenery. For those who come to Evian for major international events, congresses and meetings on the shores of Lake Geneva, it is a refined and discreet pied-à-terre, designed to combine concentration and the art of living.PGJyPg
And when the evening comes, the Home Cinema takes over. Dim lights, large screen, Klein blue that melts into the darkness: you can settle down for a film as if you were in a private club, a thousand miles away from the hustle and bustle.

The configuration of the rooms
Two bedrooms welcome your nights, in the same spirit of elegant sobriety as the rest of the accommodation. Neat beds, natural materials, soft light in the morning. You sleep in the silence of the heights, lulled by the fresh air that comes down from the mountains and rises from the lake.

Amenities
Everything has been thought out so that nothing is missing:PGJyPg
Fully equipped open kitchen, gas cooking
Built-in bar for aperitifs and long evenings
Home Cinema for film nights
Music corner with turntable
Three wooden desks for working or creating
Light wood flooring throughout living room
Balconies open onto the greenery of the garden and another onto the infinity of the lake.
Wi-Fi, storage space and the comfort of a carefully inhabited home
Welcome bottle of wine on arrival
Outside: the zen garden and the sea air
At the foot of the building, a shared zen garden invites you to take a break. A few steps outside are enough to find peace and quiet: a peaceful corner of greenery, in the shade, far from the noise. And all around, the air. The air of the lake and that of the mountains, this particular breath of Evian where the water and the peaks respond to each other. On the balcony, you follow the water of Lake Geneva which changes colour every hour, to the pebbles, to the Swiss shore opposite.

What we like here
What we love above all is the light, generous, moving, which transforms the walls throughout the day. It's the space, these 55 m² open space where you can move around freely. It's the air of the lake and the mountains that enters through the windows. It's the discreet elegance of every detail, the Klein blue that watches over the room, the turntable that turns. And it's that first glass of wine, placed there for you, that says the essential: here, we take the time to receive well.

Evian, and everything around it
Evian, is first and foremost Lake Geneva, swimming, sailing, terraces at sunset, long walks by the water. It's a spa town with chic, elegant and quiet charm, where you can stroll between gardens and beautiful architecture.These are the mountains nearby: the peaks can be discovered in a few minutes' drive, and in winter, the resorts of the Portes du Soleil stretch their slopes: the first is 15 minutes away by car. And it's Switzerland, just opposite: Geneva and Lausanne within boat or car distance, for a city break or a dinner on the other side of the water.

A lake, mountains, two countries, a hushed and refined atmosphere: Evian has that extra soul that few destinations offer. The Blue Grotto is the refuge, up there, on the top floor, where the light never stops.