Hiking loop : balcon des Allobroges

Standing on a cliffside at the end of the Monnetier valley, Château de l'Ermitage has dominated the Genevan plain for almost five centuries. The château is believed to have been built in the early 16th century by François-Prosper de Genève-Lullin.Owned by the Dukes of Savoy, this fortress overlooking the plain was deemed sufficiently threatening by the Genevese that they decided to launch an attack on the building. On August 31, 1589, Captain Guinet and his troops captured the Château de l'Ermitage, before demolishing part of it and setting it on fire. The ruins remained untouched for almost three centuries. In 1855, Messrs Bovet and de Mandrot purchased the Hermitage ruins and grounds. On the remains of the feudal keep, they built a manor house flanked by turrets, which became a hotel-pension with a breathtaking view of Geneva and Lake Geneva. Château de l'Ermitage came very close to destruction at the end of the 20th century. Ransacked and squatted, it was finally bought by a local entrepreneur.

At the summit of the Petit Salève, traces of a fortified enclosure can still be seen. This is an Allobroge camp dating from the 5th to 1st centuries BC.This defensive site, partly surrounded by natural cliffs, is completed by "ramparts" made of earthen embankments. The Allobroges were Gauls who populated the territory corresponding to historic Savoie. In the 1st century B.C., the Romans appropriated the camp and turned it into a much smaller Oppidum than Geneva. It was a strategic location, overlooking the Lake Geneva basin and traffic routes: the Roman bridge at Etrembières over the Arve and the roads on either side of the Salève and on the ridge.