Haute-Savoie

So Olivier, before we talk about everything you've built, I want to start with where you come from, something I love to do with my guest.

You were born in nineteen seventy-four in Annemasse in Haute-Savoie on the Swiss border, far from the salon of Paris finance.

[laughs] No family fortune, no inheritance, no network handed to you.

Everything you built, you built it from scratch.

So can you take us back to that childhood? What were the values and the conversations that shaped you at the family dinner table, at school in those, uh, early years, and what did young Olivier learn there that is still sitting with you today?

I was born in nineteen seventy-four in Annemasse in Haute-Savoie, right on the Swiss border, far from Paris, far from the salon.

My parents were entrepreneurs of everyday life.

My mother ran clothing shops in France and Switzerland.

I like to call it Hallowistmas, the longest of all seasons at DLP.

But fall, have you not escaped from under your creaky stairs today, Beth? Out where you are, I think in the Haute Savoie, it is still practically boiling.

You're sitting there dressed like it's Thanksgiving in Haute, Nebraska.

Yeah, well, you know, I'm running on vibes here, not the slavery of the thermostat.

This won't take long.

During the war, you lived in Annecy in Haute Savoie, right?

Why, do you ask?

Believe me, I got a good reason.

Your brother's name?

He had to bail out over occupied France during the war.

He landed in Haute Savoie.

He was befriended by a family named Duval.

[laughs]

Uh, she, she died at the age of 81 and was buried in a small, small cemetery in the town Bossey, which is in the Alps, where she was living in the Haute-Savoie, and I believe that one of her daughters actually carried on a lot of her work.

I'm gonna have to look up the Quart Monde, 'cause I've heard the expression.

Yeah.

In this final episode of the summer season, we continue where we left off on that great September Alpine road trip heading from Lake Geneva to the Southern Alps.

Having already covered the Haute Savoie and the Beaufortaine in the first part of this epic journey, in this final part I explore the Tarentais and Moraine valleys before crossing into the Southern Alps and finishing in the Cueras.

having departed beaufort and explored the roseland reservoir at the end of part one once more on the road the route then passes across the corneille de roseland which sits at an elevation of nineteen hundred and sixty eight meters before descending down toward bourg st maurice The Cormier, normally open from June until the end of October, is one of the most enjoyable driving sections on the route.

If the weather is poor, it's worth staying another night in Beaufort rather than crossing the Cormier in cloud and heavy rain.

Uh, and you know, Isère especially is beautiful.

Haute-Savoie, all of those areas are just very, very special, and the food is so unique and so different.

I mean, tartiflette is one of the great dishes-

[laughs]

Hello and welcome everyone to episode 246 of the dedicated DLP podcast celebrating Disneyland Paris since 2011.

I am your host, Beth, coming to you from a slightly soggy and increasingly autumn-like Haute-Savoie.

Now, if you're listening to this on the release day, it is September, which means one very big thing here in France.

It is La Rentrée.

As with every pass in this episode though, its live status and the weather should be checked before setting out.

Descending from the pass brings you into one of the most attractive traditional resort villages in the Haute-Savoie, that of Grand-Bernard.

Set at an altitude of 1,000 metres and enjoying 90 kilometres of local slopes that increase to 220 kilometres when added with Manigaud and La Clouse, The centre contains a church, village square and old wooden chalets, while the surrounding valley remains closely connected to the farming and production of Reblechon cheese.

Le Grand Bernard earns its place as a recommendation to visit as it combines a strong sense of local life with the facilities of an established mountain destination.