Music Exchange

When I was told that I would be participating in a choir exchange, I had no idea what kind of experience I was about to have.

After an amazing week here in Granada with the choir that had come from Geneva, it was our turn, us Granadans, to pack our suitcases and get on a plane to fly to Switzerland.

Geneva is an impressive city, as well as being a beautiful place, it has a kind of magic that will overtake you and you'll find yourself always wanting to go back.

You gain a lot from going there to connect through a shared hobbie with people from another country.

We did some food tourism, culture tourism and musical tourism.

We started with the food. If there was something that caught my eye from the first moment I walked through the city's streets, it was the imposing Lake Leman and its 140 metre high Jet d'Eau.

One of the nights we were there the singers in the local choir took us to dinner in a restaurant on the lake, yes, literally on the lake. I remember it being a small barge and dock, with spectacular views of the wonderful Jet d'Eau and the historical centre of the city. What did we have to eat? Fondue, of course, but they're not like the ones you can buy pre-made in Spain from Mercadona, no, the ones in Geneva were absolutely delicious.

The great thing about going there as singers, and us both being spontaneous, fun choirs, is that every time we had any opportunity to sing, we sang. Even in the restaurant.

When I say culture tourism, I mean that, here in Geneva, there are some of the most important institutions, in my opinion, in all of Europe; the UN headquarters, the Red Cross headquarters, CERN... There are an endless number of places to visit as it is very easy and comfortable to get around the city, that are also significant in their architecture, they provide this high standard due to just how much is available to people visiting there. At the Palace of Nations we were able to see Barceló's work on the ceiling of one of the rooms there, some sculptures by a few very influential artists and we got to know a lot about how the institution functions.

All of the city's transport is really well organised and works like a dream, with one ticket, which can be bought at a few different places in the city, you can take all of the different kinds of public transport: metro, tram, the boat that crosses the lake, buses... So there is no excuse not to go to the places I mentioned before.

By this I don't mean to say that the rest of the city is ugly, quite the opposite. The architecture in the city centre is impressive, I'd even go as far to say colosal: the buildings around the lake are very elegant and classic, in keeping with a touch that is very much French.

The motivation behind our five day visit to Geneva was to sing, so we prepared a concert with a pretty wide repertoire to put on at a church in the centre of the historic centre. What a church, what a Gothic rose window... such beauty. Despite being a small size, this church has such a sense of peace and tranquillity, which is unique to Gothic churches. If you're someone who enjoys art, Geneva is the city for you.

Music brings people together, and this concert was proof of a perfect fusion of cultures from two very different countries.

As there weren't many of us, we were lucky enough to share the houses of the members of the Matices choir, so we got to see the daily customs of the people there. Our hosts took us to see something spectacular, which left me feeling great on my last day in my favourite city: the fork of the Arve and the Rhone rivers, two completely different rivers with totally opposite levels of purity. When they join together, they're still separate, creating two different coloured rivers that flow as one, it's something very unique to have seen.

The walk along the edge of the river to go to the point where the fork of the two rivers meet is very beautiful, all along it there are various places adapted for swimming during the hottest months. There's a lot of greenery and you can have a nice tranquil time there for a while, when you'll see a lot of nature and breathe a very special kind of air. Those keen on photography, like myself, will really enjoy this spot.

I can only say that I would go back a thousand times to sing a habanera in that little Gothic church if it would let me go back to feeling everything that I felt in those five days in 2013 in that dreamy city.