Across The Mountains; And Back Again

We wanted to start the Italian Riviera at the border and so took a little-used road from near Cuneo across the mountains, into France, then back briefly into Italy, and then back to Menton, where we filled-up with French diesel (currently running about a buck cheaper than the Italian). It was an interesting start to our Italian Riviera drive.

Before we got to the pass, we stopped at one of the best
junk stores we have seen

Everything arranged in quite an orderly fashion

Thus, including some nice Murano

And thus

And thus

The price on this really nice bar set dropped from 700 to
200 euros; and probably would have dropped a bit more had
I shown real interest

The tunnel from Italy to France is a one-lane, circulation
alternee; I think we are in the hinterlands of both countries

In the tunnel

After the tunnel, the road dropped down through many miles
of perhaps the most beautiful gorge we have seen, that of
the La Roya river

Thus, through steep high walls

Creating beautiful pools

Further down, more hill towns

Until finally we are in Menton

Having lunch

Close by some nice rigs

And ready to begin our drive

Maritime Alps

The TI lady in Cuneo also gave us a ton of useful information (in English too) about the nearby Maritime Alps National Park. We had been near the Maritime Alps on the French side several times, but had never ventured into them before. After our food over-indulgences of the last week, we decided a day or so of strenuous hiking might be a good thing, so we headed up the twisty climbing road into the park and to the end of the road, more or less, at Terme di Valdieri. Here, at about 4,000 feet, we found a visitor center, trailheads, a bar, religious shrines, and a free camper sosta just for us. The next day we had one of our best day hikes ever, to a beautiful high meadow and refuge. We vowed to get back to this park...perhaps earlier in September next time.

Our site at Terme di Valdieri

One of the shrines we parked next to

The chapel of San Giovanni

The trail up the highest parts of the Valle Gesso followed
this pretty creek and its many pools; "riserva da pesca"

The scenery pretty much like this, yes, with trees here and
there going yellow...

After a thousand feet and 3-4 miles, the trail opens up to a
big high beautiful meadow, and this, the king's former hunting
lodge, now a refuge, restaurant, and bar

A peek into one of the double rooms

The road to the refuge in the winter of 2008-2009; these
mountains are not very high, but they got a lot of moisture

We rested, had a cup of coffee, read the various historical
exhibits, and then headed back down the beautiful meadow
and the trail

More of the scenery...rock on all sides

Haze tricks

The sun peeks over 

Maritime and alpine are perhaps not the best
combination for aviation...a marker of crashes
in the Valle Gesso since 1943

Cuneo

We wanted to drive the Italian Riviera, and that meant setting a course past or through Turin and then southwest across the Maritime Alps toward Menton, eastern-most on France's Mediterranean coast. Turin, as we passed by, was shrouded (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk) in the thickest haze I have seen since India. We at first wondered whether it was industrial pollution--Turin is home to Fiat, among other big industries--but encountered the same haze all the way across the mountains, three days later, and all along the Mediterranean. In any case, Vicki was interested in the slow food aspects of Turin, but we decided not to undertake driving downtown in the big city. Instead we stopped at a big Carrefours southwest of town and enjoyed one of our best superhipermercado shopping experiences so far. It was an enormous store, packed with more kinds and varieties of Italian foods than we have seen elsewhere. We stocked up a bit, then headed on to Cuneo, a smaller city on down the road, home to a big square and a big market, and more.

One of Cuneo's many covered arcades

A smidgeon of the square; the food market was over, but the
garment and household goods market was still going strong
in the afternoon sun; the TI lady later told us the garment
market was largely for the French, who came over the
mountains to shop; the garments were of better quality than
we're accustomed to seeing in street markets, but...

Probably not what the French were looking for

Another reason for coming to Cuneo was the Arione Bar
and Confectionary...

This where rum- and liqueur-filled chocolate was invented

Always looking for the liquor/literary connection, we are

Arione interior

Ditto, bar

The originals...a euro each or four for three euros; this is not
slow food, but the more you eat, the slower you will be
moving...

We also peeked inside the big downtown
church

Definitely not Gothic, we decided

Although the Roman centurion Tinker Bell
was interesting

What would Jesus wear? Vicki asked (continuing the
religious thread)

A nice little city, with an interesting downtown

Plus you really have to like a place that lists
all 19 of its libraries on a kiosk outside city
hall

Val d'Aosta Castles

The Valle d'Aosta boasts more than 150 castles. We have looked at and photographed several in prior passages, but actually stopped at the Castello di Fenis and photographed a couple others...

The Castello Aymaville

The Castello di Fenis, which we toured (in Italian; no fotos);
13th-15th century; major restoration in the 1930s

Well, I got a few

In the courtyard; frescoes everywhere by Giacomo Jaquerio;
not world-class paintings, but very interesting and relatively
early

View from inside the curtain

Tower view

Not a castle: the round-about that leads up to Breuil/Cervino:
the Matterhorn, or Monte Cervino, as the Italians call it; we
visited there a few years back

Further down the valley, Castillo Bard