Making the Most-a of My Time In Aosta!
We were so busy sight-seeing in the beautiful valley yesterday, I hadn’t yet explored Leigh’s own little village of Saint-Vincent, so after a delicious breakfast of toast and jam (not very Italian I know), we set off on foot into the village. Leigh has a friend of 20 years - Carmen - who she meets for coffee every morning, before work. This morning, I was lucky enough to tag along. Carmen was lovely but didn’t speak a word of English so we got by using the wonderful invention of Google Translate. Carmen works in a dental practice and besides actually diagnosing cavities, she does just about everything else in the practice, from booking appointments to buying the toothpaste. She’s a busy woman!
On my last day in Italy, I’ve finally worked out how to order a flat white (ish). It’s an Americana, which is a shot of espresso in a big cup, with boiling water on the side, and a little jug of cold milk. So you pour the boiling water into the cup, on top of the espresso shot and then add the milk and BINGO, you’ve got something like a flat white, sort of. At least it gets you a cup bigger than the usual Italian coffee cup (one that would look more at home at a doll’s tea party).
It was fun walking around town with Leigh. She knows absolutely everybody! It was a string of one “bongiorno” after another as she smiled and greeted all the passers by, knowing each one by name, making time for a quick chat with all the shopkeepers on our route, including the lolly shop lady and the two old blokes spending their morning meticulously brushing the dirt of their wild mountain porcini mushrooms. It seems like such a great tightly knit community.
Leigh was my private tour guide today and walked me up to the ‘Terme’, where natural spring water bubbles up from the ground. They have built a big spa resort, taking advantage of the natural pools, attracting health nuts and those searching for the water’s natural powers of healing, from far and wide. Apparently in the 1920s, it was known as the Riviera of the Alps. Cannes eat your heart out.
We also walked along Saint-Vincent’s answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where famous actors and directors have their handprints along the top of a wall. It was a shame I’d never heard of any of them.
My ever informative friend also told me about a mammoth pilgrimage some choose to take, from Canterbury in England, down to Rome - the Via Francigena. It sounds pretty famous so I probably should have heard of it; happening since the fourth century! Those brave/silly enough to undertake the staggering 1900km (I’d be staggering after walking that far) carry special ‘pilgrim passports’ where they get stamps at regular intervals to prove they’ve made the journey (ie prove how brave/silly they are). Saint-Vincent is officially on the Via Francegina route and we saw all the signs and a passport office displaying the signature little yellow pilgrim with his knapsack and stick.
Next, we got a dose of medieval history with a visit to the amazing town fort, the Fortress of Bard, unmissable on the hill at the entrance to the Aosta Valley. Built in the 1830s, this incredible feat of engineering is reached by wandering through the ‘borg’ - charming little streets of shops and houses in the fort’s grounds, and then up several elevators (I lost count of how many). The fort was also the location for the filming of Avengers movie, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, in which Leigh was an extra! (Autographs available on request).
Views from the top were spectacular, down over the Dora River and the town of Saint-Vincent and stretching right across the breadth of the valley, with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains and valleys, visibility almost all the way to France.
There was a really interesting and eclectic Alpine Museum inside the fort too, highlighting the effect of climate change on the glaciers and a history of mountain climbing in the Alps. Those blokes did it tough in the early days, dressed more appropriately for Sunday lunch, in suits and pork pie hats, than for scaling towering monster mountains. They didn’t even wear gloves.
After all that exploring, we popped home for some lunch and a tasty Italian treat I can honestly say I’ve never eaten before. If I saw it on a menu: ‘pork lard on fruit bread with honey’, it’s probably not something I’d rush to order. Lard has old-school connotations doesn’t it? Like something Mother Hubbard might have had in her cupboard (before it was bare of course). It doesn’t really sound like it fits neatly into the healthy eating pyramid; a sometimes food if ever I’ve seen one. It was actually surprisingly delicious. Cured and cut into wispy thin white strips, it could’ve been any kind of cold sandwich meat. Not too bad at all.
After lunch, continuing on our historical trail, Leigh took me and her dad out to the Roman Theatre, because let’s face it, every little Italian village has some incredibly cool Roman ruins in their backyard. The theatre was really amazing, so tall, with some parts reconstructed. Leigh said they use the area now for concerts and shows in summer, lighting it up with coloured lights and hosting Christmas markets in the winter. It’s so impressive. A big proportion of the Roman wall is also still standing and in phenomenal condition, with the original, first century, arched entrance to the city still standing proud and fully intact. Built to last!
Leigh’s dad was so lovely and bought me a little souvenir from the Aosta Valley and Leigh got me some roof-tile biscuits, ‘tagole’ to take back and share with Molly. We had an aperitivo at a great little bar, that came with some sesame bruschetta, chips and carrot sticks, all on the house!
I boarded my bus, farewelled Leigh and found myself seated in the back row wedged between to young guys, playing (unintentional) corners for the next 3 hours. There was a bit of excitement when we reached the Swiss border. Sirens rang out around us as menacing-looking, uniformed police boarded the bus, walking up and down to collect all of our passports. They then hopped back on the bus with a big, mangy sniffer dog, who stuck his snout in backpacks and whiffed us all thoroughly. I got the shock of my life when he let out a bark and jumped on my lap! My bag was searched consequently but thankfully I was let off the hook. Maybe he was after a biscuit?
