Rendezvous, Mountain Views And Tiramisù
After yesterday, I was ready for a breath of fresh air. Leaving Molly sleeping peacefully in Bern, I got in a taxi (expertly ordered in German by Mitch) at the ungodly hour of 5am. I’d arranged to catch a bus back up into the Italian Mountains, to the north west of the country, not far from the Swiss border, to visit my dear school friend, Leigh Metcalfe. Going through primary school and high school together, Leigh and I met in Year 4 and I have vivid memories of a slumber party at Leigh’s place the day Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ album came out, when we danced all night and roller skated around the neighbourhood. So many fun memories!
Leigh met and fell in love with her Italian soulmate, Zac and has been living in Italy for years now. It was great to finally be able to visit.
Leigh and her good friend, English expat, Julie, met me at the bus stop in Aosta, the capital of the beautiful Valle d’Aosta region. In winter this region is famous for its slick ski slopes and resorts, with the iconic Mont Blanc and the equally famous Matterhorn, looking down imposingly over the pretty Italian valley. While the Dolomites had a distinct German influence, Valle d’Aosta has a much more Italian feel with a little French flavour. There is a local language, Patois, that sounds a bit French and apparently, dialects can change from mountain to mountain.
We had a beautiful breakfast of ‘brioche’ and coffee, this time a caffe latte (not just a glass of warm milk), before my personalised guided tour began. Julie was lots of fun and was a veritable fountain of information on everything local, having lived here now for decades. I learnt so much! For a start, they have special fighting, horned ‘Aosta Cows’ here, apparently genetically predisposed to liking a bit of argy-bargy, never shying away from an opportunity for a confrontation. The basic premise of the battle is that two cows lock horns and head butt one another until one falls over or, my preferred option, walks away. There’s a hierarchy within this little bovine community, the ‘Queen’ being the head honcho and throwing her weight around. (What a cow). The battles have been taking place for half a century and draw huge crowds.
The first item on our Terrific Tour today was a huge Roman aqueduct built in the year 3AD, during the reign of Caesar Augustus! Spanning two steep banks of the Grand Eyvia Stream, this huge stone structure, originally designed to channel water flowing off the mountains, over the top, with a covered walkway below, was a masterful piece of engineering for any age, let alone the 1st century! The internal walkway now has a glass floor - a little hairy if you don’t like heights - with cute peepholes where you can glimpse the river below. Just incredible.
Leigh and Julie then took me into the Gran Paradiso National Park, which, surrounded by enormous mountains, has an alpine botanical garden, waterfalls and lots of hiking trails for all levels. Leigh is no stranger to a beautiful hike in the mountains but super-fit Julie took her hiking to the next level (literally), pointing upwards to the tops of the tree-covered peaks, reminiscing about previous hikes where she’d had to hold onto ropes to pull herself up. Yikes! Even my new Aldi hiking shoes were no match for that.
Our rocky walk was steep (but thankfully not Edmund Hilary level) and as we walked up the tree root steps to a bridge with an epic view, we could hear the cool rush of a beautiful waterfall cascading down into an ice blue pool below. Leigh had warned me it could get cool in the mountains so we were all sporting long sleeves and long pants but working up quite a sweat. The little pool in the valley looked mighty inviting for a swim but the girls assured me it was off-limits for dipping and would be icy cold. Rather than possibly inducing hypothermia, I made do with refreshing gulps of the freshest, coldest, most delicious water from the numerous water fountains around the place. The valley had lots of shady pine trees and bushes of bright red rosehip berries, their name in Italian translating to “bum scratchers”. Apparently if they’re gobbled down without removing the seeds, you may be plagued by an embarrassing itch. Might steer clear I think.
We visited some gorgeous little towns today. They reminded me of Belle’s village in Beauty and the Beast. Known for its traditional fine lace, young girls are taught the craft from early age, their nimble fingers eventually able to handle up to 80 bobbins of thread at a time. A tad more advanced than my Knitting Nancy.
They are a talented bunch here in the Aosta Valley; impressive wood carving also a local pastime, as well as sculpture and pottery. Lillaz was full of cute little shops overflowing with delightful arts and crafts. One thing I really loved was the cheese vending machine. Packed full of delicious Italian cheeses, including fresh ricotta - yours for just a euro or two in the coin slot. How good is that?
We visited Cogne, a beautiful town in the Aosta Valley, its streets alive and bright with colourful tubs of flowers and gorgeous old houses with timber balustraded balconies and criss-crossed slate shingle rooves. There’s even a biscuit, “tegole”, named after these signature roof tiles.
Over a yummy lunch of focaccia with cheese, bresaola and rocket, Leigh and Julie taught me all the famous Italian hand signals and a few handy phrases I could pull out to sound like a local. We laughed at the Italian equivalents for some of our English sayings, like “You can’t have your cake and eat it too”. In Italy they’d say: “You want a full barrel of wine AND a drunk wife”.
We dropped Julie off and headed back to Leigh’s great apartment. I had a power nap while Zac worked his magic in the kitchen. Leigh’s dad, Brian, is staying here for three months to avoid winter in his hometown of Canberra. It was great catching up with him after so many years. Leigh’s daughter Zoe left for University in Bologna this morning but their almost-16 year-old son Leo is home. This afternoon Leo went off to train for his unusual sport, where the aim of the game is to whack a ball with a chunk-of-wood-bat, off a tee, and to try to get it as far as you can in the field. Opposing teams try to block the ball in its tracks. They use a giant tape measure to record the ball’s landing place and declare the winner. A bit of a cross between t-ball, cricket and lawn bowls maybe?
A big late afternoon thunder storm rolled in and cooled us down as we enjoyed Zac’s delicious traditional Ossobuco and the absolute BEST tiramisu I have EVER tasted.
