Il Viaggio di Marco a Italia

Monks And The French Alps

31 Luglio 2005
On Sunday, we decided to hike up 1700' up the ancient mostly cobblestoned mule trail to the Sacra Di San Michele. It's a monastery perched atop Monte Pirchiriano at 3000' ASL. It was built in the 10th century. Umberto Eco's book "The Name Of The Rose" is set there. We got there right at 1:0PM and as we walked up to the huge Zodiac door, it mysteriously closed and a voice from above us said, "We open again at 2:30". Of course, the voice was in Italian, but we got the idea.

Here are some pictures from our walk.


Sacra di San Michele From The bottom (Avigliona).

Sacra di San Michele From The bottom (Avigliona).

The Ancient Cobblestone path up. It's about 2.5 miles to la sommita'.

A small collection of houses about halfway up.

Almost there and it's looking well worth it!

We reach the top (and I point out our goal).

I point to France.

The View From Outside The Door.

The View Back Towards Torino

After the monastery, we decided to drive up into France to an old resort town (now deserted) called Gran Croix. It turned out to be quite picturesque and had a far number of sunbathers and vacationers. The drive up was spectacular and very steep. I was imagining going up it on my bike. It think it would take over a day to make the climb.

Pics of Francia:


The French Alps

The French Alps

The Old Train Tunnel Over the Pass

Here's a piece of the road up to the top.

The Old Church at Grand Croix.

At Grand Croix, some old ruins are all that's left of the village.

Grand Croix Storico E I Fiori

The Lake At Grand Croix. A large rock dam (left) creates the lake.

Dipping In The French Alps

Tourists Taking Pictures

After that, we headed back to Torino. I hung out Monday there and took the train back to Tuscany on Tueday. The train travelled down the west coast to Pisa and then across to Florence and on down the Arno to Figline.

It was a great trip. Kerri and Neil are coming to visit me this weekend and we're be heading into Florence, so I'll finally get to the Uffizi.

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