THE ITALIAN ALPS

                                          THE ITALIAN ALPS

            The alpine village of Cogne, Italy is nestled in the Italian Alps at the edge of Gran Paridiso National Park. Cogne is a delightful little village of 1500 people. There are 32 small family-owned hotels with 28-38 rooms .The village first found prosperity seven centuries ago with magnetite (iron ore) mining, an industry that once supported more than 20,000 Valdostans in the valley below.

            After the closing of the mine, the village nearly became a ghost town until it started attracting visitors and capitalizing on skiing, hiking and other outdoor sports. The village has strict building codes. There is a moratorium on building anything more in the park. Eighty percent of the village and its buildings are owned by local residents. The local dialect is called patois, which is a derivative of French.

            The name Cogne comes from the word "coin" (corner) because of its shape. One of the largest municipalities in the Valle, it is located in the southern part of the region. The town, surrounded by pine, larch and fir forests, is framed by mountains in the background. Rocks and glaciers are colored by rhododendron, juniper, blueberries and alders. The diverse fauna is protected by the Park.

            There are over 80 kilometers of cross country ski trails and 9 kilometers of Alpine ski tracks. Rock climbing is a popular sport and fully equipped area shelters are available. In winter, Cogne is the best spot in the Valle  for cross-country skiing, and was in the running to host the event for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics. In summer, it is a gateway to the Gran Paradiso for thousands of hikers and climbers.  

            They still make exquisite hand made lace in the village.  Rather unusual wood carvings are available also. The entire village is cobbled with 3-4” square grey granite cobble stones that are easy to walk on. The village is up a few feet from the level of the river, so it was always a walk down to the big parking lot that served as a bus stop. Early each day we took a local bus to our hike starting location---and often walked back to town for lunch.

            Lillaz (5304’) was a hamlet where we started walking through a nice park stopping periodically for a geology lesson.   We followed the Urtier River through wooded areas that eventually led to waterfalls. There were several running and large rocks provided steps on a path up to the highest 492-feet fall.  After much picture taking we hiked down on the other side of the falls to walk through  pine forest before picking up a 6-K trail along the river back to Cogne. The sound of the water was a nice diversion while walking on a lovely sunny clear day.

            The hamlet of Gimillan (5900’), one of the Valley’s most renowned resorts, is built on a terrace. It is a  frazione, a type of territorial subdivision, in the Province of Aosta, Usually sunny, it provides a wonderful view of the Gran Paradiso chain and of Cogne center. Any season is good in the Italian Alps, and this smallest region of Italy is known for its friendly hospitality and delicious cuisine. 

            The hamlet of Valnontey lies totally within the boundaries of the park. We hiked along the river of the same name, then spent a couple hours playing mountain goat over a narrow  undulating trail full of tree roots and rocks through coniferous and larch tree forests. It was a good cardiac workout as I huffed and puffed my way along.  Believe me our walking sticks became our best friend! We stopped in a couple of lovely meadows where we saw chamois and during the morning we saw a good dozen of them grazing. Of the elk family they are about the size of a goat. We also saw and watched a family of marmots. They burrow like prairie dogs and are fun to watch.

            All through the mountains on our Alps hiking trip we noticed an unusual structure over various parts of some roads. Some were long enough to simulate a tunnel, but they were open on the down side and supported by a post every few feet. The mountain side of the structure seemed to meld into the roadside, and the roof slanted ever so slightly toward the opposite side . After inquiry, I learned they let an avalanche continue past the road with all the snow dropping over the edge. It kept the roads clear in avalanche prone areas. Clever and simple solution!

    It was a wonderful, fun time in this spectacular corner of Italy!

           

AUSTRALIA'S GHAN TRAIN

                                     An Interesting Night

We took the Ghan train from Adelaide for a 970-mile overnight ride through the outback to Alice Springs. Waiting to board the train we watched all the windows being cleaned so we’d have nice clear views. Afghani camel trains, carrying supplies, made the long 970-mile trek between the two cities for many years, thus the name Ghan Train. A paved road did not exist until 1980.

We were delighted to learn that only one of us was booked into a double sleeper cabin. That meant that neither of us had to climb up into the top bunk and it gave us a lot more room. Our cabins were located just about midway from the bathrooms on either end of the train.

The train traveled over level ground in the center of the country. After the wheat fields of the Flinders Range, it was flat expanses of salt bush. Flat, flat, flat!

We bought a bottle of wine before boarding the train. Since we left Adelaide very late afternoon, we decided to open the wine before dinner. I have to tell you it was the first and last time I ever drank wine out of a Styrofoam cup---but it was all we had and the good Girl Scout in me said just make do!

Dinner on the train was good, and served in style.

     The evening on the train was a good time to learn a bit more about the land Down Under. We agreed Australia is a land of awesome natural wonders, vibrant contrasts, friendly people, sophisticated cities, exotic and unique wildlife and has a short but interesting history as a nation.

The county’s bush ballads and folk tales tell the story of the perseverance of farmhands, miners, and sheep shearers to build a nation in a challenging environment. It is the only nation in the world that covers an entire continent, and is the world’s sixth largest country in land area. It is the flattest, smallest and second driest continent (after Antarctica).

            Most of the train ride took place while we were sleeping, but I wager we missed little interesting scenery. Only an overnight bag was allowed on the train as all other luggage was put in a separate train car.

            We had breakfast on the train and arrived in Alice Springs 9:40 AM. Luggage was off loaded in a timely manner and we were actually at our motel at 10 AM.

            Alice Springs is small and the motel was exactly that, although clean and adequate. There was little choice in accommodations, but we knew we’d be back in wonderful small boutique hotels in a couple of days.

            The city was originally named Stuart after an explorer, but was renamed Alice Springs after Alice Todd, the wife of the telegraph station building project foreman. In 1939 the population was 700, today it is 26,000 give or take, and it is the center for Aboriginal artworks, and base camp for Outback travelers.

            Alice Springs started out as a cattle town, and as late as the 1970s the city still had a Wild West image. It now survives on the tourist trade. In the Northern Territory, twice the size of Texas, the 178,000 people are outnumbered by sheep and rivaled by kangaroos, dingoes and Afghan camels. There were at the time of my visit  1600 Americans living in Alice Springs, most involved in the NASA tracking station at Pine Gap.  Aborigines make up 20% of the city’s population.