Mayberry Voyage: Mont Blanc and Aosta

April 9 was Easter Holiday and we decided to head towards Mont Blanc, the imposing peaks that stand between France and Italy. On clear days, we can see this Alps from our house, and it’s just 2 hour away. The drive is full of small villages nestled on green hills, and as every mile goes by, the alps grow in imposing magnificence.

Mont Blanc from our house

The pretty villages on our drive

This was a spur-of-the-moment type of trip so we didn’t have a plan. Once we started to drive up to the alps, we ended up in a toll, where we had to pay the hefty amount of 50 EU for a tunnel round-trip. The tunnel crosses right through Mont Blanc and is 11 km long, it takes about 20 minutes to cross, and at times claustrophobia kicks in. Once on the other side, we get to see a perfect view of the impressive peaks, and get to cross another country off our list, Italy.

One of the villages at the bottom of Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc from the Italian Side

We decided to go and have lunch in one of the little Italian villages nearby, and hoped on the freeway. This freeway was more likely a tunnel-way, since we had to cross over 8 tunnels, and were unable to get off until about 30 minutes later. We ended up, by chance, in a little town called Aostas. This sleepy town was settled during the Roman Empire years, and it has some old forts and ruins that date back to that time. We found a pedestrian street that had several small shops and restaurants (all mostly closed because of the holiday.) We picked a pizzeria and had one of the best artisan pizzas of our lives! Even though we were 40 minutes away from the French border, this town and the people definitely had an Italian feel. People were friendly, warm and more laid back. We finished our lunch with some authentic gelato.

Aosta

We drove around the town and visited a Catholic old cathedral, and underground compound built by the Romans in 25 BC. We headed home after, and were rather amazed that within 2 hours we had been in France, Switzerland, and Italy!