Father's Day in Cogne

Woke up to the sounds of the cowbells in the pasture on the other side of the meadow.  It was another sunny day, but the visibility this morning was breathtaking.  I don't know how many pictures we took of the views of the Gran Paradiso vistas! (probably too many are included here, but it was just too dramatic to resist!).

Breakfast was a very nice buffet in the main dining room.  We both probably ate too much, but it was irresistable.  We agreed that the best antidote to this would be a morning walk around the meadow and into town. This led to another 'avalanche' of wildflower photographs!

It was wonderful to explore the town, as there was more to it than we had seen from the main street.  It was also great to see so many people out and about.......most everyone involved in hiking.  The staff in the dining room said this was the best 'weather' day in weeks and families love to get out and about on weekends.  There is a large parking lot in the lower village and Cogne is recognized as one of the best hiking base villages.......so we say quite a few 'healthy and energized' people.  It made us feel totally out of shape and overweight.  These people are extraordinarily fit!

We headed back to the hotel around noon, planning to rest out a bit and then figure out what to do for lunch.  We moved into our seats on the balcony and were immediately confronted with the wonderful aroma of a wood fire and grill station set up on the dining terrace below.  The smell was too much to resist so we decided to eat at the hotel ( so much for a small sandwich in the local cafe!).  

As we were getting ready to head down, Andrea gave me an envelope with a card.  I have to admit I was totally caught off guard........as I had no recollection that today was Father's Day!  It was a very nice, but somewhat embarrassing, start to a Sunday celebration.

We were able to get a table on the terrace and were informed that they were grilling a special Aosta Angus Entrecote......a special, local steak.  We decided to splurge for Father's Day and ordered two of them.  What an amazing meal.  I also had an interesting chat with the chef who was doing the cooking on a custom wood fire grill station......quite a contraption!

After lunch we debated a rest but decided to head out again as we had two more destinations we wanted to see in the area.  

The first was an Alpine 'giardino botanical' that was about 3 km up the valley in the small village of Valnontey. The town itself turned out to be more of an attraction than the garden.  It was a cluster of about 15 buildings that clearly was serving as another base camp for the hiking community.  There were a couple of small hotels and restaurants, the majority of which were in renovated and converted old farm buildings.  While the life of the village was clearly a weekend occasion, it was a great place to visit.  We went for a long walk up to find the botanical gardens, but the view was better than the plants!

FOLLOWING THE RIVER

VIEWS FROM THE HILLSIDE

On they way back down into Cogne (the road went very close to the river) we came around a corner and in a clearing by the road saw 4 Ibex.  They looked like a cross between a small deer and an antelope.  The Ibex is apparently common in the area and are protected in the national park.

FORGOT THE ALPINE COWS!
There were many cows in the pastures around Cogne.....and the sound of the constant bells ringing (softly in the background) was rather mezmerizing.  Quite friendly and content.......eating all the meadow grass and wildflowers!

After that we went back through Cogne and headed east to the town of Lillaz.  We were trying to get to a spectacular water fall.  We found a parking space in the village and wandered around looking for the trail and realized we had followed a couple in the wrong direction......to see a new apartment building under construction on the wrong side of the river.  We managed to get back on track and were rerouted through the village, but by the time we saw where the falls were, we decided to spare our legs the extra effort!  The falls we had seen on Saturday were actually more spectcular. 

We headed back to the hotel and collapsed on our chaises on the balcony!  Over the course of the afternoon, we had found even more amazing wildflowers along our extended walks......see below!

For dinner we decided to head back to the Brasserie.  Having had such a good meal for lunch at the hotel, we thought we would slow down a bit with the food!  The staff at the Brasserie had been very nice the night before, and they were even more talkative once they saw us again.  It was much quieter and very enjoyable, again!

Back at the hotel around 10:00 (and still light out!), we stopped in the bar and asked for the 'passito' cordial that we had tried in Sinio.  What we got was actually a much richer, redder version......which we took up to the balcony.......chilly, but nice in our robes (not shown here!). 

During the night, we kept hearing 1 or 2 dogs barking in the distance.  We were able to track the sounds to the fields where the cows had been grazing that afternoon.  We are not sure, but clearly these were herding dogs who spent the night in the pasture protecting the cows........who knows what that might have been about?