Underrated, Silky Châteauneuf-du-Pape

We arrived in Rhône on Sunday evening. The weather here is warm, the air smells of lavender, and the sun sets after 9pm. The Southern Rhône boasts an impressive collection of winemaking towns, but the jewel of the crown is Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Made famous by French popes in the 14th century, and then again by Robert Parker in the 1980s, the area is rich with winemaking history.

[TravelBlog] Post Nine: Mer de Glace

For our last day in the Alps we board a cog railway up the south wall of the Mont Blanc Valley. The 20 minute ride brings us from the valley floor up to the base of the Mer de Glace glacier at 6100 feet. The giant “sea of ice” is 220 feet deep and over 4 miles long, snaking between towering jagged peaks. After a nerve racking gondola ride down the steep side of the gorge, we begin the 430 step clime down to the surface.

[TravelBlog] Post Six: Les Alpes

We bid farewell to the sparkling Lake Como this morning, after a last minute coffee and some sugar cookies for the road. Our route took us south toward Milan, then northwest toward the mountains. We decided to cross the Alps via the Simplon Pass, a crossing in use since the Stone Age, but made famous during the reign of Napoleon

[TravelBlog] Post Four: En Suisse

Started the morning in the tiny town grocery — speck, bread, sugar cookies, croissants, and a wedge of fresh, creamy, decadent talleggio, almost unrecognizable next to the States’ Whole Foods variety. A quick stop at a café in Tremezzo, then off on the winding road to Lugano. A roadside goat greets us as we pass into Switzerland.