This summer -- 2018 was our hottest ever. Temperatures in Switzerland and most of Europe were in the high 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks on end without a break. There was almost no air conditioning in Switzerland so we decided to head for the hills to try to get a break from the heat. Courmayeur Italy near Mont Blanc was a little over 3 hours to drive so we made a last minute reservation at an inexpensive hotel (about 110 euros total per night, breakfast included) for the three of us and our dog Pearl.
We escaped to the sixty degree temperatures. We were also lucky with our hotel. The Tavernier was a five minute walk (but uphill) to the shopping/restaurant district in Courmayeur and right next to the glacial stream coming from the mountains -- Fiume Dora Báltea. The staff and owners of the hotel were incredibly nice and kind to us.
This was the view when we came out of the top floor of our hotel and walked over the bridge to town (following 2 photos). The video is taken from our hotel balcony a few steps out of our room.
Courmayeur was a beautiful little town with older buildings and nice small restaurants. There was a grand hotel in the middle of the town -- the Grand Hotel Royal e Golf. Very old school with an English butler type waiter in a suit serving drinks outside. It has a grand lobby filled with marble and stag's horns. We had cocktails on their lovely outdoor terrace overlooking the mountains. We tried to go to the restaurant Cadran Solaire afterwards, but will make reservations for dinner ahead next time. The other restaurant that we went to looked nice and was inexpensive but the food was unremarkable -- it was restaurant Mont Fretty.
We looked at the map and decided to hike up to a mountain lake to swim. Here are pictures of Val Veny and our attempts to hike to Lago Delle Marmotte (marmot lake). We never actually made it because it was starting to rain and it was very long steep hike. We were afraid of getting stuck in a storm so we went back down before reaching the lake.
Photos from the hike to Lago Delle Marmotte (marmot lake)
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| Thomas and Christian near one of the glacial steams on the hike to Marmot Glacial Lake. |
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| We had to take off our shoes and put our toes into this cold wild glacial stream on the hike to Marmot Lake. |
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| Thomas pausing to rest on boulders -- hike to Marmot Lake. |
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| We only made it to this bridge and turned back. |
On the way home we stopped to check out the cross country skiing in Val Ferret for future reference.
Here are pictures of our hike.
