A Free Day – Bus Trip to Aosta, The Roman City

We have two free days in the 8-day tour agenda, so on Wednesday we hopped a public bus to the town of Aosta, about 1 hour away from here in Courmayeur. It is famous for it’s ancient Roman ruins, dating back to the time of Augustus.

Before I get into that, Maureen asked me about food. Since it is one of my favourite topics, I am happy to share 🙂

Breakfast:
The hotels provide us with a wonderful full buffet breakfast daily (included in price) i.e. coffee, juice, yogurt, cereals, bread and rolls, cheese, sliced meats, jellies, hard-boiled eggs, croissants, pound cake, and so on…

Lunch:
While we are hiking, depending on the day, the agenda/timing may allow us to purchase food at a restaurant along the trail  – perhaps at a shelter or rifugio or rest chalet. Or, we can bring our own lunch as we did today. A quick trip to the grocery store in the morning to buy two buns, ham, sliced cheese, lettuce and beverages allowed my buddy and I to have a great lunch for 5 euros each. I am not sure if you can read the label of the Coke can but it is Coke + Coffee, it was delicious and I think is only available here in Italy.

Supper: Also on our own nickel, our group of eleven usually meet for drinks and a meeting with Juliette around 6:30pm, then we go out for a nice meal in town.

OK, Aosta. This is the central piazza which is actually a really attractive hotel!<

Then we found our way to the ancient Roam theatre, with the facade and some remaining seating still existing.

Notice the archway has been pieced together like a puzzle – how does it stay ?

Then we moved onwards to the Forum Cryptoporticus, a stunning architectural space underneath a holy square – home to two churches above. The stone archways and barrel-vaulted ceilings were quite amazing.

After a nice lunch of beer and pizza, it was back to the bus stop to catch a bus back to Courmayeur.