To get to Domodossola, I took a train from Milano Centrale. The train left from the furthest corner of the furthest platform. It’s a regional train, with Domodossola being the last stop. I left in the evening, when it was already dark, to arrive two hours later, close to midnight. The hotel where we were staying turned out to be a small “albergo”, where the rooms had names – honouring writers – instead of numbers. The next morning surprised us with an excellent breakfast buffet, including fresh bread, Italian coffee, local cheeses, and homemade honey.
The plan for the day was to go to Vogogna, and from there to take a hike in the mountains. Vogogna is the next stop by train, when heading back towards Milano. It is an old, small village with a castle. Following the signs to the tourist information centre lead us nowhere. Instead, we bought a map at a newspaper agent’s. We then followed a track, which lead us through another, even smaller village, and up the mountain.
The path was pleasant: every few steps, there was a sign with one of life’s many wisdoms. We were alone – we met only one person during the entire hike, a jogger. His arrival was announced by the rustling of dry leaves, which could be heard from a distance.
After a while, the signs with wise phrases ceased. Instead, we occasionally came across old shepherd’s huts, made of stone.
Keeping on the path, and occasionally checking the map, we were nevertheless struck with a realisation as it was approaching lunch time: we were lost. The track that we had been following stopped abruptly, and with the map, we could not find where we were. Reluctant to turn around, we climbed higher, up a small rock bank, Ondra advancing as a scout. With relief, we found a path again, which we continued to follow. It lead us to a wonderful lunch spot. We were surrounded by silence and, best of all, an astonishing view while we were munching our sandwiches made of Swiss bread and cheese, and prosciutto crudo.
The road back to Vogogna turned out to be more difficult than the road up. The biggest hindrance were the dry leaves on the ground: knee-high at times, it was impossible to see where we were putting our feet, which caused us to proceed with extreme caution. The path was steep. We were starting to think about the sunset: though it would be still light for another few hours, if we got lost, it may would become a problem. Though we did get lost, we managed to make it back to Vogogna in good time, and even to buy some chocolate and beer before our train back to Domodossola was due.
At the train station, we checked the departure times. Fifteen minutes to go. We checked the departure platform. Platform one. Looking around, we saw a peculiarity: there were two train stations, immediately next to each other, each of which had a Platform one. They were close to each other, but not so close that we could risk waiting in the middle and seeing at which one the train would arrive, out of fear of missing it. The next train would only come in two hours. There were also no ticket vending machines, nor a booth where we would be able to buy a ticket.
Both train stations were empty – except for a foreign looking man standing at one of the Platform Ones. When I approached him to ask what was happening, he did not seem to understand Italian. We checked again the other Platform One – and found a local elderly man waiting for the train. When I asked him for information, he threw a hostile glance at the bottle of beer I was holding – I realised it was perhaps not common for women to drink beer on the street – but confirmed that the train to Domodossola would be arriving soon.
Back in Domodossola, we got changed and went out for dinner. Despite being small, Domodossola has the feel of a small town, rather than a big village. From the hotel, we had several recommendations for restaurants. It even turned out to be difficult to get a table without a reservation. We succeeded at the fourth try, though even here we had to wait until a table became free. While we were waiting, we were offered a glass of prosecco each.
The last day left us with a little time to explore Domodossola during the day time, as our trains back to Milano and Lausanne, respectively, were departing in the early afternoon. The first destination was the Sacred Mountain, which overlooks Domodossola. From there, we enjoyed the clear view over the city.
