After a short contre-temps with a mad French bloke in the car park at the edge of the village, we finally wandered into the village of Samoëns to find it was market day – what luck!
It was difficult to fully appreciate all the beautiful buildings as we were far too busy darting from one stall to another to see what bargains we could find, but all that changed when we arrived in the centre.
The village has been classified by UNESCO and it is easy to see why. There is a huge Linden tree in the centre that dates back to the 14th century, and must measure about a metre in diameter, a beautiful church, what was presumably once a watering hole for the horses and all manner of little towers and turrets as well as the ornately carved wooden balconies of more recent times.
I love exploring new places on foot because you see so much more than from a car or bus, plus you can just stop wherever the fancy takes you. Ours took us to one of the many shops selling local Savoyard specialities such as saucisson, cured hams, cheeses and jams. Quelle surprise!
Luckily, lunch was still a fair way off because I am convinced that if we’d have been hungry, we would have left with a whole ham in our handbags!
Talking of hams, the strangest moment of the day came when I petted a piglet in the market! The guys on the stall had clearly hit upon a fabulous marketing gimmick as virtually everyone stopped to stoke the brillo-pad heads of the baby pigs or to let them lick their hands, and their opening gambit was ‘do you like animals’, from which they then tried to sell you a box of sweeties. Bizarre, but it seemed to work 9 times out of 10.
It wasn’t long before we found the food market down by the ice skating rink and a scary looking gyroscope type thing that had a small child strapped into it. It could have been a medieval torture device but she seemed to be enjoying herself so we decided to ignore the screams.
The fruits and vegetables looked so inviting, but it was the colours of the flowers that caught my eye – who would have thought it was mid April with snow all over the mountains.
Tucked away unobtrusively in one of the little side streets is the Botanical garden. We’d read in the Michelin that there is a little chapel at the top with fabulous views, so we climbed up the steep path, stopping now and then to take photos of the little flowers.
I am sure that the gardens would be absolutely spectacular in the summer, but as it is still quite cool for mid-April, we didn’t see it at its best when all the flowers come into bloom and the ground is a riot of colour.
We’d intended to visit the main church in the village square too, but completely forgot on the first day, and by the time we remembered the next day, it was after 7pm so the church was shut. Milles Tonneres! Luckily that gave me a good excuse to just sit and enjoy a glass of mulled wine at ‘La Cheminée’ before our thoughts turned to supper.
The first night we had eaten so well at the Restaurant ‘La Clarine’ that although we looked at all the other menus, we found ourselves back at the same place to try yet another speciality dish ‘Fondue Savoyard’ which is a cheese fondue served with salad, cured meats and a particularly good local wine. My gym membership form is already half completed...
It was difficult to fully appreciate all the beautiful buildings as we were far too busy darting from one stall to another to see what bargains we could find, but all that changed when we arrived in the centre.
The village has been classified by UNESCO and it is easy to see why. There is a huge Linden tree in the centre that dates back to the 14th century, and must measure about a metre in diameter, a beautiful church, what was presumably once a watering hole for the horses and all manner of little towers and turrets as well as the ornately carved wooden balconies of more recent times.
I love exploring new places on foot because you see so much more than from a car or bus, plus you can just stop wherever the fancy takes you. Ours took us to one of the many shops selling local Savoyard specialities such as saucisson, cured hams, cheeses and jams. Quelle surprise!
Luckily, lunch was still a fair way off because I am convinced that if we’d have been hungry, we would have left with a whole ham in our handbags!
Talking of hams, the strangest moment of the day came when I petted a piglet in the market! The guys on the stall had clearly hit upon a fabulous marketing gimmick as virtually everyone stopped to stoke the brillo-pad heads of the baby pigs or to let them lick their hands, and their opening gambit was ‘do you like animals’, from which they then tried to sell you a box of sweeties. Bizarre, but it seemed to work 9 times out of 10.
It wasn’t long before we found the food market down by the ice skating rink and a scary looking gyroscope type thing that had a small child strapped into it. It could have been a medieval torture device but she seemed to be enjoying herself so we decided to ignore the screams.
The fruits and vegetables looked so inviting, but it was the colours of the flowers that caught my eye – who would have thought it was mid April with snow all over the mountains.
Tucked away unobtrusively in one of the little side streets is the Botanical garden. We’d read in the Michelin that there is a little chapel at the top with fabulous views, so we climbed up the steep path, stopping now and then to take photos of the little flowers.
I am sure that the gardens would be absolutely spectacular in the summer, but as it is still quite cool for mid-April, we didn’t see it at its best when all the flowers come into bloom and the ground is a riot of colour.
We’d intended to visit the main church in the village square too, but completely forgot on the first day, and by the time we remembered the next day, it was after 7pm so the church was shut. Milles Tonneres! Luckily that gave me a good excuse to just sit and enjoy a glass of mulled wine at ‘La Cheminée’ before our thoughts turned to supper.
The first night we had eaten so well at the Restaurant ‘La Clarine’ that although we looked at all the other menus, we found ourselves back at the same place to try yet another speciality dish ‘Fondue Savoyard’ which is a cheese fondue served with salad, cured meats and a particularly good local wine. My gym membership form is already half completed...
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