3rd October, Chartreuse and The Alpes

The first three days of October have been packed with adventures, tastes, scenery and twisty roads. We set off for the Northern end of  les Hautes-Alpes and the Southern part of Isère for our Alpes adventure but  first we went  to the town of Voiron, so one day at a time.

1. Tuesday 1st October
Voiron is where you find  Les Caves de la Grande Chartreuse, the current home and distillery of  the famous Chartreuse green and yellow liqueurs. The Chartreuse story goes back to 1605 in Paris with the birth of the "elixer" at the Chartreuse Monastery and has survived through expulsion of the order from France, relocation to Spain and the eventual return to Voiron . The recipe behind the elixer and liqueurs remains a secret today but is known to be made up of 130 plants. The mixture is still prepared by the monks in the herb room of the Grande-Chartreuse Monastery in the Chartreuse National Parc and transported to the distillery for distillation, ageing, bottling and distribution around the world. 
We were taken on a tour of the distillery and cellar, with tastings in a huge tasting hall.

Les Caves de la Grande Chartreuse

Stained Glass Windows in Entry Hall

The 164 meters long Liqueur Ageing Cellar

2. Tuesday 1st October (Continued)
 After a picnic lunch in the grounds of the Grande-Chartreuse Monastery we travelled off  into the Hautes-Alpes country via the centre of Grenoble all of which appears to be under reconstruction and traffic chaos was everywhere. We survived that adventure and were soon seeing  snow covered high peaks and soaring mountains to each side of the road.
We arrived in our pretty little village and were blown away by the views from our first floor "junior suite" room. Villar d'Arène home to about 300 people but probably holds 10 fold that in the winter time as skiing takes over and the hotels and guest houses fill up. We had the town pretty much to ourselves. It has two ski lifts of its own and is only 3 kms from La Grave, which is a world renowned off piste (no grooming) or raw ski area and which boasts two glaciers overlooking the town - they look as if they could slide right into town. Access to them and man made ice caves are via cable cars up to the 3,200 meters but they stopped for maintenance and servicing the day before we arrived.
We were the only guests in the hotel, but were served a delightful local traditional dinner and were asked if we would speak in English to the owner's 14 year old daughter who is doing English at school. She has a good teacher.
Early to bed as we were tackling the Col de Galibier tomorrow.

First Sight of Snow on The Mountains

View of the Alpes from the Car Window

View from Our Room