With just a few days left in Italy, we drove over to Ivrea. We had driven through town earlier in the month and I was charmed by the town. It seemed like a good place to explore. The hardest part of exploring unknown areas in Italy is navigating parking. We tried a parking lot next to the oldest part of town, but it was full. After a few attempts we drove on down the road, and found the biggest parking lot we had encountered in all of Italy.

We set out on a walking tour of Ivrea. First, a trek uphill to the castle. Perched on the hill overlooking town, the castle commanded attention. Unfortunately, it was not open, so we had to admire it from the outside. A cat ran in and out of the gate as if to tease us. He could go in. We could not.

Next door, the cathedral Santa Maria Assunta was open. Its crypt held impressive frescoes situated between white plaster archways. Soft music played in the background. We stumbled around on uneven surfaces, finding partial frescoes in darkened corners.

Back outside, we wandered downhill to the central piazza. Oddly, every store was closed. At mid-morning on a Monday this seemed strange so I began looking for posted store hours. Every store in town was closed on Monday! Shopping was clearly out of the question.

So we kept walking all the way to the river. A small park included a statue of a hand holding an orange. Once a year the entire town has an orange battle. Nets are put up to protect observers. Each neighborhood in town forms a team and pelts the other teams with oranges. Pulp and peels fill the streets. A unique and strange local custom.

The river was high. Kayak runs lined one side of the channel. A sign proclaimed the 2024 world canoe championships. Waterfalls and rapids made the river both challenging and beautiful. We walked across the bridge and through the park next to the paddle sport course. The rapids were visible all along the park trail. Eventually we found a footbridge to take us back across the river. Ivrea was a beautiful town and a great place to spend the morning…..even if nothing was open.

At this point we were hungry and needed a bathroom. We found a restaurant called the BBQ cafe. We decided it was worth a try, mainly because it was one of the few places actually open. It sat on the pilgrimage trail (a hundred mile trail that followed the route of a monk). Decorations in the cafe honored the traditional dress of pilgrims walking the route.

It became clear that no one in the restaurant could speak English, so I asked for a menu because I read Italian much better than I can speak it. The waitress said no menu. I said menu. She indicated they only had three choices. I asked to read them and she showed me a notepad with three handwritten choices: chicken, hamburger steak, or pork cutlet. The cook was an Italian granny who apparently made only a few things each day. We chose grilled chicken with seasoned potatoes. It was simple and filling.

Since nothing in Ivrea was open on Mondays, we headed toward home and stopped in Biella. I had read you could take a funicular up the mountain to the old town. So we parked in a parking lot labeled funicular parking. Unfortunately there didn’t seem to be a funicular within sight. Google maps indicated that we needed to head up some stairs and across a parking lot. We blindly followed directions and eventually approached a building at the side of a hill.

We reached the funicular and looked for a non-existent ticket office. Confused, we watched a local woman push a button and enter the funicular car. She told us to get in. I asked if we needed a biglietto (ticket). She said no, pushed a button and we started up the mountain. We were in a free, self service funicular! The view was incredible, but we were in shock. We had ridden several funiculars in Italy, all with tickets and operators. It occurred to me that the funiculars at Bard Castle in the neighboring valley were all unmanned. Maybe it was a regional thing? Here you can drive your own train.

We walked the old town. A number of beautiful villas were now hotels, apartments, and schools. An older man with a guitar on his back entered a beautiful villa with a sign indicating a music school. A small cafe enticed us with gelato. Wool shops sold goods and had signs celebrating the communal wool production of Biella, past and present.

After a nice visit, we were ready to descend the mountain. We ran into a couple wandering around the funicular station looking confused. We were now the pros. We confidently pushed the button to enter the car. Once inside, I selected piano (lower) level. The car started off down the mountain. We were now veteran funicular operators.

It was a beautiful ride home. The sun glistened off the snow on the alps. Monte Rosa rose gloriously in the background. After days of rain, it was nice to ride in sunshine. In fact, the sunshine was so delightful that we walked to the lake once we were home. The water level was very high, covering rocks that we had used as seats just a few weeks before. The usually trickling Erno River was now raging. The beach was empty, except for a gaggle of geese. A white goose adopted me and followed me around. I stopped to take her picture and she waddled in for a close up. I’m really going to miss the unexpected encounters that Italy constantly provides when we leave in just a few days.