I say it's an old monastery because it dates back to the 6th century, but in the early 19th century Napoleon's army came through and burned everything down, so all the buildings we see now have been built since then.
The ways to get up there are railway and aerial tram with gondolas. I'd much rather have done the latter, but it was too much extra money, so we took the train. Before leaving the parking lot:
I don't know the elevation of the place but I was intrigued by the clouds that hung around below the peaks:
heading up:
looking out the train window:
and then we were there. this place really defies words:
this was another tram, one that went almost straight up. I would have loved to have time to take the ride in the car that runs on this track:
I wish I knew what the building on the side of the mountain in the distance is:
as we were getting ready to leave, one of the locals offered to take our pic:
very nice
