Trekking Around Mont Blanc, France – Episode 332

The Amateur Traveler talks to Marc Barach about his recent trek around Monte Blanc.

Hiking around the giant mountain on the tour Monte Blanc took him through portions of France, Italy, and Switzerland. Even in an area small enough to walk through in a little over a week (120 miles), he encountered regional differences as he hiked through seven beautiful mountain passes of the Alps.

“If you enjoy amazing scenery, friendly people, fantastic air and great food then I think that it is on the shortlist of best places on the planet Every night you can stay in these old stone refugios, houses that are built specifically for trekkers, where you get dinner, breakfast, and a bed. Sometimes the bed is in a dorm, sometimes in a small room with other people. And then they serve you one meal, always hearty, very reflective of the country you are in. Everything just tastes delicious. There are at least 4 or 5 relatively nice-sized towns. If you were a day hiker, you could go into one of these cities.”

right click here to download (mp3)
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Show Notes

Mont Blanc
Tour of Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc massif
Amateur Traveler – Travel to the Yunnan Province of China – Episode 319
Geneva
Les Houche
Chamonix
Aiguille du Midi
Refugio Bonatti
Walter Bonatti

News

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Community

Molly and Rachel hit the road

Hey Chris!

Just wanted to drop a line and thank you for the wonderful podcast. My sister (Molly) and I have been listening to it for years and are finally headed out of our home state of New Mexico to explore the world!

We are 22 and 24 years old, recent college grads, and have carefully hoarded our student loans to fund a month of backpacking in Europe this summer! Your podcast has been a big inspiration to us as well as an invaluable resource for our planning.

Keep up the great work and thanks for all you do!!!

Rachel

Ed on Travel to Belgium – Episode 326

I listened to the Belgium podcast and thought I’d tell you a little more about speculoos.

Chris,

Speculoos is a popular cookie; the most prevalent version is made by Lotus. It’s sold in the US as Bischoff, and you can find it in grocery and specialty stores (like Andronico’s and Cost Plus). The spread is just ground up cookie mixed with a little oil. Trader Joe’s sells a chocolate bar filled with the stuff and it’s pretty good too.

I loved the part about the Trappist beers. I’m a big fan of them too. Can you get a link to the web site that rates Westvleteren as #1 in the world? I couldn’t find it. One correction for the show notes: Konigshoeven is the brewery; La Trappe is the brand used for the beer produced by another brewery (albeit on the monastery grounds). Konigshoeven is the only one of the 7 outside of Belgium (in the Netherlands).

Ed