The discovery of Domodossola

From Milan I took the last train to Basel. The trains had only seats and should arrive early in the morning. That would have been OK since one can sleep enough later on at home. But once again the Italian railway people tricked me. Short before the train reached the border station I was told that my ticket is not valid because I don't have a seat reservation for Switzerland. The train was not very crowded so I didn't understand the problem and I have been traveling in Switzerland dozen times without a seat reservation. The conductor was strict and as I didn't want to have stress on the last day of the vacation I left the train at the border station in Domodossola. Unfortunately every hotel was fully booked. The people in the hotel receptions really did their best. But OK I enjoyed a mild summer evening and slept in the backyard of an apartment building.

I remembered this beautiful song: Sous la Lune (original by Paris Combo)

Sleeping outside in a mountain area has the advantage that the sleeping bag gets wet in the morning and one therefore wakes up with the first sun rays. Wiping my eyes I recognized the beautiful landscape and could not resist to climb up to a castle I saw. The road to up there is steep and in every of its serpentines is a chapel. It turned out that it is no castle but a catholic sanctuary. I found by chance a world heritage site - the Sacred Mount Calvary.

Two of the 14 chapels along the road up to the sanctuary.

A nice place around the sanctuary.

The sanctuary complex.
 

Inside the church. It was 5:30 in the morning
and the first church service had just begun.

The sun is rising over the Ossola valley.
Behind the mountain in the middle is the Simplon pass.

Another view at Domodossola.
 

In fact all the stress was worth that amazing place.

While descending back to the city to catch the train I noticed the heavy tourism they normally have in Domodossola. While I was up the hill the whole city was filled with market stalls where one could buy a lot of religious souvenirs and other touristic stuff. On some places it was hard to walk on because of the many people. In fact it was incredible that I had the sanctuary almost for my own and could enjoy an exceptional quietness.

Domodossola is a nice small town.
This is unfortunately the only photo I have to give an impression.

Eventually I got my train and the Swiss conductor told me of course that my ticket was valid and that one doesn't need a seat reservation. Moreover I was not the only passenger with this problem. This way I came in contact with a student from Bolivia and an "esoteric" guy from Kiribati or Tuvalu (I cannot remember). It was a pleasant train ride because the strange, esoteric opinions of that guy were perfect entertainment and I could speak some Spanish with the Bolivian.

That was the end of an amazing trip. I had no plan, did not expect anything and therefore discovered so many places, met so many interesting people, learned about societies and politics and additionally could recuperate from everyday life.