- My first flight and the first foreign trip, to France
- My first cave exploration – Grotte “Le Cuves” de Sassenage
This article is about my visit to the Grotte De Sassenage – a first visit to any cave. The metro-ride, the beautiful cave and the salubrious hilly surroundings made this visit a special one to remember.
Place to buy bus-tickets in Grenoble
I wrote in the previous article about my first flight that brought me to Grenoble, the next day was Sunday and we planned to go to “Grotte-de-Sassenage”.
We bought a bunch of twenty tickets of TAG (local transport system) from TABAC. TABAC is a chain of shops which sells trams and bus tickets, telephone cards, newspaper and other small items.
How to reach Grotte De Sassenage
The nearest tram station “Chavant” was just two minutes walk from Citadines. The complete map of trams and the bus routes of Grenoble was elaborately drawn at the station along with an easy to understand time-table.
The map showed us that we have to reach Fontaine La Poya, and from there a bus will take us to “Sassenage”.
A computer screen there showed name and the timings of the next three-four trams that will be arriving in a short while. Our tram – ‘Grand Place -> Fontaine La Poya’ was about to arrive in two minutes. When the screen show one minute to arrive, I could see the tram coming to our stop.
Local transport in Europe is so extensively developed that trams/buses/metro pick/drop you at your door-step.
My first experience of a tram in Europe
We punched the ticket on an automatic machine and boarded the tram. It is your responsibility to punch the ticket or else, if caught, you have to pay a fine of four-hundred Francs.
The tram was running so smooth that I did not feel any jerk or swinging motion. There were enough seats for everyone and even if sometimes it was crowded one can easily travel remaining standing. There is no ‘Dhakka-Mukki’.
From Chavant our tram crossed various stops like Victor Hugo, Le Gare, and finally reached ‘Fontaine-La-Poya’. There we check the time for our bus to Sassenage.
Sassenage
The driver dropped us at Sassenage and there were we. Surrounded by hills on every-side, it was a calm, sparsely populated old town.
After crossing the town, we started climbing up a hill and after a small uphill walk we found a stream flowing downhill. That spring later turned in a vibrant waterfall, vegetation became thicker and thicker and temperature measured low.
Waiting to enter Grottes De Sassenage
Suddenly appeared a rocky hill where from a cave in that hill, water was coming out. Manish told me that we will be visiting these caves and at that time I could not imagine what it would be like.
Next tour to the cave was about to start after thirty minutes, so we settled on one of the benches near water-fall, breathing only fresh-air, feeling wetness of the stream in the moist air and eyes seeing only green color – color of life. There we sat, in love with nature, in love with each other.
Inside Grottes De Sassenage
When our guide called us, we walked towards cave where we were given a pamphlet in English as the tour was to be in French. Once inside the caves, I could not blink my eyes even for a moment. It was just amazingly unbelievable.
Rocks which otherwise seemed to be dangerous, hanging above the head are so beautifully supported by steel bars that the danger posed by them seems obvious even though completely avoiding the danger.
Further inside Grottes De Sassenage
In second cave, water was gushing in so fiercely that it was frightening to stand for more than a minute or so.
In third cave it was even more frightening as water was flowing rather running with bullet’s speed alongside and beneath our feet. We were walking on a steel bridge on water.
There were seven such caves and each one turned out to be different and dangerous than earlier one. Later on we heard that in one of such caves in South France five persons stuck inside the caves as water level suddenly raised due to rains in mountains.
For three days, they somehow saved themselves in the air-pockets in caves till the rescue divers reached there and brought them out safely.
The hall inside Grottes De Sassenage
The last cave was huge and illuminated lightly but beautifully and there was an interesting sound and light show in French.
When we came out we decided to have a walk-up in the mountains. It was coniferous forests there, which for me as I saw them for the first time, appeared quite different from deciduous forests of India. Generally these forests are devoid of fauna.
The trekking around Grottes De Sassenage
It was an up-hill walk alongside a down flowing water stream (river). The latter was appearing and disappearing only to re-appear with a new face of water.
For an Indian eye there is nothing more beautiful than water flowing as a river amidst trees; for the ear nothing as melodious as the tipper-tapper of rain; for the throat no drink as the thirst quenching water; for the heated, sun-burnt body – nothing as vitalizing as the bath with cool, fresh water and for the soul – nothing as soothing as the coolness and greenery brought by rain.
“Water is life” – truly everywhere and for everyone but we Rajasthani realize it more than others.
And there was water – beautiful, vibrant and showing its all facets – flowing through ridges, somewhere falling down in large thunderous waterfalls, somewhere simply dividing itself in three or four different channels only to unite a little later giving the message of truth, so basics of Hinduism – Life gives different situations and different paths at time, but one has to travel through only one goal – to meet God.
Night Life of Grenoble
That night we went to “Raja Bazaar” – A Sri Lankan shop to buy essential groceries. When I say night it means after 10:30 pm, because in summer days are very long – from five pm to ten pm. Shops usually shut down at six or seven pm and after nine, whole of Grenoble seems to be out in Restaurants or Parks.
A very important part of European life is “Squares”. These are generally moderate size areas surrounded by buildings. Then in evenings till night, open air restaurants come to life out of nothing. People sit there to eat, drink and be-merry. We also chose one of those and enjoyed our “Cafe-Au-Lait” there.
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