Skating at Club Med Fragelato in Italy/photo: Ziv Reinstein, editing: Noa Levy
On the plane to Grenoble in France, on the way to
ski
-pism, I was sure that we would be alone, but it was full of Israelis who went out to freshen up on the white slopes of the Alps.
Mostly groups of men aged 40-50, but also a few families with their children who took advantage of the ski vacation they booked a long time ago or who simply needed a little white in the eyes from all the blackness in recent months.
It turns out that despite the war and the situation, people do not give up the necessary ventilation, certainly in a place where the white sport really unites people on the slopes of the Alps or around a wooden table and white beer in tall glasses.
No politics, no raising eyebrows, no snooping.
The majority went, as every year, to clubs in France, such as Val Thorens, Tin, Val d'Isere and others around, but I crossed the French border to Club Med Fragelato in Italy - one of the two clubs in the whole country of the boot (the other is Cefalo in Sicily) .
Fun for Italians: they have a club for every season - summer and winter.
A distance of about three trips, including a 13 km tunnel that crosses the border from France to Italy, and you are already in a snowy alpine landscape. This year too, not too much snow fell in Europe "thanks" to global warming, which also affects the slopes and the amount of snow is quite sparse in the sites. But What do we do because Nelin - the ski season is in full swing and she still has a few months of skiing waiting for her with the expectation of good snow that will fall.
The ski resort of the Italians, just an hour by train.
Sestrier/Ziv Reinstein ski resort
Italians have two clubs - one for summer and one for winter.
Club Med Fragelato/Ziv Reinstein
And thanks to the Winter Olympics
Club Med Pragelato, or in its full name Club Med Pragelato Vialattea Sestriere (Pragelato Vialattea Sestriere - Sestriere is the Italian town in the province of Piedmont which is about five kilometers from the resort), is only 12 years old. The truth is, it was not built from scratch either Ella was purchased in 2012 and renovated after it was established as a holiday village for athletes at the Turin Winter Olympics in 2006.
In the center of this ski town are two important landmarks: a monument to Italian soldiers who fell in the First World War in the area, and a statue of a cyclist to mark the Winter Olympics - its pinnacle event. Therefore, it has what almost every town that becomes crowded in winter has - ski equipment shops, several restaurants, cafes and even a Carrefour Express (which looks like a grocery store). And here's a tip: if you need something from the town, buy it on your first or last day of vacation, Because it's a shame to get there just like that after midnight, when the buses stop running and then a taxi or Uber (if you manage to find one) will cost you about 30 euros each way (a distance of 5 km, yes?)
Club Med Fragelato was purchased from the Olympic Village in 2012 and renovated.
View from the gondola/Ziv Reinstein
Two important scores for Sestrier: World War I and the Winter Olympics/Ziv Reinstein
The manager of the club in the Caribbean was called to the reserve
When we arrived at the club, I meet Hugo Cortez, the club's chef de village.
This young man, only 30 years old, is already managing his second club, after being the chef de village of the French Alpe Douze.
"I have been working at the club for 11 years and am one of the youngest managers in the network," says the chef who grew up in Marseille, and immediately remembers his Israeli colleague, Mor Zimbris from Club Martinique, who like him manages a Mediterranean club but in the Caribbean.
"Because of the war, she was called up from the army and she had to leave the club for two weeks, and flew back to Israel," he says in English with a French accent.
I couldn't help but be amazed and excited.
But this is not the only Israeli connection in Pargelato.
As in any self-respecting Club Med, the management makes sure that the GO team is as diverse as possible, and speaks as many different languages as possible.
Isaac, a Belgian Jew who speaks very reasonable Hebrew, who studied at a Jewish school in Antwerp, was recruited for the check-in process.
His Tunisian mother and Dutch father met 20 or so years ago at Club Med themselves, and the rest is history that became a curiosity in the article.
Isaac offers me a tour of the club, which has about 360 rooms and another 82 charming wooden cabins.
After a short detour, I arrive at the cabin, which is always better than a hotel room, certainly on a winter vacation.
It has two rooms with beds, a kitchenette, a living room, a shower and toilets in front of which hang white robes for those who would like (and you will) a massage after a grueling day of surfing.
Polite radiators are scattered in each room, warming the cabin sufficiently at night, and later the hatches are used to dry gloves and other wet ski clothes.
The design by the architect Rémy Camoin combined pleasant lighting in red-orange-purple-yellow colors, which blends well with the wooden walls in the rooms.
In the club, there are about 360 rooms and another 82 wooden cabins.
Perfect for a skiing/Ziv Reinstein vacation
Here and there there were interesting "exits", but still the food needs improvement.
The buffet at the club/Ziv Reinstein
When you come back from skiing, sometimes surprises await.
Hamburger buffet at the club/Ziv Reinstein
10 euros in public transport, and you are in the snow
On the first day of skiing, you are paired with an instructor in the surfing group at your level - some ski on skis, some board skis.
Every skier gets a locker in the ski-room, can rent equipment if he didn't bring it from home, and at 10:00 everyone lines up at the gondola outside the club, which can carry up to 60 people on their skis at once to the ski point.
This ride in the air, over conifers coming out of the snow, takes 5 minutes and is nice the first and second time, but quite exhausting when you have to do it every day, 4 times a day (when you go out in the morning, come back for lunch and go surfing again after it).
And this is the minus of Fragelato - it doesn't have a ski-in-ski-out - where you can directly ski from the ski room or return to it.
You can also take a free shuttle to Sestreyer, but it's still a 10 minute drive each way.
In general, you can also ski all the way to the club, but in an era of global warming and a lack of snow, like this year, it's quite risky.
In short, don't count on it.
Sestrier does not offer a very large variety of trails, similar to other club-skis such as Val Thorens or Tin, and they are not very long either.
There are those who will find it an advantage, especially beginners who will be happy to rest in between on the lift for the next round.
Hugo explains that the snow conditions in the place are good because the temperature is around 0 degrees, so when it snows, it doesn't freeze like ice, and on the other hand, it's not too wet.
"Here we are close to France, and when the clouds come here, the snow is better, usually 2-3 meters," he says.
According to Yuri, the handsome ski guide who hides long devilish hair under his helmet, the advantage of the slopes in Sestrere compared to those in the Passo Tonella area in the Dolomites in northeastern Italy is that there is less traffic and less traffic.
In the Dolomites, the tracks are wide and the surfing area of Sala Ronda is vaster.
Yuri, from the city of Turin, which is 100 km from Sestrere, explains that about 70 percent of the city's residents come to the slopes here to ski. "This is the only club in Italy that is used for skiing," he says, "and it is very convenient because it is an hour by train that costs 8 euros and more Bus for 2 euros, really cheap, and it's better than flying by car or coming from Milan or Grenoble" (three hours drive each way).
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Not too long tracks and good snow.
The sloops of Sestrier/Ziv Reinstein
The view is simply stunning.
A restaurant in the middle of the ski resort/Ziv Reinstein
nods
A DJ makes the dinner of the guests pleasant at noon/Ziv Reinstein
Eat like an Italian
After the day of surfing that ends at 16:30, as well as the gondola and the buses from the city, you are "stuck in the club".
The guests in the dining room are good and varied, they offer everything you can think of - pizzas, hamburgers and fries for children, to specialties of the Italian cuisine (thank God for him) of different pastas, gnocchi, ravioli and pizza on a daily basis.
Here and there interesting "exits" of meats in the oven, clams for shucking that my good friend Uri enjoyed after squeezing a lemon over them, shrimps, dishes of small touches with asparagus and of course an Italian ice cream stand with the flavors of tiramisu, nochola (hazelnuts) and sorbet.
The food in the club could be better, smarter and more elegant, as it is in other clubs, for example La Rozier in France, and Hugo also agrees that there is room for improvement.
For those who are tired of three meals a day in the same place, Fragelato offers a visit by reservation in two of his restaurants in the complex: "La Trattoria" and "Tana".
The first is an Italian restaurant, which offers at lunch (without reservation) and in the evening Italian dishes that are served at the table, such as bologna pasta, ravioli, pizzas, cheese plates and ham on spinach leaves and of course great wine.
In Tana, on the other hand, the atmosphere is more "fine", and three dishes are served to the table, starters such as polenta or slices of veal in sauce, mains such as filet tartare or cheese fondue and a dessert of tiramisu or creme gendoia (a mixture of chocolate and ground hazelnuts invented in Turin during the Napoleonic era).
Vegetarians?
You'll encounter a problem and the waiter scratching his head, who won't quite understand what you're doing here, and will offer "Enselda".
But the salad he brought was also cut vegetables and rather poor.
In short, Hugo, if you translate the article on Google Translate, you need a proper vegetarian option for your luxury restaurant.
Serving Italian food all day long.
Bruschetta at "La Trattoria" restaurant/Ziv Reinstein
A nice alternative for diversity from the dining room, but what about the vegetarians?
"Tana" restaurant/Ziv Reinstein
blind in the middle of a sea (of snow)
After dinner, the club's familiar activities will await you in the main hall - some crazy science and dancing, a performance by the Teff+ club (from ages 4 to 17), a club band and even a magician.
The subject of entertainment also needs improvement in the club, and if you are single then forget about stormy nights, it is better if you find a taxi to one of the bars in Sestreer.
"Our audience is families," admits Hugo, who emphasizes that children up to the age of 4 stay for free.
But there were also groups of men who came together or women who went on a skiing holiday - something very common in Europe, while here it is mostly men's boyfriends.
People from all over the world, and diverse languages (Hugo said that last week there were guests from 40 nationalities at the club), as well as Hebrew here and there that you hear in the club itself or on the tracks.
The club's strategy to attract tourists is expressed in the promotion of Italian food over its products, for example the wine menu offers almost entirely local wine.
"We are trying to promote the Italian tradition here," explains Hugo, "and 17 percent of my team is Italian."
The price is also more "modest" than clubs in France.
A week in February (7 nights) will cost a couple from 4,300 euros including everything (meals, accommodation, guide and ski lessons, snacks in between and ski-pass).
In March it will drop to 4,000 and even 3,600 euros per couple.
That's right, flights should be added to that.
But once you've decided and paid - say goodbye to your wallet.
A whole week that he's not with you, and that's already worth everything.
One last thing I really liked to see on the white slopes, and not specifically related to the club or Italy, is a group of blind people who were skiing in a group.
Each of them had a bright orange vest over the ski suit with the words "Blind" written on it.
They surfed after an experienced guide who played music for them and alternately beeps that indicated where to surf.
Here and there I also saw disabled people on a special ski chair, pushed by a skier who came with them, and did not give up the pleasure.
My heart was moved, and when I slid on my board and fell, as always, I remembered that I too have my disability.
for all of us
And yet, we must never give up.
The writer was a guest of Club Med in Italy.
More on the same topic:
Club Med
Italy
ski
Trips in Europe
The Alps