We arrive at Fort Saint Roch at 1 PM right when it opens and are the second group in. We are not sure how extensive it is but right after the first turn protected by a machine gun we can see that we have a long way to go, it really is huge. We can see a huge corridor with many side doors and we are looking forward to see what, if anything, hides behind all the doorways.
And quite a few things hide in the side rooms. Almost every one of them is a life sized diorama of how life was in the fort when it was occupied by soldiers protecting France from Italy.
There are of course also a few guns both from the fort or collected from the surrounding Alps and then restored and showcased in the museum.
Next are the places where soldiers lived and the communal bathrooms, quite decent given the situation. The living conditions were quite cramped however, no two ways about it.
Next are the air filters, very important in an underground facility followed by the commanders room with a safe for keeping all the secrets…safe I guess.
And then is the command center, the heart of the complex, and the medical room with the weird barefoot doctor.
There are some passageways that go nowhere and some that are closed after the point when you would already fall in into a trap if you would just continue blindly.
And just when we thought we have finished we can go down and down and down into the depths where the munitions were stored safely.
In fact from here we can go up and up and up through another shaft into another battery, it is interesting to see how each of them are linked and quite a workout really. And then after exploring all the different nooks and crannies it is time to say good bye and continue further into the mountains towards La Brigue our next stop for the day.
