05/16/2024
I had a few days off at home so I picked one to drive up to this mountain village where my uncle’s cousin had been shot and died during World War II. Since my cousin is coming to the Riviera with his family this summer, I thought I would check the village out to see if it’s worth a visit.
I had no idea how high in the mountains it is (4,800 feet). As I kept climbing, I began entering the clouds and the road became incredibly fogged over. I hadn’t passed another car for probably 20 minutes and the road was really windy and narrow. I felt like I was driving right into a horror movie. My car would break down and some old creepy man with an eye patch and missing arm would come and bring me to his shack so I could use his phone, because of course, I’d have no cell service. And then I’d meet his whole in**ed clan and they’d have me for dinner, literally.
The fog parted as I reached the town which brought some relief from my crazy imagination. The village was almost completely boarded up. It was a ghost town. I didn’t see another soul while I was there, and I even stumbled across what looked like an abandoned mental institution with broken windows and wide open doors. I certainly wasn’t going to go inside. And again, no one in sight or sound. The only life I found was some tulips by the side of the road.
I can’t figure out if this is a winter town for skiing and that’s why it’s boarded up or if it’s a summer town for hiking and we’re still in spring. Either way it’s feels like a village out of time, as though I drove through the mists and entered another dimension. I could almost hear Rod Serling‘s narration. 
Is Peïra-Cava worth a visit? I’m not sure but the drive was lovely and when I came down the mountain, I passed by the beautiful hilltop village of Luceram which is definitely worth a visit.
