19 April 2024
A couple of days ago, I decided that since we are so close to the Italian Alps, therefore the Dolomites, that we need to go and check them out. We had the base in Verona that we'd increased our stay at so our bags could be left safely behind and we could scarper off on a side-adventure.
What was initially one night turned into two; if we were going to do it and we didn't know what was ahead of us, one night mightn't have been enough. A correct decision that turned out to be.
We walked over to the station, some 15 minute walk from the apartment and boarded our 2 hour & 12 minute train ride to Bressanone / Brixen, not knowing what to expect, scenery-wise, of the trip.
Vineyards soon took over the vistas on both sides of the train as adjacent rapid rivers delivered the purest of waters from the Alps to the crops. Through a long tunnel, they seem longer but this one is around 2 minutes, and we enter the realm of the Italian Alps.
The valleys winds the rivers, the tollways & the train tracks, vineyards (in various stages of growth) & villages scattered every so often, every skerrick of land occupied by vines.
We catch a quick glimpse of Santuario Madonna della Corona (Sanctuary of the Lady of the Crown) built over 2,000 feet above sea level into a sheer vertical cliff face on Italy's Mount Baldo. Access is via climbing tracks but apparently the one from above is the easier of the two, if easier is a concept. It truly is stunning, even as we speed along the valley. We make few stops but Rovereto, a popular stop for alighting but more so boarding, where hordes of teens flooded our carriage just when we thought we’d got rid of the guys talking incessantly on his phone for the last 50 minutes. The end of any semblance of silence.
We continue on, smattering’s of seasonal leftover snow proving stubborn to thaw & join the flow to ground level, defying temperatures & gravity as they cling to the sides of the mountains.
Communications tower claim every peak for their respective providers, there’s a convoy of semi’s transporting goods either way on the freeways, virtually tailgating each other, giving little room for cars.
Mezzocorona being the last 'single name' station as we’re getting closer to the border and duel-language, Italian / German(Austrian), station names begin to appear; Ora-Auer, Bolzano / Bozen (where we were going to stay for the night but decided to go further into the Alps). I imbibe the amazing vistas of the mountains, every arable square metre is vineyards, no terraces, just planted straight onto the hills.
It is explained to me the next day that a lot of what I thought was vines for wine are actually apple tree orchards. These are grown along a wired vine, skinny trees, 3 feet apart in massive rows after rows, just starting to flower. I'm also informed that they are a variety of apples from New Zealand, particularly hardy for frosts and freezes; and THEY are EVERYWHERE mixed in with the wine vines.
Seriously rugged country continues either side of the train as valleys tamper to not much more than 100 metres wide, a waterfall every now and then & tunnels become more frequent, we stop at other peoples destinations, Ponte Gardena - Laion / Waidbruck-Lajen & finally at ours, Bressanone/ Brixen.
A taxi delivers us to our home for the next two night, the Hotel Lowenhof, and Mandy needs watering, well wine anyway.
We were given a business card, by the reception girl, for a taxi driver who might take us on a drive through the Dolomites tomorrow to see the sights. We rang the driver, James, and he turned up an hour later at our hotel, quickly discussing what we’d like to see. Unfortunately, we were interrupted by other people wanting his services, to drive them here and there; a good sign I thought, he's in demand. He returned later and took us to the Brix 0.1 restaurant.
Beautiful location, 1st course of lemon risotto with scallop & zucchini was outstanding, second course, 350gram ribeye, delicious. Really needed a protein hit after the pasta frenzy we’ve been on. Dessert an absolute treat with chocolate molten cake with raspberries, crumbed biscuits & lemon sorbet, so refreshing after the chocolate cake. This restaurant is in an idyllic setting, river flowing past with snow capped peaks behind, eider ducks paddling by, vast treed front lawn with white stoned paths & driveway, a fabulous structure dressed in a Coreten & glass sandwich, absolutely gorgeous!
James collected us after dinner, we confirmed everything up for Saturdays outing, collection times, duration & price and once back at the hotel, headed to bed; a big day of the unexpected tomorrow.
20 April 2024
Note: apologies up front as there are a lot of photos, I could hardly stop taking them, and to limit them to a few is a hard thing to do, so please bear with me. A panoramic teaser below.
James was early so we headed out along the road beside the freeway and left the main road, turning towards Selva di Val Gardena, with the Dolomites poking their heads out intermittently from behind other mountains. We arrived at the small town where we really started to see them, and OH MY GOD!!!!
I’m not a snow person so seeing these beasts was like seeing the Andes, when I flew over them 3 years ago, on my way to Cusco & Machu Picchu.
There were few words I could use that accurately describe them; strong, tough, sheer, imposing, belittling, monumental, overwhelming.....
We wound our way higher and higher, twisting with the terrain, hardly another car in sight. We reached a ski station, Strada Dolomites where I noticed the weather heading towards us, black and brutal, snow blowing up the edge of the road and across our path. But it was the perfect place to take some digital memories, so out I scampered, beanie pulled down over the ears, I literally ran around the Mercedes van taking as many photos as I could before jumping back in the back seat, the -2 degrees finding every exposed crack in my guise. And my guise for the day was 5 layers thick plus the beanie.
We wound our way down into the next valley, hairpin bends playing havoc with our stomachs, well mine worse than Mandys. I couldn’t stop taking photos or turning my head with the vistas simply incredible. We soon came across some ski resort villages, abandoned post-season, leaving those looking for a cuppa wanting. We drove on, town after town of nothing open, business owners having made off to warmer climes after making the annual takings in however-many months, leaving April visitors to bemoan their absence, and wait until dinner, some 6 hours later.
Speaking of April, it appears that is the month that ALL skiing business owners shut up and head off with none of the chairlifts, or any other associated ski businesses, open for the non-May-to-March visitors. The local mountain to Bressanone/Blixen, Plose, is tucked up tight for April with no-one disturbing it until May, we just get to view from a distance in the town.
Through valley after valley we made our way back onto a main road, passed the recent (late January) World Cup site of San Vigilio, then a turn-off to the beautiful Lago Di Braies, on whose bank stood the 125 year old Hotel of the same name.
This view was the icing on the cake, incredible blue water that you could feel the cold coming off while looking up to the snow-covered cliffs of the vertical mountain faces
Lake Braies is a breathtakingly beautiful mountain lake in the heart of the Dolomites and one of the most famous sights in South Tyrol.
We boarded the trusty Mercedes van and started making our way back to the hotel, totally satisfied that we made the correct decision to leave Verona and make our way north for the weekend.
Our route for the day, roughly and anticlockwise.
We decided to have dinner at the hotel that night, the dining room had to be one of the gaudiest rooms I’ve come across, thankfully we happened to get a lovely young man who was the penultimate waiter, damn fine at his job!
A large garlic prawn & Zucchini pizza was shared (sorry no photos as the food was that good we totally forgot about it), probably the best, if not, one of the best pizzas we’ve ever eaten. Mandy is not especially a pizza person however she even admitted that if all pizza had the pizza base that this pizza did, she’d eat room pizza than she currently does; it was so light.
The dining room was full, holding around 64 people without the overflow room next door and the Hoecker outdoors, the enclosed addition, I’d imagine that would be close to capacity. Around 120-130 I’d imagine; what a great business. And not just overnight guests like us; there were a lot of townsfolk who obviously make it a dining destination, regularly. In fact pizzas are coming out of the kitchen with incredible speed, nearly every table filled with empty pizza plates, except for skinny blonde & brunette sitting next to us who are delicately dining on sea bass, something Mandy would consider a canapé. Takeaway pizza's as well flowing out the front door.
(Sorry, just had to squeeze in some more photos, hope I didn't repeat any)
Dogs are barking/groaning under tables, though not intrusive enough for any head turning; it’s hilarious and wonderful to see, no misbehaving from any 4-legged-friend. The Jack Russell at the adjacent table, or under the table I should say, is scouting for any dropped morsel that he can pounce on.
And if I haven’t mentioned this before, dogs are allowed everywhere, and I mean everywhere. At dinner, breakfast & lunch, on trains, trams, funicular trains/trams, buses, cable cars, ferries, every form of public transport. Our country needs to learn something from this, actually, and a lot of other things that define our Nanny Nation. Time to grow up and evolve!!
21 April 2024
Once breakfast was consumed, we decided to have a walk and check-out an Abbey that James told us about, just up the road a couple of hundred metres; well, make that nearly a kilometre. We strolled via the adjacent river; you could feel the cold of it as you walked beside it. The Augustinian Abbey of Neustift, or Novacella Abbey, is an abbey that was elevated to the status of a basilica in May 1956 and received the honorific of a basilica minor by Pope Pius XII. The structure is made up of interconnected buildings, courtyards and also a graveyard. The graves dating from 1863 through to only a few years ago.
The vineyards overlook the grounds and also provide a tipple for the residence as well as stock for the wine store located outside the perimeter stone fence.
A production company was preparing for the annual Water Light Festival, which we just missed by days; apparently a fantastic display, akin to Sydney's Vivid Festival. We noticed a lot more installations as we made out way into town prior to catching the train back to Verona.
After some time exploring the Abbey, we made our way back to the hotel to check-out and wait for James to collect us. Once on board, we made our way to a church in the town, Bressanone Cathedral, again, a basilica minor. The Cathedral has a history dating from 980 AD with a 200sqm ceiling fresco made famous by Tyrolean Baroque painter, Paul Troger, his sole painting in the Tyrol region. The organ is another highlight with it's 3,335 pipes and 84 stops (the on and off pull/push buttons that admits pressurised air to the set of organ pipes).
Photo of our hotel with our room top floor left. Following photos include the Bressanone Cathedral & ceiling.
James dropped us at the station, we said our farewells; he really was a terrific bloke and a great contact for this region of Tyrol.
We sat n the opposite side to the trip on Friday & saw some additional sights; castles clinging to the sides of mountains, more vineyards and apple orchards until we met the divider tunnel and exited into the sunshine on the Verona side of the mountains.
A walk around our block provide little in the way of dinner, so after a few wines at our local bar, we strolled into the main plaza and the tourist catering centre of town, increased prices and all, a very nice pasta meal then a walk home to bed; chilled by the breeze, soon to be gale, and the falling temperatures.
22 April 2024
We awoke through the night to howling winds, rain and a general weather apocalypse. The wind is rattling the super-sealed, triple-thickness windows, planter boxes on the balcony are being blown around and we've given up on doing anything for the day, except maybe trying to get some dinner tonight. It truly is a horrific day; currently 10 but feels like 8 degrees.
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