Before I return to posting about Peru, I wanted to backtrack and make a slide show to finish out Switzerland & Northern Italy. Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) gives a $250 credit for future travel for post-trip slide shows, so I am trying to get caught up before we book more travel.
Meanwhile, my long “break” from blogging was due… more travel! Bruce and I spent six weeks in the U.K. and Ireland! We had a fabulous time, saw some beautiful places, and had amazing weather once again! After I complete my Peru blogs and slide show, I will write all about it.
Now, grab your popcorn, turn up your speakers, click on the video, and make sure to watch on full screen for the best view!
I was hoping for good weather on the day we would have the best views of the Dolomites and we got it! As we made our way along the winding roads into the Val Gardena valley, the views were stunning.
This is a top ski area in the winter and a popular hiking and mountain biking destination the remainder of the year. It is one of five valleys in the region where the main language spoken is Ladin, and the people are very proud of their language and culture.
(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)
Wood carving is a traditional craft here and the local churches are adorned with intricate wood carvings. We stopped at a shop to see some beautiful wood-carved creations as well as these large mushrooms—a nod to one of the staple foods in the region.
The main attraction, however, was the gorgeous scenery!
We met with Peter, a native of the area who could speak five languages fluently by the time he was 20 years old. In addition to his native Ladin language, he grew up speaking the other two official languages of the region: German and Italian. During his earlier school years, he learned English, and then French when he was in high school.
Peter led us on a hike through the little village and through beautiful hillsides, while sharing his culture with us and pointing out the flora and fauna along the way. Our hike concluded at a small lake, a popular ice skating and curling spot in the winter.
This is a popular skiing area, so there were several ski lifts– and a few cows.
Following our hike, we stopped at the cutest little village for a traditional Ladin lunch. It was a lovely day!
Few vegetables can be grown in northern Italy due to the climate, so tomato-based sauce is not used on pasta. Instead, they use butter, and lots of it!
Next up: SWITZERLAND & NORTHERN ITALY #21: VENETIAN VILLA CONDULMER
Our travels to Bressanone (aka Brixen) took us through the Val di Funes, a valley in northeast Italy with rolling hills dotted with farms and surrounded by steep alpine peaks. We stopped for a hike along Santa Magdalena, a scenic trail that passed by family farms, a tiny church, and offered incredible views of the Italian Dolomites when the clouds cleared. Following our hike and lunch at Fines Hotel & Restaurant, we were fortunate to catch some nice views of the jagged, spiked dolomite mountains.
Dolomite is a carbonate rock, and the Italian Dolomites are comprised of 32 clusters of dolomite peaks that look like limestone spikes. The large concentration of this type of rock is only found in Italy and is a UNESCO Heritage Site.
(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)
What a thoughtful farmer, devising a back scratcher for his cows!
This is Gabriel Messner, hike leader and owner of the Fines Hotel & Restaurant where we had lunch. Look for him (hopefully!) in the next winter Olympics as a skier for Team Italy. As a national team member, he has hopes to make the cut!
The view of the Dolomites got better…
…and better. But they will get even better in my upcoming post!
This region of Italy is close to Austria, so the languages spoken are both German and Italian. The cuisine, as we discovered at lunch, had a German influence—much different than what you would find in the south of Italy.
We continued on to Bressanone, which used to be called “Brixen,” a German name, until Mussolini, the horrible dictator, came in and changed all of the German names of towns and streets to Italian names and forced the residents to do the same. The fascist didn’t stop there; he banned the German language and it wasn’t allowed to be taught in the schools. Austrian history was forbidden from being taught as well. Mussolini tried to wipe out that entire culture. Thankfully, it was all ultimately reversed. Signs in the area are in both German and Italian, and German is one of the official languages.
Bressanone / Brixen is a medieval town of about 23,000 people founded in 901 and located in the autonomous Trentino-Alto Adige region. We found it to be quite charming and enjoyable to explore during the afternoon and evening.
Hotel Krone, our hotel in Bressanone, was established in 1717!
A beautiful garden and walking path down the street from our hotel.
The day began with a group walking tour of Trento, and then we had a free afternoon to enjoy by ourselves. We had opted against taking the optional cooking class—a good decision given our lack of desire and spending $270 (for two) on something we had little interest in doing. Instead, we explored more of the city, including taking a cable car up to the mountaintop for a panorama view.
For this post, I will take you on a photo tour of the sites we enjoyed throughout our tour and let the photos and captions tell the story.
(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)
He seemed to be amused watching our group outside of the castle!
We had visited (and photographed) the piazza the previous day, but I couldn’t get enough of these gorgeous frescoes! As the light changed, I kept going back, as you will see later in the afternoon…
We had a free pass to ride the Trento cable car, and we thoroughly enjoyed the views!
While Bruce rested his knee (torn meniscus), I poked around the streets of Sardagna and watched a car race winding through the streets off in the distance.
Back in town, the sky was clearing more and more, so we enjoyed wandering the streets.Back in the piazza again! Click on the photo for a panorama view!
Piazza Dante, across from our hotel
The specialty at this shop was speck, a fatty ham that is 80% fat! It was a hard NO for me, but it was a favorite in the old days– the “energy bar of the middle ages,” according to our morning tour guide!I thought this community closet was a great idea! Leave clothes that you don’t need and pick up something you do. Donated canned and packaged food was available as well.
Next up: SWITZERLAND & NORTHERN ITALY #18: OVERLAND TO BEAUTIFUL BRESSANONE (BRIXEN)
On the way to Trento, we stopped in the beautiful town of Desenzano, situated on the shores of Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake. Some of the streets were blocked off, which baffled Maria, our travel leader, and our bus driver. Did something horrible happen? It wasn’t until a sports car with a number on the side whizzed by that we realized we had stumbled upon a car race! We all hopped out of the bus and headed to the waterfront to see the action. It was the 2024 1000 Miglia, an annual 1000-mile vintage car race that has taken place in the province of Brescia since 1927. The tour concluded in Desenzano where the drivers got their final stamps at the check-in tent, and then took some final laps to celebrate. Italians are huge car race enthusiasts, so it was fun to watch with the locals, as they cheered for their favorites.
(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)
Maria also managed to corral our group for a walking tour of the town, which we found to be quaint and charming. The race and walking tour were great ways to break up our journey to Trento!
Ricetto Castle
We continued on to visit an olive mill for a tour, olive oil tasting, and al fresco lunch. The mill we visited, Frantoio Manestrini, was a family-operated mill that had received national recognition. The vegetarian option for lunch was a welcomed surprise, given the lack of vegetables available during the previous days in Northern Italy and Switzerland.
The final leg of our journey took us through the foothills of the Italian Dolomites, which we would be seeing more of in the following days. Upon arrival in Trento, we checked in at the beautiful Grand Hotel Trento, and then took an orientation tour of the lovely town.
Looking up the winding staircase from the bottom floor……and looking back down from the top.
Trento is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. Formerly part of Austria, it was annexed by Italy in 1919 and is now one of the wealthiest and most prosperous cities in Italy with a high standard of living and quality of life.
Trento is a city of frescoes.
Trento is also a city of gorgeous stone sidewalks of local red limestone.Some of the stone sidewalks have fossils such as this one dating back 200-250 million years!
As if we hadn’t already experienced good luck when we happened upon that car race, the good luck continued in the evening when we stumbled upon a festival in Plaza Duomo, the cathedral square, following dinner. Proloco Centro Storico Trento is part of Feste Vigiliane, celebrating patron saint San Vigilius. The week-long festival transforms the streets and alleys into a mediaeval quarter where food, entertainment, and ancient handicrafts bring out the crowds. The celebrations are full of humor and laughter, concluding with fireworks on the final day.
We stood outside the gate watching men prepare huge copper kettles of polenta. Along with beer, bowls of the polenta were carried out by costumed servers. It was a big social event, and everybody seemed to be having a great time! We sure enjoyed watching!
Coming up next: SWITZERLAND & NORTHERN ITALY #17: TERRIFIC TRENTO
About that “break” I mentioned at the end of my last post; we went on an Overseas Adventure Travel tour to Peru. As soon as I complete my blogs about this tour, I will begin my posts on our amazing and fabulous adventure!
Meanwhile, back in Italy, while the rest of the group went on an optional tour, Bruce and I opted to spend the day exploring on our own. We walked to the charming town of Iseo to catch the ferry to the island of Monte Isola, and we immediately knew we wanted to save some time to see more on the way back.
(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)
Scenes of Iseo, while walking through town to the ferry.
This mother was cruising near the ferry with her baby hitching a ride on her back.
Looking back at Iseo from the ferry.A view of the mainland from the lake.Monte Isola
Monte Isola, located in the middle of Lake Iseo, is 1.7 square miles in size and has a population of less than 2,000. It is a beautiful island that peaks at just under 2000 feet, making it a challenge to traverse on foot. We set out to hike one of the loops that took us through the cobbled-street town, and along the waterfront.
We saw mothers with their babies all along the waterfront!
We then turned inland to traverse the island’s steep interior. When I say steep, I mean steep! On one of the roads, a sign warned a couple of cyclists about the steep grade as they walked their bikes up the incline, huffing and puffing. I wondered if they muttered to each other, “Tell me something I don’t already know!” Meanwhile, cyclists flew by in the other direction, as they raced downhill. There was no walking path for pedestrians and no shoulder, so we carefully navigated as bikes and a few cars flew down as we walked up.
Celebrating our achievement of making it to the top, we enjoyed the spectacular views of the lake down below and Iseo off in the distance. It was definitely worth the hike up, even if it was challenging and clouds threatened to drench us along the way. (Fortunately, we stayed dry!)
Bruce enjoying a cold Coke Zero on our way back down.
We’re almost there!
After we completed the loop back to town, we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the ancient, cobbled-street town with its steep and windy back streets. Ancient is a subjective description, but there is indication the town was a Roman settlement dating back to 905! This town has history!
More recently, Monte Isola’s little commune became famous when artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude created an incredible temporary installation, The Floating Piers, in 2016. These are a few photos I shot of the photo exhibit that was on display along the waterfront:
The skies cleared for our ferry ride back to Iseo, so we enjoyed weaving our way in and out of the streets after we arrived, exploring around each corner.
We passed by this little privately-owned island on the way back to Iseo.
Iseo
We decided to have pizza for dinner at a little place I found on Trip Advisor, Forno Di Porta del Camo. Check out the link for my review, “Great Owner & Great Pizza.” We will never forget the owner or his pizza. We laughed about it the entire way back to our hotel!
Next up: SWITZERLAND & NORTHERN ITALY #16: TRAVELING TO TRENTO
A new country and new currency. I have gotten in the habit of bringing home currency that I know I will be using again. In this case, Italy is on the Euro, so I kept extra Euros from our 2023 trip to Tuscany and Umbria, knowing we would be returning to Italy again. As for those Swiss Francs? I spent my last remaining coins on chocolate, of course!
Having written a lot about Italy in my past blogs, I won’t get into any of those topics this time around. I will, however, make a few distinctions between Switzerland and Italy. Take the roads, for example. Swiss roads are excellent and constantly being improved, which isn’t the case in Italy. The trains in Switzerland are also extremely punctual (After all, they are known for their fabulous watches!). In Italy, not so much. How about those restrooms. I had never seen such a nice and clean restroom as the ones on Swiss trains! In Italy, they were often missing a toilet seat, for starters…
Still, there is a reason this was my fifth time in Italy: I absolutely love it! What’s not to love? The country is beautiful, the people are warm and friendly; and the food is amazing! Although, if it’s typical Italian cuisine you are searching for with lots of fresh ingredients (especially vegetables), don’t go to northern Italy; just stick with the south. Northern Italy may be gorgeous, but the climate isn’t conducive for growing a variety of vegetables, so they aren’t the easiest to find. Would you like a beautiful California-style salad? Fuhgetaboutit. A rich tomato-based sauce on your pasta? Nope! Rich cream sauce and meat will appear on your pasta. Even if you order “lasagna with vegetables” like I did at dinner, the vegetables are micro-diced—just a nice little splash of color for interest. You can find plenty of mushrooms, however; they are native to the area, as are white truffles.
(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)
This may have been lacking in vegetable volume, but it sure was big on flavor!
The bottom line? Don’t go to northern Italy for cuisine with fresh ingredients, but DO go for the drop-dead gorgeous scenery!
We began our tour in the Lombardy region in Lecco, along the shores of Lake Como, and 30 miles north of Milan. At less than 50,000 people, it’s a small, less touristy city and easy to navigate on foot.
Our hotel, located across from Lecco, had a beautiful view of the lake and town. Had the skies been clearer, we would have also had amazing views of the mountains beyond.
The view off to the left of our hotel
Following a walking tour by our Italy tour leader, Maria, we had time on our own.
Author Alessandro Manzoni was from Lecco.
This woman kept an eagle eye on the gardener down below watching his every move.
I had never seen such adorable cakes as in this bakery!
Pizzette (miniature pizzas) were a convenient snack-on-the-go.
Next, we took a ferry to the quaint town of Mandello, a picturesque commune of less than 11,000 people. We were treated to delicious gelato before wandering through the town and ending up at the train station for a ride back to Lecco.
Check out this ferry employees badge when he had hair and looked much younger. He has been with the ferries for a long time!
Our first day in northern Italy was so enjoyable—relaxing and lovely!
Elaine-iaK's Travels: A Traveler's Tales of People, Places, Photos, Pools... and CHOCOLATE! 