Italian Alps, an Iceman, and Innsbruck

Witch Trail View

Alpe di Siusi, Italy

As the temperature climbed, we headed to the Dolomites. Our first stop was Camping Seiser Alm which advertised our new favorite amenity - a pool.  The drive high up into the mountains was equal parts pretty and frightening. Though the drive wasn’t long, we took the rest of the day to check into our campsite with an excellent view of the peaks directly and distantly above us. Coming from the flattest of flat lands, we spent quite awhile puzzling over the guide book, maps, and tram and bus schedules and finally settled on the “Witch” trail for the following day. What could go wrong?

Click here for our photos, (i) for information.

For some reason, Google maps doesn’t have a grasp of the public transportation in this area so after missing the camp recommended bus, we decided to just follow those at the bus stop dressed in hiking gear and that turned out to be a winning strategy! I doubt this would work at most locations so don't take this as advice. The first cable car got us quite a way up the mountain but it took a second to reach the trailhead. The hiking provided many beautiful views of soaring peaks and it wasn’t technically difficult. The views of the valleys far below caused Dermot’s knees to knock and he wasn’t much interested in having his photo taken with those backgrounds. 

We were a bit disappointed that we only encountered one witch but were glad we never met the bull the signs warned us about since we had seen the pies he left and those were plenty big enough! We also got to see farmers using hand rakes to turn the hay and though we envied the peace and beauty of the area, decided we were lucky to have retired from desk jobs. 

Back at camp, we endured the heat and never made it into the pool which was only available with a reservation made the previous day and for only 45 minutes at that.  Time to go.

Bolzano, Italy

For our next stop we chose Camping Steiner in Bolzano for its multiple pools including one that was indoors, our newest favorite amenity. After a harrowing trip back down the mountain, we enjoyed a restful afternoon lounging in the indoor pool. Unfortunately, the heat proved too much for our AC which dripped water onto our bed and we had to disassemble the foam mattresses from their covers and various bedding and allow them them to dry. Troubleshooting suggested we clear what could be blockages to the drainage system. The fix was only temporary as the dripping resumed again later and we resigned to sleeping in the heat. As this was Saturday and there were no service centers open on Sunday, we would probably have another such night. 

Bolzano is also home to Ötzi the Iceman. Prehistoric man has always held a special fascination for me and I'd been following the Ötzi story for many years so I felt very lucky to be able to visit the museum. When I tried to make early reservations on-line for the following day, the Museum was closed until 2 pm because they had closed off the area "due to the defusing of an aereal bomb from WWII in Bolzano/Bozen."

It occurred to me once again how privileged I was to have grown up in a country where this wasn’t a routine problem. The following morning we learned the downtown area would reopen at 12 so we headed out a bit beforehand and rode the bus all the way to the site that was cordoned off and surrounded by Carabinieri and the Bomb Squad. We heard a long siren but nobody ran and there was no explosion so defusing must have gone as planned. 

We had lunch at a restaurant just off the main square and followed the fairly short walk in the guide and dipped into a supermarket (mainly for the AC as it was now in the 90’s) until our scheduled time arrival at the museum. 

Interactive and fascinating.

The many objects found with Otzi were displayed with very good explanations and I savored all of those before allowing myself to view the man himself. Though so much has been learned from him and thousands have seen him, I admit to feeling like an intruder when seeing his actual body encased in a thin layer of ice in his specially designed display tomb. In the most interesting parts of the museum, photos weren’t allowed. This picture is of the very cool interactive exhibit that allows you to move a "window" around to see various scans (bone, musculature, magnified, etc.). Of course, the fact that forensics studies have concluded that his death was actually a murder which they have investigated as a very cold case, made his story all the more intriguing. People have longed for immortality and Otzi has certainly achieved immortality of a sort. 

That night we waited until 10:00 p.m. to turn on the air conditioner again after positioning our collapsing sink under it. We kept in on low and held our collective breath, ears trained to hear the expected drips. It worked all night to keep us cool so our conclusion was that we had just overtaxed the unit and it had frozen up - twice! Time to go.

Burg Reifenstein/Castel Tasso

We headed for Innsbruck but made a stop along the way at Reifenstein Castle which is one of the best preserved as well as artistically and historically important medieval castles in South Tirol. The castle was built into the rocky hill and some floors from the earliest parts were still the original, craggy rock. The kitchen alone is fantastic in all its rough and sooty glory. 

Original kitchen - so cool!

There are even sleeping boxes where the knights, guards, staff and sometimes the townsfolk all slept together about 10 people per box. Sleeping in groups was a necessity in the cold winters and people slept sitting up as lying down was associated with the dying. There were rooms where councils were held and even a dungeon (a picture shows the hole in the floor through which prisoners were lowered). We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the two most highly decorated rooms but they were spectacular. 

The wooden ceiling and beams were beautifully painted but the paintings were badly damaged due to the use of lime during plague times. The depth of history felt very close to the surface and I really enjoyed imagining living through those times while here. The current owners are an elderly brother and sister and they spent their childhood summers in the 1940’s here. Lucky kids!

Innsbruck

Innsbruck is visually stunning with dramatic peaks and the forested mountains as its backdrop. Public transportation into the city was easy and we followed the guide's walk from Maria-Theresien-Strasse and back thru the old town streets enjoying the architectural style and paintings on the buildings.  We finally came to the famed "Golden Roof" where Emperor Maximillian I watched spectacles including jousts and even executions in the streets below. 

The Innsbruck Card let us ride a space age-looking funicular and two sets of packed cable cars up as close to the peak as possible. We then hiked an easy 15 minutes to the peak and enjoyed the views in every direction using the informational signage to pick out distant points of interest. There were hiking trails leading off and we explored a few of those. The weather was perfect and we could see for many miles.

Tirolean wedding clothes.

The following day we finished the rest of the guide's historic walk and toured the Museum of Tirolean Folk Art (Tiroler Volkunstmuseum). Rick Steves only gave it one (out of three) triangles but it far surpassed my expectations as it included entire rooms from the 1400's; many intriguing items from everyday life; and an entertaining audioguide. 

Next Stops: Several times we've learned that we just missed seeing someone we knew, or got an invitation from a friend of a friend after we had already left an area. So now, we're going to post our next stops ahead so that we don't miss any more opportunities! We're heading to Hallstatt, Salzburg and Munich. Don't be shy, we love to meet up with people on our trip even if its just for coffee or a drink.