Blogs from Trentino Alto Adige, Italy, Europe - page 3

Or take the Cable Cars, Funiculars, Chair Lifts, and Travelators on offer at Ortisei instead. The valley in which we are staying is called the Val Gardena. We have our maps, the sun is shining, the forecast temperature for today is 17 degrees, and we are ready to climb the mountains. Our accommodation has provided us with free bus tickets for the duration of our stay, to take us into the town of Ortisei, from where we will launch our assault on the Dolomite Mountains. In the pasture next to our accommodation are two Llamas, one white and one brown. When we reached the town, we purchased a three day Gardena Pass, which provides unlimited access to Cable Cars, Funiculars and Chair Lifts in the Val Gardena region. First up we caught a Cable Car up ... read more

We leave the Dolomites having achieved our mission. The highlight of our stay in Corvara has been the alpine plants, especially the gentian. The other memories we’ll take away with us are the stunning scenery and our wonderful accommodation. In a week from now this area will be open for the Summer holidays. We found last night that some restaurants won’t open until next week. Instead of skiers the cyclists and hikers will arrive. After reading our blogs the botanists will arrive as well. After last night’s thunderstorm somewhere in the mountains it is blue skies and sunshine. Our first challenge today is negotiating one more pass, Passo Gardena. Once over this pass we leave the Badia area and head for Bolzano. The descent out of the Dolomites has us following river valleys. We continue to ... read more

We look out of the window this morning and it’s not a sky we had hoped to see. There is low cloud covering the tops of the mountains. This was not part of today’s plan or the forecast. All might be different after breakfast. One of the reasons for coming to this area was to hunt for the elusive blue alpine gentian. To get to the area in which they are growing we need to get above 2000 metres, we are currently at 1500 metres. We have some choices, take the gondola located next to the apartment, walk, or drive to the chairlift that will take us further up the mountain. By the time we have had breakfast the cloud has gone leaving a brilliant blue sky. We pack our mountaineering gear and head off for ... read more

After a lot of flat country and high temperatures it is off to the mountains today. So far we have been very lucky with the weather. The raincoats have not been unpacked since we left New Zealand. After the temperatures in the low 30s for the last month the forecast temperatures in the Dolomites are showing high teens to low 20s. What a relief. We pack the car, stop for diesel, buy some lunch and head north. The early part of the drive takes us through flat farm land. We can see the hills in the distance. It is a glorious day for driving. After leaving the flat country we start the gentle meandering through some hilly country. We stop for lunch under a tree, near a river, surrounded by rugged hills. It reminds us of ... read more

Am Samstag bin ich nach Rovereto gefahren. Ich habe gut einen Parkplatz im Zentrum gefunden. Dann bin ich zum Museo D'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento. Das ist in einem großen modernen Gebäude, in dem auch die Stadtbibliothek ist. Das ist bestimmt eine große Attraktion für diese Kleinstadt. Anschließend habe ich noch irgendwo einen Espresso für den ich im Museum auch einen Gutschein bekommen habe. Danach bin ich zum Bahnhof und habe auf meine gute Bekannte gewartet. Die kam pünktlich mit dem Eurocity. Zusammen sind wir dann nach Riva del Garda gefahren, wo wir in einem Einkaufszentrum geparkt haben. Wir sind die Seepromenade entlang geschlendert und haben dann nochmals Kaffee getrunken und im Supermarkt ein paar nützliche Dinge gekauft. Im Anschluss daran sind wir das Westufer des Sees zum Hotel gefahren, waren im Spa und später ... read more