Tag: Italy

Europe · Italy

“Il Burchiello” to Padua – Europe Travels September 2022

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Before leaving home and also in the earlier parts of our trip, I wondered if we would be tired of spending so many days in Venice. It might be nice to have a little side trip over to the mainland, maybe. Padua looked interesting. It is about thirty miles inland, has frequent trains from Venice, and the train ride is only about a half hour long.

As it happened, on our train ride from Munich to Bolzano, I conversed with a woman from Berlin across the aisle from me. She was traveling solo to Padua on her “holiday” (that’s what Europeans call a vacation). She’d been to Padua a couple of times earlier as part of other trips, but this time she wanted to spend her whole vacation there. Hearing my interest in Padua, she told me about many wonderful things that one could see, most of which I’ve forgotten now. “I’m not going to do it this time,” she mused, “but I always thought that I would like to take the boat from Venice to Padua.”

What? It’s possible to ride a boat to Padua?

It is, and after some investigation, I booked us on the tour that goes across the lagoon and down the Brenta River from Venice to Padua. Traveling involves a certain amount of serendipity, plus keeping one’s ear to the ground.

So it was that early on a sunny morning, we boarded “Il Burchiello” at the harbor near St. Mark’s Square and found great seats at the top. Some passengers brought suitcases. Our group spoke English, Italian, and French, and our guide gave us information in all three languages all day long. She began by giving us a rundown of what we were seeing as we left Venice. It was interesting to see the city from a different vantage point.

We rode out into the open lagoon and soon entered the mouth of the Brenta River.

In the 1500’s, the Venetians turned part of the river into a canal. We passed through the first of six locks. This one was still purely Venetian made, constructed in that era.

From the 1500’s to the late 1700’s, this canal was extensively used by the wealthy of Venice – the ones that had their names written in the Coffer room back at the Doges Palace. It was hot in the summertime in the city and the idea of air conditioning had not yet entered anyone’s mind. They would spend their summers in their villas along the Brenta Canal. It was considered a “fashion canal” because they would promenade along the pathways visiting each other and trying to outdo each other with their style of dress, the construction and decor of their villas, and the sumptuous parties that they hosted.

The nobility arrived at their summer homes with all of their wardrobes, all of their servants, and even some of their furniture.

This was our boat for the day. Back in the Renaissance era, the boats were called “burchielli”. They were powered by oars through the lagoon. Along the Brenta Riviera, they were drawn by horses. So, a trip out to the villa was slow. The ladies and noblemen were entertained by adventurers, actors and artists.

Going through the locks, it always took quite a bit of time for our lock to drain or fill in order to pass to the next level. In this picture, we are ready to go, and the doors are opening.

There were also nine bridges that swung sideways for us. We had first seen one in Scotland, but this time we were the ones on the river.

Our first stop was at Villa Foscari, in the town of Malcontenta, built between 1558 and 1560 by the renowned Renaissance architect by the name of Andrea Palladio. More recently it fell into ruin, and then was restored.

The villa was originally owned by the Foscari family, and changed hands over the years. Today, it is owned by a descendant of that original family. An architect would tell you it that it is built with a Roman temple facade, and stands on a pedestal. Inside, gorgeous frescos cover the walls and ceiling with scenes from mythology. The second floor has a balcony all around, so that one can look directly down to the first floor.

“Villa Malcontenta” is the nickname of this villa, which means “the discontented one”. A Foscari family member was confined in the home and its surrounding park for several years of her life for licentious behaviour. The confusing thing is that the town bears the same name but for a different reason: the area was marshy and the river was prone to flooding as far back as the Middle Ages, which brought disease and pestilence. The villagers may have been a little malcontented. Pretty dreary names for such a beautiful place!

Since the villa is still in the family, no pictures are allowed inside. I purchased these postcards, which shows “La Malcontenta” and the inside of the villa.

We had time to walk around the grounds before getting back on the boat. We didn’t have too much further to go before we docked at the restaurant that was our lunch stop.

The lunch on this trip had received mixed reviews. For the 22 Euro cost, some folks thought it was a better idea to walk into town and find a pizza place or just sightsee. We decided to go with the flow. The meal is called “The Casanova Fish Menu”. We received, in several courses: salad, smoked fish with a piece of toast (more fish than I could eat), fried shrimp, calamari, and baby octopus with a rectangle of polenta, rolls, and a bowl of fruit with ice cream. It was all delicious. The lunch was a bit salty and there was a lot of food, so we downed our water and almost finished the wine.

Of course, all that food and wine had a somnolent effect on Cal: he was snoozing down the river for quite awhile. It was hot and sunny on top of the boat so he moved down to a shadier spot, and he was not the only one. I had been glued to my seat because I didn’t want to miss anything, but now I went exploring the boat for a bit. We’d heard the guide talking about our disembarkation in Padua, making it seem like we wouldn’t be getting back on. What was that about? Were we not riding the boat back to Venice? Was there a bus to take us back? I found a brochure in the bar area to read later.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed the passing landscape along the way: villages, homes and churches, and people waiting for us to pass though bridges. I wondered who this pensive fellow might be:

You can’t see the word “Transit” before the above quote, but it means “Shadow passes, light remains” in Latin. That might have been something for “La Malcontenta” to think about.

We stopped at another villa, called Villa Weidmann. It was built later than Villa Foscari, in 1719, and was remodeled in the latter part of that century. Like Villa Foscari, everything is built around a square central hall with a balcony on the upper floor, Murano glass chandeliers, and those breathtaking frescoes. Unlike Villa Foscari, we could take pictures here.

Outside, we could see a view of the villa from the back:

The fountain is just like those that still exist in Venice and would have been their water supply.

There are many statues in the beautiful garden.

There were once over forty villas lining the Brenta. The lifestyle came crashing down when Napoleon invaded in 1797. Peasants revolted, many villas were burned, and land taken over for farming. Other villas were used for animal, implement, and feed storage. I can imagine that this felt pretty good to the local farmers after seeing the upper class flaunt their wealth for two centuries.

Many villas still can be seen along the river, in different states of splendor or disrepair.

Some peeked out from behind woods or vineyards.

Some were on their last legs.

After Villa Widmann, I read the brochure I had picked up earlier, and went over to talk to our guide. She confirmed that yes, indeed, this was a one-way trip to Padua. Ah, that’s why so many people had suitcases. As it was taking us all day to get to Padua, the boat wouldn’t have gotten us back to Venice until the middle of the night. I don’t know how I had missed this little fact when I booked. But, in my defense, every single tour we’d taken thus far returned us to where we started! No worries though: we could take a train back to Venice.

The last villa was jaw-dropping. Nothing I read could have prepared me for it. It may be called Villa Pisani, but it looked like a palace. It is considered to be the queen of all the Italian villas.

Looking out from the “villa”, the stables almost matched its size.

As you may imagine, this villa belonged to a doge: the 114th doge of Venice, actually, by the name of Alvise Pisani. It was purchased by Napoleon in 1807, and in 1814 fell into the ownership of European aristocracy. Finally, in 1882, it became part of the Italian state. There are over a hundred rooms. Doges, kings and emperors were welcomed here, and it is now a national museum. Most rooms have no furniture, but the dining room was set for dinner:

Pictures of past doges lined the walls

The frescoes here are masterpieces by a renowned artist by the name of Tiepolo.

I enjoyed the many paintings and frescoes providing glimpses of what life looked like in those days.

In this room, Mussolini and Hitler met for the first time.

Back onboard, we enjoyed the last idyllic miles of river.

The sun was setting when we came to the outskirts of Padua.

In the end, all I saw of Padua was the river, a part of an old wall, and a pretty bridge where we got off the boat.

It was a mile to the train station in the gathering darkness and we could have opted for a taxi, but it felt good to stretch our legs for the walk after being on the boat all day. A train was waiting for us, the cost was covered by our Eurailpass, and we were back in Venice in no time.

This concludes our Italian travels. We had one more country to visit, and we were both eagerly anticipating this last leg of the trip. Where did we go? Well, all I’ll say about that for now is that we attended a reunion, visited a beautiful city on the sea, and we had to fly there.

Next time: flying north to go south

Europe · Italy

The Venetian Islands of Murano and Burano – Europe Travels September 2022

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This picture may look like it was taken in Venice, but it is actually on the little island of Murano.

Many shops in Venice sell Murano glass, and it is interesting to look in the windows at them. All of the glassblowers that make this famous glass are located on this island, and early on the Sunday of our visit we went to visit them.

We walked to the Fondamenta Nova vaporetto station to catch the Number 12 Vaporetto (city water bus) line to Murano. It was only a short ten minute ride. We were a little early for the glass blowers to be open, so we had a small refreshment in a sidewalk cafe.

Visiting the glassblowers of Murano is more a window shopping trip than it is a look at the craftspeople in their workshops. I did peek into a few, but on a Sunday they are not working. For sure, the shops are open, and there is plenty of beautiful glass to see and little shops to peek into.

Some shops specialize only in jewelry. This one has a beautiful facade.

Of course, I couldn’t buy hardly any of this. It would be in shards traveling around Europe in my suitcase. I did purchase a couple of necklaces with glass pendants for gifts, though.

The reason that all the glass makers in Venice are here on this island goes back to the 13th century. The story goes that they were moved to the island to avoid the risk of fire to wooden structures in the already over-populated city. In reality, the motive was to isolate the craftsmen so that they wouldn’t disclose trade secrets. Venetian glass was already of the finest quality.

We had gotten off the boat in a quieter part of the island where many of the glassmakers are. By the time we worked our way to the main area, things were already hopping. Murano has canals just like Venice does because it is actually seven small islands connected with bridges and a Grand Canal.

We made our way back to the vaporetto stop for a ride to Burano, only to discover we were at the end of a very long line waiting in the hot sun for the next one. Would we even be able to get on it when it arrived? As we were pondering this question, we noticed a gentleman working the line. He and his partner offered a ride for 10 Euros per person to ride in his speedboat to the island.

Circumstances sometimes call for quick thinking and a large helping of trust in our fellow man. The price was right. We took the deal and we were not the only ones; the two enterprising gentlemen soon filled up every seat in their little boat with other takers.

We zipped across the lagoon and found ourselves docking in Burano in half the time it would have taken us to ride the vaporetto. Besides that, it was fun!

Burano is a smaller island than Murano. It is traditionally known for its hand-made lace and its colorful houses. Leonardo da Vinci visited here, purchased an altar cloth, and the lace began to be exported all over Europe. Today, tourism has supplanted the lace-making industry. Lace is expensive and time consuming to make. I only remember seeing one or two shops and didn’t take pictures. I read later that most of what is sold now is machine-made.

No matter, I was mesmerized by these colorful and picturesque little streets and homes.

What is it about hanging laundry that makes everyone want to take a picture? Me included.

Traditionally, the houses were painted different colors so that fishermen returning home could easily see their own house while still out at sea. Today, the color of a house is regulated by the government; only certain colors are allowed for each particular lot.

I thought it was interesting to take a look at all the fishing gear in this small boat.

Murano may be tiny, but it still has its share of canals, plus a church with a leaning campanile.

This time, upon leaving Murano, we took the vaporetto. It was not crowded. Since we were now further out from Venice, the ride was longer, and I had time to observe the “highway” in the lagoon. Posts help to keep everyone in their lane and prevent head-on collisions.

There are many things to be seen along the way, such as ancient buildings long abandoned:

and a lighthouse at one of the vaporetto stops.

It had been a lovely, relaxing time on the islands of Burano and Murano, and just getting there and back was half the fun.

Next time: Boating to Padua

Europe · Italy

Six Days in Venice, Italy – Europe Travels, September 2022

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Six days. That’s how long I wanted to stay in Venice. Despite its reputation for having entirely too many tourists.

We’d been here, once, long ago. It was a ten-day romp through Italy from Germany on a great big bus. I don’t remember if we received an orientation to the city, only that we had just one day in Venice. We roamed about on our own, probably had some spaghetti or pizza, and the day was over much too soon. It’s always been my wish to come back and have plenty of time to explore. Six days this time was perfect.

This is the sight that greeted us when we stepped out of the train station upon our arrival from Bolzano. The body of water is the Grand Canal, which is the main boulevard in a city that has no streets for motorized vehicles. No cars, buses, trucks, emergency vehicles, motorcycles or even bicycles are allowed here. So it follows that there are no traffic lights or horns blaring. Except for one day that we left the city, we were blessedly relieved from normal everyday traffic noise. Everything in Venice goes by boat or on foot.

From the train station, we navigated the labyrinthian streets of Venice carefully and with an eye on our Google map. To get to our AirBnb we needed to cross the great bridge over the Grand Canal, walk along the pathway on the other side, execute a series of turns down various pathways, and cross smaller bridges. We followed a nun shepherding some other folks from the train station, until we went our separate ways.

I juggled my suitcase and interrupted the GPS on my phone to take pictures as we walked.

I did not want to lodge in the San Marco area, which is crowded and is where most of the tourists are. Venice has several neighborhoods and our AirBnb was the farthest away from it in Santa Croce, an easy walk from the train station. We could look out to the piazza from a small bedroom window. It was always interesting to see what was going on out there. Sometimes the restaurant was bustling, sometimes not. We had a couple of good meals there, and if we were back by late evening, we would watch the servers unfurl the umbrellas, whisk the linens away, and push all the furniture back to the side of the building.

In Venice I heard the term “tourist river” for the first time. Of course Venice has lots of tourists, although by now we were in late September and it was not too terrible. Tourist rivers are areas where a lot of people walk in a crowded stream to see sights or to shop. At times there was a light tourist river on the back of our piazza, where the person in red is walking, because we were on a pathway to the train station.

The joy of having time to explore Venice was being off of tourist rivers and into the quiet neighborhoods. This is the very definition of slow travel.

Yes, we found plenty of busy passageways. Even here there was so much to look at. There are not only tourists in Venice. There are students going to school, employees hurrying to work, and folks doing their marketing or crowding the tiny grocery stores for some lunch.

But then, there were plenty of quiet ones, too.

We would wander about, vaguely trying to get somewhere without any assistance, just enjoying the neighborhoods and the canals. A passageway would lead nowhere, or take us back to a piazza we had just walked through. We would finally have to give up, look at either our paper map or GPS and discover that we had been walking in circles. That was OK too!

In the middle of the picture below, you can see a passageway that just ends at a canal with no walkway or bridge. That happened to us quite a bit while wandering. We would have to turn around and retrace our steps.

Bridges are always picturesque, providing a view over canals large and small.

The famous Rialto bridge is the oldest of four bridges across the Grand Canal. Construction on this bridge began in 1588. We crossed this one on our way down to the San Marco neighborhood, and I got good photos of it on two separate occasions.

Venice is a faded lady. The city is over 1,200 years old and some of the buildings are 800 years old. Most, though, date back to the 1500’s. That was Venice’s Golden Age, which lasted a couple of hundred years. For good or for ill, it was one of the most richest and powerful Italian cities, with a stable government to keep everything in check.

The water in the canals are actually very shallow, only about ten to fifteen feet deep. The city was founded in the fifth century AD, and it was built in a lagoon, with small, marshy islands. Natural canals in between the islands were gradually enlarged and reinforced with bricks and other materials. There are 150 canals running through the city, connecting 118 small islands with a mixture of salt and fresh water. The local government works to keep the canals looking clean.

We didn’t always have to go on foot around the city. The canals have a system of vaporetti, or water buses, that run frequently and punctually on the Grand Canal. A vaporetto is docked at right in the picture below.

I took this picture while riding on a traghetto.

Along the entire length of the Grand Canal, there are only four bridges, and sometimes you just need to cross the Grand Canal where there isn’t one. For that there are traghettos. On one of our wandering excursions, the walkway ended at a traghetto stop. For two euros we could ride across. That looked interesting, so we hopped aboard. According to the sign, this is the Traghetto S. Sophia coming across for us.

What about commercial transport in a city like Venice? Everything comes in or goes out by boat. Then it is transferred on carts down the pathways. The carts are built so that they can negotiate the steps, too, and people who pull them are good at getting up and down.

Package delivery on a crowded passageway near San Marco Plaza

The Grand Canal is used to transport everything, including perhaps the boxes that this DHL person is delivering.

One evening a strong wind blew in, followed by gusts of rain. From our window, I watched diners hurriedly finish eating and paying at the restaurant on our piazza. The servers scurried around swooping everything off tables and trying to fold up stubborn patio umbrellas that wanted to blow the wrong way. It was still raining in the morning. With the gloomy weather, I decided it was a good time to visit the Jewish quarter, in the Cannaregio neighborhood.

We crossed the Grand Canal on the bridge near the train station, where there were lots of people already out and about.

A few twists and turns, and we were in the quarter. It was a Saturday and the Sabbath, so a service was getting ready to start in a nearby synagogue. Despite that, some stores and cafes were open.

The “Golden Age” of Venice did not apply to Jews. In 1516, they were all made to move to an area where foundries, called “geto”, had been in ancient times. The area that included the ghetto is an island, since there is no way to get to it other than bridges. It got so crowded in the ghetto that buildings were made taller with substandard apartments. On ground level, smaller apartments were squeezed right next to each other.

Looking about, I noticed pictures on the piazza wall. They are tributes to those arrested and murdered by the Nazis between 1943 and 1944 in this piazza.

It was sobering to ponder what happened here, but I think it is good to pause and reflect on these things.

All is not gloom and doom. The Jewish community is still here, with five synagogues and a library. Venetian Jews today number about 500, but only a handful live in the former ghetto.

I found a small art gallery where a gentleman had some cats lounging about. He takes pictures of scenes around the quarter and sends them to Israel, where an artist paints them onto canvas. I fell in love with one picture that included his cats, but I did not want to purchase anything.

We stepped into a small cafe to warm up and have a cup of tea (for me) and coffee (for Cal) with a cannoli. Cal was pretty happy with this stop. After thinking about it over my tea, I went back to the gallery and purchased my picture. It is now hanging up in my RV bedroom.

This was our only rainy morning in Venice, and the sun soon appeared to warm the day.

We did not just wander around Venice the whole time. There are golden treasures here: the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, the Chiesa del Gesu and other churches, the Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sighs, and Piazza San Marco. That’s for next time!

Europe · Italy

A Mountain Discovery Day – Italy, Europe Travels September 2022

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The Dolomites are a mountain range in northern Italy, and their beauty was all around us while we stayed in Bolzano. As soon as we could, we headed higher up in altitude for some exploration.

The cable car building was an easy walk from our lodging, and soon we were on our way.

It didn’t take long to rise above Bolzano and the vineyards encircling the city. The city lies on the floor of a valley and soon we lost sight of it as the mountains surrounded us.

Off the cable car, though, we were not on top of the mountain. On most every other cable car we have been on in the Alps, one or maybe two cable car runs usually puts us on top of the world where we can begin a hike. Surprise – not in this case!

The cable car had taken us to a little mountain village called Oberbozen. And straight ahead of me was a handy Tourist Information Office. There, I discovered that there was more to this journey than we anticipated. The nice lady inside the office, who spoke English, helped me map out our day.

To get up higher, we needed to board a small cog wheel train, which took us across the mountain instead of up. Off the train, everyone hoofed it en masse over to a waiting bus in Klobenstein. We all packed that bus.

On both the bus and the train, we passed alpine farms and large dwellings that I would guess hold lots of skiiers in the winter season. There were brilliant green meadows with horses, cows, and sheep grazing. Huge barns and houses held planters of flowers spilling out over multiple balconies.

We stopped at tiny train stations.

Walking trails everywhere provided good options for a day in the Alps. In the winter these same trails are probably great for cross-country skiing.

We were not done yet. After the bus, the next step was another cable car. In September of 2022, masks were still the law Italy for any public conveyance.

Off the cable car, and finally – the mountain top! Here, even the little mountain villages are no longer to be seen. But which way to hike?

We set off on the “Panoramaweg”, hoping for pretty views. Of course, there was a pretty view everywhere we turned.

The start of this walk is in a forest of short trees, almost bushes, that are called the mountain pine. The tallest of them are only nine feet tall, and some are three hundred years old.

Mountain pine oil is used internally and externally for colds, rheumatism, sore muscles and other purposes. The oil “makes tired legs kick”. Well, my legs weren’t too tired yet. It felt good to get out and stretch after riding on all the various conveyances to get here.

On our walk, we dipped down in elevation a bit, and here the trees are taller.

Rounding a curve, the actual top of the mountain, Rittner Horn, rises up over the treeline. A lift would take you there in the wintertime for skiing. The beautiful plateau of the Ritten has been designated a Unesco World Heritage site.

We did not hike up to it, since the sun was warm and it was already lunchtime. We made a stop at Gasthof Unterhorn, the white building in this picture.

We ate out on the patio, but I popped inside the restaurant and found this postcard. This is probably a great place to ski, and I can see why folks might want to lodge here. A skier would be right on the slope at the start of their day.

I did hike up just a little further after lunch to photograph this cow, which was also taking in the view. Or napping, I’m not sure which.

Hiking back to the cable car on the remainder of the “Panoramaweg”, there is more mountain splendor in store.

Starting from the highest peaks furthest away, waves of various colors ripple down the landscape.

This part of the path has some small sculptures to keep the kids entertained.

The woman at the tourist office back in Klobenstein had pointed out something else we might want to see, and we did. After the upper cable car and the bus ride we walked around the small bus depot to board a bus with a different route. This brought us to the stop for the “earth pyramids”. This is a natural phenomena due to hillside erosion. Each pyramid has a big rock on top. When the rock finally falls, the pyramid begins to die.

There was a sign that told us that pyramids such as these exist on every continent, but these are the tallest and best-developed. Several factors have to exist for the pyramids to happen: the type of soil, a steep incline, and protection from wind.

The earth pyramids were an extraordinary sight, and I was happy we’d taken this little detour. The short hike from the bus stop to see them gave us more beautiful scenery to enjoy, too.

There was a cute little bridge over a babbling mountain stream,

mountain ash trees full of berries clustered in profusion,

and we could hike in deeper woods than we had been in on the Ritter Horn, with the earth pyramids playing peek-a-boo.

What a day, full of nature and beautiful sights. Taken together with the other places we’d seen in Bolzano, we were feeling like our already-amazing trip was getting even better. A bonus: the weather was warming up, and on this day the sun shone all day. Along with all of that, one of my most-anticipated cities was the next stop on the itinerary.

Next time: our second (and last) Italian destination

Europe · Italy

Two Castles in Bolzano, Italy – Europe Travels September 2022

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Maretsch Castle sits on the outskirts of Bolzano and was a pleasant walk for us from our stay inside town. The higher peaks of the Dolomites loomed in the distance, ancient villas dotted the walk, and a field of grapes were sitting ripe for the picking.

The oldest part of the castle was built in the 13th century, but received a makeover during the Renaissance in the 1560’s. It was built to be a residence and not a fortress. It’s used currently as an event center.

Frescoes were added as part of the makeover.

I could only imagine what this must have looked like when the paint and plaster was fresh.

Looking out from Maretsch’s windows

We wandered through rooms upon rooms bereft of furniture, up narrow and well-used staircases, and came upon a postcard exhibition. Not only that, but the exhibition told of how the area near the castle was once a resort town named Gries. The sun, the climate and the lush green hills made it a prime health and holiday resort in the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

The practice of sending postcards began in 1865, and of course everyone coming to the resort had to have postcards to send home. The collection of about 2,000 cards belonged to one person. The picture below is an enlargement of one of the postcards, and showed how Gries looked back in the day.

Unfortunately, the resort area of Gries was bombed badly in 1944. Reconstruction folded it into the town of Bolzano.

Back in our AirBnb, we looked out our window and saw Runkelstein Castle, although at first we didn’t know it was Runkelstein. Could we visit that castle, and how could we get there?

Of course, it was a much more distant view from our apartment!

The answer was yes: we could visit, and all we needed to do was to get on a bus from Piazza Walther. We stopped at a bakery for some lunch provisions before we set out.

This castle is a medieval fortification originally built in 1237. It entered its golden years when two brothers, Nicklaus and Franz Vintler, purchased it in 1385. Sons of wine merchants, they wanted to validate their rise to aristocracy by giving it a fabulous makeover. In those days, as at Maretsch, the way to do that was by adding frescoes. This castle has one of the largest secular collections from medieval times. Also important: the addition of a privy and a cistern to store water.

There are frescoes everywhere, and new corners to explore at every turn.

This fresco depicts a jousting tournament. What’s interesting here is not only the tournament but also what is happening on the right side.

There are women looking on from above, and a priest stands below. Perhaps the priest was needed in case of a mortal blow? In the far right corner, not allowed inside the the walls but watching from wherever they could, are Jews discernable by their pointed hats.

Another fresco shows the height of medieval fashion. A lady may own only one dress, but have several interchangeable sleeves for the dress. For the men, the longer the point on the shoe, the more important was the wearer.

Making a fresco takes a lot of time and experience. A picture must be drafted. Then the wall is prepared by making it smooth and even, and a top layer of plaster is applied. Finally the painting can begin. Frescoes have an advantage over other types of painting because they are very durable. It took five years to freshen up Castle Runkelstein’s frescoes in the late 1990’s.

There is also one of the earliest known depictions of King Arthur and his knights seated at the Round Table.

Cal was not immersed in every detail of the frescoes as I was, and when I emerged from inside the castle, I found he had snagged the greatest spot for us to have lunch.

Lunch with a view

I had watched our route to Castle Runkelstein when we had been on the bus. There were walking paths, and the distance of about two miles back to town looked very doable. Cal opted for the bus, and I set out for what was to be one of my favorite walks of the trip.

I could see the old watchtower close up. Cypress trees dotted the grape vines growing precariously on the hillsides.

Does this villa date back to the Gries resort days?

And then, one of the best views. It looked to me like an old landscape oil painting with the Dolomites hazily in the background. I took pictures, walked, took more pictures.

Still to be written is our most memorable Bolzano day. Like all great days, it was full of surprises.

Next time – a mountaintop experience high above Bolzano

Europe · Italy

Bol-what? Italy, Europe Travels September 2022

twosnatravels2 Comments

I traced a finger down the rail line on a map of Europe. We would be catching a train in Munich into Austria, through the Brenner pass, and into northern Italy. This area is in the Dolomite mountains, and, with its strong Austrian influence, might be a good transitional spot for going into Italy. I speak passable German, but not a word of Italian.

Bolzano looked promising: walkable, with a scenic old town, and with mountains all around. Most everything is printed in two languages: Italian and German. Great choice! It turned out to be excellent for a four-night stay.

I had some sort of a mental block about Bolzano, and could never remember its name off the top of my head. If anyone asked about our Italian stops, I had to go look it up. There was no more trouble about that after spending time here!

After less than a quarter mile walk from the train station, we came to what we later learned is the most important square of Bolzano: the Piazza Walther. It was built during the short period in the early 19th century when Bolzano was under Bavarian rule. The Bolzano Cathedral, with its striking green, yellow and white diamond roof, looks down on all the bustle like a fond friend.

Bicycles zipped past us as we turned onto the pedestrian street to our AirBnb. I was happy to see this town has a bike culture.

Our home for a few days was a couple of floors up inside the arcade on the left. While waiting for me (he always has to wait for me to do whatever) Cal liked to watch the street activity on the bench opposite the entrance.

Soon enough, we figured out the reason for all the bikes. We were near a university – the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. Bozen is Bolzano’s German name. Classes at the university are given in Italian, German and English. Down the street was a middle school, judging from the ages of the kids who poured out from it every day. In the evening, most of the bikes were gone.

The elevator in our building had a window in it from which we could survey the neighborhood on our rides up and down.

Around the corner in the other direction was a fruit, vegetable and flower market.

In the early morning, there would be a lot of bustle around the market as everyone got ready for their day. That includes purchasing some flowers for a special occasion.

We found our grocery store near the market, and near it, a pizzeria:

Metal chicken sculptures were in every window of this building. Bolzano, like its Austrian and German counterparts, also has traditional paintings on some of its buildings.

During our stay here, we wandered down labyrinthine streets and admired the architecture.

One evening we returned to Piazza Walther for dinner.

The next morning, there was a formal event in the piazza, and a platoon from the Italian Army was there. I loved their Tyrolean hats with the jaunty little feathers.

All we had to do was to step out our door to explore in any direction. We never knew what we’d find.

Besides being a pretty town, Bolzano is famous for something: Otzi’s mummified remains are here.

Otzi was discovered by hikers in 1991 in a melting glacier not too far from Bolzano. He lived between 3350 and 3105 BC and is Europe’s oldest known natural human mummy. We could visit him, as well as the clothing and equipment found with him, in the South Tyrol Archeological Museum near our apartment.

It wasn’t possible to take a picture of him, but I could take a picture of what the scientists think he looked like:

Lately Otzi has been in the news. Recent DNA analysis has shown that his skin may have been darker than what they first thought, he may have been bald, and came from an isolated group of farming people. Is his model going to receive a make-over?

It was interesting getting a small picture of this man’s life so far back in time. Otzi’s museum did not take much time to go through, so after finishing it I went over to the small Bolzano City Museum. It fast-forwarded me in time a few thousand years.

There was a carved and painted wood picture from 1510 of Saints Barbara and Catharina that, interestingly, had their picture on the reverse side also. Maybe the one was a model for the other.

Moving forward in time, there was an entire room of elaborately painted and tiled wood stoves – “baking ovens”. This one dates back to 1780.

There were also ancient frescoes lifted from old churches as well as paintings by local artists in more modern eras.

Besides all this, there was beauty to be seen not far from the city center.

Old churches and an old watchtower, as well as picturesque homes, dotted the hillsides.

In Bolzano, I was able to photograph a phenomenon that I’d seen all over Europe, beginning in Belfast. In the evenings, shop keepers roll aluminum shades down over their stores. These are all covered in graffiti. The loveliest postprandial stroll down a picturesque pedestrian street can make one feel at times that they may not be in the best part of town. I got this picture while eating dinner in a restaurant on one of those streets after we watched this store being zipped down for the day.

Not nice, right? Imagine a street filled with these.

But in the morning, voila: a bakery with tempting treats! As with most everything in this area of Italy, the lettering over Cal’s head is both in German and Italian. That’s due not only to its proximity with Austria, but the fact that this region was ruled by the Austro-Hungarian empire for centuries.

But wait – there’s more!

Coming soon are two more blogs about our time here, each one better than the last. Taken together, it all adds up to one amazing stay in this South Tyrolian town. Here is a sneak peek:

Next time – Bolzano’s castles