2024 Sept 16 Monday

Bolzano

We actually reached Bolzano on Sunday night and had time to check in to our apartment and have dinner. We are staying on the top floor of a building housing shops on the ground floor and businesses below. If you crane your neck, you can see the Dolomites from our balcony.

11:20 am to about 6:00 pm. 7.09 miles, 18,110 steps. Elevation gain +4070 feet (includes the cablecar gain).

Richard’s Relive video is here: https://www.relive.cc/view/vE6JNDAkQg6

Our home for the next three nights. There are pluses and minuses, but the location is superb!
We can see the Dolomites off the balcony. Luckily our nearest neighbor appears to be away. There is some street noise but we are so high that it does not bother.
We’re off to talk to the tourist bureau about cable cars and castles.
A view of the Dolomites from the Renon-Ritten cablecar that takes us to Soprabolzano.
This modern church in Oberbozen is just up the hill from the cablecar station. After visiting, we sat on a bench to eat our lunch. School was letting out so we enjoyed the children frolicking as they walked home.
The inside of the church seems to match the Dolomites—angular and almost jagged. The stained glass colored the light.
This German Jesuit priest, Rupert Mayer, was a leader in the Catholic resistance to Nazism in Munich. he was interned in an abbey during the war and was liberated by American forces, but died shortly afterwards from heart problems. He was beatified in 1987.
A simple crucifix in the church.
There is a regular stream of cable cars.
We took the Ritter Bahn railway, a narrow-gauge railway, taking locals and visitors between Soprabolzano and Klobenstein.
From Klobenstein, we choose to walk to Lengmoos. There are well-marked hikes throughout the region. Note the Camino sticker at the bottom. Can there really be a route through here?
Our hike through Klobenstein. It’s overcast and cold but not raining.
These ancient earth pyramids are near Lengmoos. These examples are the best-developed earth pyramids in Europe, and date back 25,000 years.
A nearby picturesque village walking back from Lengmoos.
After one more train ride to get us to the cablecar, it’s back down to Bolzano for another wonderful dinner.

3 Responses

  1. 25,000 year old earth pyramids?! It’s hard to fathom something like that which has been around so many many years. I had no idea. Amazing and amazing photo. Some look like they have a rock sitting on top? Very bizarre. I look forward to learning more about this!
    You’ve been on your trip now for over a month and it looks like every single day has been an enjoyable one – which is great – you both look hale and hearty and your photos are stunning. What an adventure!

    1. The earth pyramids are on five continents so I guess they are related to the hoodoos you see in Utah. There was a unique circumstance that caused them to be formed, and they do indeed have rocks atop some of the spires that actually protects the spire. When they get weak, the rock may fall and that is the beginning of the erosion of the spire. But there will be another rock buried that will be exposed, and the process will continue.
      We have indeed enjoyed every day of this holiday and we still have some time to go. Richard is watching weather and now it appears flooding is our greatest threat, especially around Budapest. Our friends in Cesena and Ravenna (Italy) have had flooding. Patches is doing well and is having lots of visitors. Caitlin, this year’s main sitter, headed back to UCLA yesterday, so now she has a young neighbor boy who seems very gentle with her. Of course, Faye and her grandson make sure everything is okay and checks through our mail. Rachel keeps tabs from afar (Austin) since she is so attached, and her mother, Ingrid, comes by when she is in town for long petting sessions. Life is good for that cat! I hope things are going well with you and it will be good to catch up when we get home.

  2. Great “relive” Richard! It really gives you a sense of the journey beyond (the beautiful photos) you have taken.
    Jan, great job managing the heights. Ski lifts are about the worse as they rock and jerk so much. The views are usually so magnificent, as yours were, that the discomfort is usually worth it. Glad you persevered! Looks like the weather is being generous. You couldn’t have picked a better spot to spend a few days.
    Dan and Wendy