2024 Sept 18 Wednesday

Bolzano and train to San Candido

We had only a few places left to see and then a train trip to San Candido. Our landlady speaks German and Italian and we have only a bit of Italian knowledge, so communication is difficult. However, we’re managing and they deliver a breakfast basket of local foods in the morning with items we select the night before. Yum!

10:13 am to 6:22 pm. 4.39 miles, 10,819 steps. Elevation +5025 (including that on the train). Weather partly cloudy.

Click to view Richard’s Relive video: https://www.relive.cc/view/vQvyQ58194v

The St. George Church was part of the Teutonic Order presenting Bolzano since 1203. The church was built in the 14th century, and now includes flags of the order, shields, and numerous graves of members dating to the 17th and 18th centuries.
A window of a knight in St. George’s Church.
The altar at St. George’s Church.
This marble altar is one of the most important in Bolzano, dating from 1799.
Above the marble altar is a painting of St. George slaying the dragon.
Next we tried to visit the Church of St. John in Villa. I found it to be the first church in this trip that has been closed. It is a simple church consecrated in 1180 and we were able to take some pictures through the windows.
Traveling artists of the Giotto school introduced a new fresco technique here.
The cathedral of Bolzano with its distinctive bell tower and roof.
The sandstone bell tower of the Cathedral is the recognizable emblem of Bolzano, standing 65 meters tall, with an open fretwork designed in the early 1500’s.
Inside, the Baroque altar in marble stands before the grave of Archduke Ranieri of Austria who died in Bolzano in 1863.
The Baroque chapel of the graces was added in 1745.
Instead of paintings or side altars, the cathedral has these golden shaped altars along its sides.
Henry of Treviso (or of Bolzano) was a lay pilgrim and holy man. When he died in 1315, a popular outpouring of emotion named him patron saint of Trevino. He was beatified in 1750 and his remains are here in Bolzano.
The sandstone lions guard the bronze doors on the side of the cathedral.
Outside the cathedral is a monument to Peter Mayr who fought for liberty for the Tyrolean people against the Napoleonic-Bavarian troops. He was executed in 1810 for his part.
Off to the Bolzano train station for our trip to San Candido.
Beautiful scenery photographed from the train.
Our home for the next three nights about 1000 feet above San Candido. Our hotelier picked us up and took us to the grocery store to make sure we had preparations to make our meals.
Our balcony.
The Dolomites as photographed from our balcony.
This ski run is also visible from our balcony, and runs down to the local town below.
Here is Egarterhof. The family lives below, and we are on the next-to-the-top level where the red geraniums line the balcony. It’s hard to tell how many guests are here because it is so quiet.

4 Responses

  1. Ah – the flowers or flower boxes outside the windows again….I love this look! I wish people would do that in our area. It makes the building seem so happy and inviting.

    1. I totally agree about the window boxes. I would love to see what they do in the winter. Charlotte, our host, said they had snow last Friday all the way down to the valley. For now, though, we’re enjoying the flowers.

  2. Wow, what a beautiful place to stay. Will love to hear more about how you went about planning your trip and the websites used. Amazing all the beauty you have seen on this trip. It seems like you have been gone for ages because you’ve seen so much. Almost like you’ve been on numerous trips already!
    Dan

    1. It’s hard to remember all the wonderful things we’ve seen and done but that’s why we keep a blog. There are always associations—tonight at dinner we were remembering one of our first nights in Lucerne when we were also having wine by the river. It seems that almost every night we say what a wonderful day it has been.