Day 22: 18 July 2010

Benson was our chauffeur and guide today in Bolzano, a city in the Dolomite Mountains.  The drive took about 2 hrs. each way from Lisa & Benson’s primarily on the scenic A22 that we drove down on from Austria…lots of vineyards, farms, and increasingly tall mountains.  We arrived around 2pm and headed straight towards Hopfen and Company for lunch.  Benson had been here once and wanted to make sure we got to experience a meal at this old house/tavern.  Benson and Joe got the huge mixed plate for two that came with spinach and speck dumplings, roasted chicken, tomatoes, sausages, sauerkraut, and lots of ribs.  Lisa and I enjoyed the mushroom risotto, and I had a tasty leek and potato soup.  Of course, the boys tried the microbrew, too.

After lunch, we walked through the old town of Bolzano/Bozen.  Although it is a city of 100,000, you would never know it from walking around, especially on a Sunday afternoon when everything is closed.  Bolzano feels more like a German town than Italian.  Street signs in this region are in both German and Italian, people speak both languages, the food is German cuisine, and it seems that people here would almost rather be part of Germany or Austria than Italy.  We walked to the Renon/Rittner funiva lift, and took a big cable car 951m up to the small town of Oberbozen at the top.  Got great views of the sharp, rocky, snow-covered Dolomites on the 12 min. ride up, and we took plenty of pictures once we reached the top.  The weather was much more pleasant here, a nice break from the heat and humidity in Montegalda.  Decided to take a short 25 min. hike down to le piramidi di terra.  These peaks or pyramids of clay are formed from erosion, when mud slides down the mountain, builds up, hardens, and is protected by large stones in the mud that surface to the top of the pyramid.  It’s a strange phenomenon, but neat to see!  The only downside was the good little hike back uphill to Oberbozen.  Took the cable car down and drove back to Montegalda.  Cooked up some pasta for dinner at Lisa & Benson’s before calling it a night.