Time to relax a bit

Charmed by Piedmont

Left San Cristina Valgardena and headed towards our home exchange in Piedmonte, which is a famed wine region in Italy but is still largely off the tourist hot spot lists. 

Took the toll roads and whizzed away from the steep vineyards of the Val Gardena region and to the northern Italian foothills which had fruit trees (on an industrial scale): apples, probably cherries and apricot, some kiwifruit and market gardening. Then onto the proper Italian plains of cereals being harvested, along with some sunflower crops.

Arrived at the city of Asti, near our destination at around 1 pm, and at 38 C it was mainly deserted on a Sunday afternoon. Italian shops close on Sunday’s or if not they definitely close for siesta during the middle of the day. Had lunch at a café on the square then drove the 30 minutes to Julie and Peter’s place… our base for the next 6 nights. This is the first of our 6 home exchange properties for this trip, Julie and Peter had stayed at Isabella's Cottage in Arrowtown in March 2018 meaning this is our reciprocal visit.

Wow.... pretty much sums up our accommodation, Casa Fonda is a 2 apartment B&B set among the rolling hills of grapes, and hazelnut trees, and is complete with an infinity pool overlooking the surrounding countryside… heaven!

Our apartment, the largest of the 2, is a lovely converted hayloft above what would have originally been the livestock stalls back in the day but which are now Julie and Peter's residence. Julie cooked us a beautiful meal that evening and along with Peter provided lots of advice on what to do if we can tear ourselves away from the pool.

Monday was a very relaxed day, catch up on some blog and generally blob! We walked 10 minutes up the country road that night for dinner at a family run, and very authentic, farm house restaurant. Lovely meal with wine, bread, marinated meat, lasagna and desert of panna cotta and melted chocolate log. This was accompanied by a complimentary desert wine and grappa (liqueur) to finish off, really nice: welcome to Italy cuisine proper. A little bit worried during the meal as a huge thunderstorm struck, and like naughty children we hadn't remembered (or even thought of) our jackets... but it cleared before our homeward walk.

Tuesday we did a bit of local exploring, the area is rolling hills with the top of most hills being home to an historic village dating from 12-1600’s with the bottom of the hills being the ‘modern parts’, from the 18-1900’s. All have vineyards and wine tasting, but with the driving and the heat the wine did not appeal so we just wandered and enjoyed. Did we mention the whole region is a UNESCO World Heritage area?

We visited Neive (5 minutes away) a lovely quiet cobblestone town dating back to 1000 BC with well preserved buildings many of which date from the 17-18^th century. Then onto the village of Barbaresco, dating from the 11^th century. Barbaresco wine is ‘the’ wine of the area, hence this is ‘the’ village although in our opinion not as pretty as some of the others we visit in the region.

Onto Alba for lunch, quite a big town and home to Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Unfortunately it is all top secret so no chocolate factory tours here! In fact we couldn’t even find it. Ferrero Rocher make Nutella spread and Kinder surprise choc’s as well.

Continuing our small village visits, we moved right along to Castiglione Falletto. A lovely town with a castle built in the 1^st century AD, and owned by the Falletto family from 12-1900. The last village to visit for the day was Monforte d’Alba, our favourite we think, beautiful old buildings with magic views over the area beyond.

Finding some lakes...

Wednesday we hit the motorway again and drove 1.5 hours north to Lake Maggiore, the second largest lake in Italy. The lake crosses the border so it is located in both Italy and Switzerland. The Simplon railway tunnel which was opened in 1906 meant easier access and more people to increase the area as a tourist destination and connected Switzerland and Italy under the high pass. The lake is surrounded by hills and terracotta roofed towns and villages, we parked up in the town of Stresa which is a resort town with history dating back to at least the 1200’s. It had some very grand late 1800/early 1900 hotels. 

 Is it, yes.... Switzerland over there....

Boats run from the shore to the Borromean Island’s. During the 16/17^th centuries island palaces were constructed on 2 of the islands. Isola Bella had a palace finished in the 1690’s and a huge structured garden, whilst Isola Madre had a palace built in 1580, and the third island Isola Dei Pescatori is an old fishing village left as is (but presumably with ice cream shops!!). We didn’t think we had the time to boat across and explore properly, so instead opted for a Gelato on the shore and drove the short distance to Lake Orta, a smaller less tourist-ed lake over the hill from Lake Maggiore.

We checked into our hotel located high on the hill overlooking the Lake, stunning views. Drove down to the town of Orta San Giulio, a beautiful medieval town located on an eastern peninsula. Many narrow, winding, cobblestone streets with a 15^th century church of Maria Assunta and the Palazzo Della. Lots of arty shops and restaurants, a great place to wander around. Certainly would not be easy to drive as we watched a local fold back their side mirrors and gingerly negotiate a street.

After dinner of pizza we walked the hill overlooking the town… the Sacro Monte of Orta, a complex of 20 chapels (out of original plans to erect 36) built over a 200 year period from the late 1500's with quite a few undergoing restoration.

One of the chapels on Sacro Monte

The next morning we took the first ferry to the island San Giulio, 5 minutes from the township. The island was originally a religious retreat and St Giulio is buried here. It is dominated by the Romanesque Basilica and the Benedictine abbey. There is one narrow path winding its way around some of the island which is called the Way of silence and meditation. There is also some private villas on the waters edge which were once priest residences. It still has a convent of cloistered nuns living permanently on the island. Still promoted as an island of silence and meditation it is very peaceful (particularly as we were ahead of the crowds for the day!).

After driving around to the other side of Lake Orta to briefly visit villages such as Pella Piedmont we drove back to our home exchange, 1.5 hours, for a swim 

Our last day at Julie and Peter’s we did laundry and headed off to visit another hilltop village, but discovered it was closed off for the day due to a summer concert series (the previous night had been Liam Gallagher, Macklemore another night and Sting on the list along with Italian artists over a 2 week period) so headed back to Alba for lunch.

In the evening we took our hosts out to dinner at a local, and very close, popular craft beer brewery (located in the middle of a wine region!!) for beer and pizza… a great way to finish the week.

We left by 9 am, heading to Cinque Terre on the Italian coast, about 3.5 hours drive. Leaving Julie and Peter's we wound our way through vineyards on ever decreasing road widths (and they were narrow for a start); what the GPS was doing was questionable but it was in the right direction. Stopped at Acqua Terme, a thermal spa town in the Piedmont region dating from Roman times. Not sure how much spa activity there is now but there are still ancient baths from Roman Times. In 1870 a pavilion was built in the centre of town where hot spring water pours out…. Very hot!, with temps varying but up to 75 C. No hot water signs, fences etc?. People were filling containers, presumably to take home to soak with. Definitely too hot to soak straight out of the source.

Back on the road and negotiated our way through Genoa, due to a major (and tragic) highway bridge collapse in 2018 the traffic is still diverted and slow... as well our GPS was very confused and had a bit of a moment, along with Noel!. We didn’t stop in the city but opted for a roadside stop down the coast a little which was very busy and very hot at 36 C. 

Wound our way down twisty narrow roads to the Cinque Terre town of Monterosso al Mare where we are staying for the next 3 nights. Cinque Terre is the Five Towns dating from the 11th century set along the Italian Riviera coastline. The coastal villages are clinging to the rocks and surrounded by terraced vineyards and olive trees. Tourism has been growing since the 1970's bringing revived prosperity.... and an awful lot of people!

Our hotel was very easy to find and in the perfect location, and once the car was carefully stowed in the provided park (beneath a railway bridge) we could soak up the atmosphere. Our hotel is right on the waterfront with a balcony in the room overlooking the beach…. Well done Noel! (more good luck than good management). The town was very, very busy with sunbathers and tourists, a lot of American accents as well as Italian holiday makers.

Auf Wiedersehen Austria.... Ciao Italy

Lets do a bit more walking ...

Drove towards Italy, the scenic way (seems like it all is around here!). Lots of hay being done in various ways; hand mowing, hand raking, machine raked, ride on lawn-mowers, 4WD small truck pickup arrangement and also some round hay and silage being done.

Another (present day) un-manned border crossing

Various hay gathering techniques, including hand raking by farmers...

We initially detoured to the town of  Sesto Sexten as we wondered if we could walk to the famous Dolomites 3 peaks from that area, as the road toll the main way was quite expensive, but we couldn’t… we would have to walk a couple of days to get there due to the required chairlift not yet being open!!

So instead we went to Lake Largo de Braies, a beautiful mountain lake. It was very busy, it was very hot! We walked around some of the lake, lunching on the shore and watching the little fish drift. Back to the car, the GPS said 44 C… our parking ticket sitting on the dash had blackened and curled on the edges!!!! (would have made an interesting call to the Peugeot help desk pleading self combustion!)

Drove through spectacular scenery, mountain rocks and very windy roads to our hotel accommodation at Pocol. Once checked in we drove back the short distance to Cortina d’Ampezzo for a look. A ritzy resort town surrounded by imposing rock mountains that has just been announced as the hosts for the 2026 winter Olympics… it will be a stunning location.

Back to our hotel and a short walk to the neighbouring hotel restaurant for our first Italian meal. Beetroot ravioli (not the Italian name) was very good.

Noticeable along all these windy roads, once again, is that there is lots of cyclists out training, getting exercise, searching for the meaning of life etc.

Left early after breakfast for a 15 minute drive, up more windy roads and past more cyclists, to Passo Faltarego which is 2104 m. There is a cable car to Mount Lagazuoi but we opted to do the 1 hour walk up. It took us longer than that however as we puffed our way up through snow near the top. Near the top of little Lagazuoi 2778 m is a Refugio offering food, accommodation, a Finnish sauna and magnificent views.

The top was quite busy due to the cable car access but not too over-crowded. Being close to the Austrian-Italian border the whole range of mountains were a war zone during WWI between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies. The Lagazuoi area is now an open air museum with trenches, tunnels, emplacements, barbed wire and huts still present. A very tough area in which to fight a war. The top area features the Austrian emplacements on the ridge-lines. Of course, a UNESCO world heritage site.

After some recovery time and the obligatory Apple Strudel we walked down to a tunnel entrance. The Anticina Tunnel is a km long, vertical’ish, route that was originally made by the Italian soldiers as access and possible explosive placement near Austrian positions. The top of the tunnel was exploded in June 1917 but has been restored. So with helmets and headlights we walked down with a few other people going down or up, and a few peepholes on the way; it was a good experience. Amazing to see the sleeping barracks carved into the rock. It would have been a cold, wet existence over the 2 years 1915-17 for the soldiers posted there fighting the climatic elements, avalanches, as well as each other.

Remains (partly recreated) of WWI trenches and barbed wire high in the mountains

After we walked down to the car we backtracked 5 km and grabbed a chairlift up the opposite side of the valley to Cinque Torri (5 peaks). A fabulous looking ski area with reconstruction of the Italian WWI trenches and command posts which looked across and up the valley to Lagazuoi and beyond. As a soldier this would be a preferable location, if you had to be stuck up a mountain under fire!!

There's always one....

A relaxed walk around the area, and with the Refugio’s closing for the day we chair lifted back down and continued our trip to San Cristina Valgardena in the Italian Dolomites and our studio apartment for the next 3 nights.

Day 1 Val Gardena area

We originally had plans of doing a day walk from another town but with a chairlift 5 minutes walk away it seemed silly to drive anywhere. So we took 2 chairlifts to get to walks around the Sassolungo group of mountains.

We didn’t have a map as such, but the paths were well defined. Caro opted for the skinny route under the mountain…. Noel followed…. and walked about an hour until we reached Emlio Comici which is about 2000 m. This is a very modern Refugio complete with espresso's, deck chairs, automatic toilet doors and a Range Rover on a pedestal being advertised outside.

Apart from the restroom we resisted its charms and carried on walking through the Citta de Sassi, big rock formations and fabulous views to the Dolomite peaks in every direction. Just as we were starting to get a little tired and hungry we spotted the most amazing thing…

A phone box shaped gondola disappearing into a cutting away up above us… now that could be perfect. So we purchased tickets and got literally manhandled by 2 attendants into one of the moving phone boxes, only just big enough for 2 people, and sent on our way up to Toni Demetri Hutte. This is a Refugio offering food, accommodation and stunning views, what fun!

 The gondola ride drops you at the Refugio, located in the right hand side 'saddle' visible up high. Not for the faint of heart with the gondola's swaying in the gentle breeze!

 Photo at Refugio Toni Demetri of the end of winter team clearing the snow from the building!... GO STIHL!!

 Refugio Vicenza Langkofelhutte about halfway back down walking track

The hut was still surrounded by snow, a metre plus at the back of the building. So of course we ordered Apple Strudel (now becoming connoisseurs) and after some discussion with very helpful staff we decided to go over the top and down the cutting on the other side. This will put us in the right spot at the end of the day to catch the Monte Pana chairlift back to town.

There was snow for a start with quite a few hikers coming up, which must had been hard work. The path was well packed in places so we made our way down past another Refugio, Vicenza Langkofelhutte. Out of the cutting and then through forest tracks to the Monte Pana lift.

On the way down we watched some kids having their ski jump lessons after school, and then chair lifted back down to our accommodation.

Yee haa... a different type of after school activity. Jump and run-off area all under water sprinklers to give the slip/slide effect and 2 coaches giving tips from tower on the side....

Day 2 Val Gardena area

Needing to do a not quite so energetic walk today we took a bus to the gondola Col Raiser and whizzed up to 2019 m in minutes… easy!

This is opposite our previous day mountains and has lovely views of that walk area. Our hike wound its way up through flowering meadows and past many small chalet huts (presume privately owned) and Refugios to the top ridge-line of Forcella Pana and along to Seceda Hutte at 2500 m. A lot of people about but with so many trails and hikers spreading out it wasn’t that noticeable.

Apple Strudel at a Refugio on way up and a beer at the Seceda (highest point and terminus for a huge cable car), before a meander back to our chairlift in the afternoon heat. A great way to spend the day and we are so pleased with our whole time in the Dolomites area.

Shot of Pug's GPS just so you know we aren't kidding about the mountain roads being twisty!!

Return to Austria

Meandering up and down, and through, hills

Left Budapest and drove towards Graz, Austria, via Lake Balaton, Hungary, as we almost had a home exchange there for a couple of nights. We had cancelled the exchange last week as the other party informed us they were no longer coming to Arrowtown and although we were welcome to stay we decided to add the couple of days to the Dolomite's part of our trip as a more time efficient option….

Balaton is a huge lake surrounded to the north with huge vineyards as well as National Park in the hills to the west. From what we saw most of the lake was paid access through resorts, campgrounds or car parks. We couldn’t get very close, so turned off to go to a cute village, Tihany, located on a peninsula with thatched roofed houses etc. But it was a Saturday so hundreds of other people had also decided to visit. Hence all that happened was we were in a traffic jam to get in, and then get out, with no parking available. So a slow queue out of there and onwards we went.

Coming back out past the lake there was a small amount of lake access but paid parking. In these spots the ‘shore’ was concrete pads with everyone sunbathing on that. When the Soviets had control of the country the citizens were not allowed to travel externally so resort areas such as this were quite well developed. Additionally the lake side towns had large villas which ‘belonged’ to those in higher power positions.

It was nice rolling country, vineyards then back to cereals. We appeared to wind our way out of the country rather than in the direction we thought we should be going. The GPS took us the fastest route but not necessarily the most direct (another trick learnt!). We left Hungary through an abandoned, derelict looking but very large border crossing complex then through the Austrian border which did have a couple of soldiers manning a stop-go sign. Not sure what they were stopping but it wasn’t us. A lasting impression of Hungarian drivers is that the centre line appears to be more of a guide for them…. they either drive with it firmly in the centre of their vehicle or alternatively weave from one side to the other (particularly on corners) so that on average it appears they are on the correct side. Made for attentive driving on our part particularly on winding roads…

Immediately in Austria the houses looked tidier, again cereal crops and hay being baled, and fast motorways and tunnels, all immaculately maintained, on our way to Graz. There were thunderstorms and heavy rain so the journey was slowed by that and a couple of resulting accidents, not us (both accidents involved vehicles that had lost control on the very wet road and flipped at speed). Arrived at Graz around 5 pm, no rain there, to a chain road-side hotel… the first 'standardised' hotel since Auckland on departure.

Went into the city for dinner, a lovely medieval town, town plaza with town hall and main street with old buildings and tram track running through. After our meal we wound our way up the steep street to the Schlossberg which means castle hill. It is a tree clad hill and site with remains of a 10^th century fortress. Mid 16^th century a 400 m long fortress was constructed, it was never conquered but was largely demolished by Napoleonic forces under a treaty settlement of 1809. The clock tower and bell tower were saved. In 1839 the grounds became a public park. Now there are cafes, gardens, an open air theatre in one of the cellars of a ruined bastion, a funicular railway to get up the hill and a tunnel system through the hill built as air raid shelters for WWII.

 As per usual, when studying statues the devil is in the detail....

This was a nice and busy place to walk on Saturday night with lots of families, couples and tourists out walking, picnicking etc. We wound our way down very steep steps to our car and back to the hotel thinking we would explore a little more in the morning.

Next morning it was pouring with rain so we left town. As it was a Sunday there is not much open so it was breakfast at a highway service station and just carried on, fast roads and lots of tunnels as we wound our way towards Lienz which is to be our base for a few nights.

We stopped beside Lake Klugenfurt, at a ritzy holiday town of Velden am Worthersee. The Lake had the tiniest bit of free public access… all of 30 metres… the rest all seemed to be shut off by resorts etc. Lots of flash cars, flash people, flash dogs (some being towed around in little trailers behind bikes), etc…we grabbed an ice cream and carried on to Lienz.

 Caro checks out the valued piece of public access

 Noel checks out the local car sales

Both agreeing with the seat in the car sales office....

Arrived an hour early in Lienz so wandered around the small pretty town centre which was all hikers, cyclists and motor-biker's. Really a ski resort town but popular summer destination.

Found our accommodation, a lovely apartment in a Pension (Guest house) on the hill overlooking the town with the Alps in the background. Owned by a friendly British couple. We walked down the hill 10 minutes to a bar/restaurant (read pub) for dinner. With the bar being located in a chairlift carpark we were entertained by a large brass band as they practiced their marching/playing routine…. Ideal welcome!!

The impressive view from our Pension balcony... not bad.....

The weather is great and looking good for the next couple of days.

Zig-zagging away

Headed off after breakfast to travel over the GrossGlockner High Alpine Road. Found with a bit of research when planning our route the pass is the highest surfaced alpine pass road in Austria reaching just over 2500 m, and is named after Austria’s highest peak which is visible from the road.

The road was constructed post the US stock market crash of 1929, when an already impoverished Austrian economy went into free fall. With unemployment close to 30% the government put 3500 people to work on construction of the highway with a view (pun intended) that the increased tourism of the rising car tourism industry would stimulate earnings. The cost was to be recovered by tolls, which are still charged today for maintenance.

It soon became obvious that the toll road pass is very popular with petrol heads of all descriptions. Hundreds of motorcyclists, all sorts of exotic cars from new Audi/Porsche/Ferrari etc through to American muscle cars and even a couple of 1950/60's MG’s during the period we drove. Plus, surprisingly, heaps of cyclists... Austria and Italy must have potential as really strong cycle teams, perhaps they are?

Pug’s transmission was put in sport mode and off we went…. No, we didn’t race but it was an enjoyable drive with spectacular vista’s. Although some were treating it as a race, as had to watch the rear view mirror constantly as Porsche's etc were liable to suddenly be there! A few high performance car drivers were getting thrills from stopping at the start of tunnels and accelerating through the gears to get the engine echo. However, all drivers were well behaved and very courteous.... the more we travel Europe the more we realise how appalling NZ, and particularly Queenstown area, drivers are!

The length of the road is around 50 km and includes 36 hairpin turns which keeps the gradient reasonably light although you definitely know you are climbing/descending. Due to the altitude the pass is only open over the summer months, and during our visit many of the hiking trails off the side of the road are still closed due to snow.

Most curious thing was that there is mountain Marmot's present, a cute cat sized native alpine animal, scampering about that you could spot. All fine, until you wander into a gift shop and see jars of Marmot Sauce (not Marmite, Marmot!).... wtf.... is it made out of Marmot's, and if so how.... are they farmed, chased with foxes or dogs, shot from a distance?, or rather is it just a sauce to spread on your Marmot sandwich?? A mystery to be solved....

Did a google search... it is a traditional ointment remedy for joint pain,  made from the oil of Marmot fat.... still leaves a few questions unanswered though....

Once we had completed the pass, we had some lunch in Zell am See, then returned back to Lienz via a loop utilising the Felbertauern Tunnel. This 5 km long toll tunnel constructed in 1967 to give a low altitude link is also spectacular. A couple of the town names sounded familiar and we worked out that the very north part of our day's loop, 30 km between Zell am See and Mittersill, we had travelled back in ’88 en-route from Salzburg to Switzerland.

An enjoyable day, and since we had kitchen facilities at our apartment Caro whipped up dinner… a nice change from eating out. After dinner we enjoyed a walk along some of the trails near our pension, crossing alpine fields and weaving between forest, housing and farm buildings. Past some very happy and very healthy looking cows out of their shed for their evening graze… worked out the herd size, total, was 14!

The previous evening we had seen a different farmer returning 4 cows from grazing to his shed on a trailer behind his small tractor…. The cows happily chewing their cuds as the tractor chugged up the steep road.

Right.... time for some exercise

Away this morning to find the mountain we can see from our accommodation. Our destination was Karlsbader Hut, at Laserzsee, 2260 m in the Lienz Dolomites. Dolomitehutte at 1616 m was just beyond the carpark and perched quite precariously on a cliff!

Too early for a cuppa, we opted to walk first. We had choices, a 2 hour or an alternative 3 hour 'off road' trails, so we chose the 3 hour option up hill through meadows and forest and when we thought we got to the high point... we had Queenstown Remarkables type scree slopes in front of us. Another choice; scrambling or via ferrata (via ferrata definitely higher and scarier looking!).

We tried scrambling and with fixed wire rope in places we made it up to the highest point. Stunning views!

We then angled across, some snow in places, and finally we could see the Karlsbader Hut in the distance.

"Hut" is not the most accurate description as these huttes or Refugios can sleep large numbers (up to 90 guests in this case), have table service and serve wine, beer, meals of spaghetti, meat, schnitzels, chips etc. We opted for Apple Strudel and Vanilla Cream (custard). Sitting on the deck in 30 C temps... heaven really...

There were 6 4WD Police vehicles at the Hut, obviously staying there. The policemen all turned up in groups as we ate, returning from high alpine rescue training... and grabbing a beer, so presuming they must have been finished for the day.

There is still a lot of snow on the tops, the lake by the hut was still covered in snow although it was all melting quickly.

We walked down the quicker option which mainly followed the road. Must mention the keen mountain bikers that peddle up all these hills... amazing.

Got back to the Dolomitte Hutte and just had to have a beer (small) then back to our apartment via a detour to look at a nearby lake. Euro 2.50 for a swim or access, a nice campground and adjoining path, but it was too hot and we opted to continue homeward.

All in all a lovely stay in the Lienz area, a fantastic and highly scenic area.

Noel's eagle eyes spotted a couple of VW's just out cruising