Monday 4th September: Weather: 9°C to 30°C: Cool and sunny in di Castrozza, hot and sunny in Bolzano
Bolzano: 7.8k walk: 2hrs 30 mins: 3.30pm to 5.00pm: 0 stops: Ascent: 250m Descent 250m
Day Walk: Bolzano Circuit on Oswaldpromenade around Bolzano through mountainside vineyards
Accommodation: Villa Anita Apartments Bolzano
Pine tree dieback in di Castrozza
Oswaldpromenade Bolzano
Up through the Vineyards
Dolomites view from Bolzano
EuroSpar Shopper with dog in trolley
Highlights to day were a bit different from the past few weeks - no stunning dolomites to conquer just a gentle walk through the vineyards around Bolzano. We arrived back in Bolzano after 4 hours of 3 buses and one train from San Martino di Castrozza to find it an almost pleasant dry 30°C, not the 37°C we had from the 17th to 24th August when we first arrived in Bolzano to start our hiking in the Dolomites.
We’re up at 6am to a cool morning with blue skies. Our Dolomites hiking has ended and we’re about to leave for Bolzano. We’ve had a great 2 weeks, and it’s a bit sad to leave on such a beautiful morning. I could have gone on for longer. Next time!! We shower and have breakfast and pack. Our bags are much lighter - I’m down to the last of my sugar, just two teaspoons of coffee left and five teabags, five teaspoons of powdered milk and three Arnotts' Spicy Fruit Rolls. We’ve been through 3 packets I brought from Australia in the past two weeks. Ian’s gas can is only 1/4 full.
We clean the apartment and leave at 9am for the 9.30am bus to Artem, with a one minute change to the bus to Borgo, then another one minute change to the bus to Trento, and finally the train to Bolzano. Each of the four stages was about an hour with a one minute scramble inbetween. Despite the tight schedule, we enjoyed the trip out of the Dolomites which took us south to Borgo, then west to Trento, then North to Bolzano with great scenery along the way. From the bus window we could see the dieback of the pine trees in the di Castrozza Valley caused by a beetle bug.
Arriving in Bolzano at 1.30pm at 30°C, is a way lot better than the 37°C when we left two weeks ago. We’ve had nothing to eat or drink since breakfast and Villa Anita Apartments doesn’t open check in til 2pm, so we walk to a park we know is on the way to have a very late coffee/lunch in the shade, with a fresh bread roll we’d bought downtown. Just after 2pm, we check in and find our suitcase that we’d left stored waiting for us in the lobby, which we take to our Room 2, a very large bedroom measuring 6 metres by 5 metres. The shower is up the hallway and there’s a mini kitchen with fridge just outside in the common area to share between five bedrooms. All perfect for us. Almost as good as the apartment we had upstairs a few weeks ago but at half the price - firstly because it’s a bedroom not an apartment, and secondly because it’s now low season in September not high season in August.
After dumping our bags and sorting out some stuff, it’s time to sit on the bed and think about what to do for the afternoon. It’s not necessary to unpack and repack for the trip bact to Australia, we’ll do that in Munich. But we need a walk after sitting for so long on buses and trains. I check the All Trails website for best trails in Bolzano and find the Oswaldpromenade - a 6k walk about 200 metres above Bolzano through the vineyards and at 3.30pm, that's what we do. It’s a bit of a stiff climb up to a rocky ledge above Bolzano then a balcony walk through the forest and vineyards looking back over Bolzano. After 4k, the path turns downhill and we find ourselves on another shaded path, the Wassenmaierweg that leads us into the centre of Bolzano. On the way we have this magnificent view of the Dolomites up the valley to remind us of our wonderful two weeks hiking there.
Back into Bolzano, we swing by the Eurospar to buy some bread, fruit, tomato and yoghurt. I’m in the queue and a woman in front is trying to shove her dog back in the shopping bag - yes, a dog. We’ve seen them in supermarkets before but maybe this one was no dogs. But the dog kept popping it’s head out of the bag as quickly as the lady pushed it in. Dog won. I take a photo! The walk back through the old part of Bolzano is busy with shoppers and at 6pm we’re back in our large bedroom dying for a cold beer which we’d stashed in the fridge two weeks ago and were surprised to find it still there. Dinner is a picnic of bread cheese tomato, ham with a beer and a red wine I’d brought from di Castrozza and had cooled in the fridge outside the door. Shower time, then a bit of photo sorting and blogging and of course Ian is watching the US Open on TV. Then bed at 9.30pm.