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| Bolzano |
With our whirlwind eastward travel completed, it was time to head north. Our destination was Bolzano, capital of South Tyrol and gateway to the Dolomites. We started to see luggage change to include ski gear. The signage were now in both Italian and German, and there was a distinctive German feel in the old town. For one, sausages now seem to be commonplace! Bolzano has a long complicated history. We'll summarise by saying that it has both German/Austrian influence from the north as well as Italian from the south. It was part of the Austrian empire from 1813 and was only formally part of Italy from 1918.
We opted to take 2 trains with a change in Verona rather than the direct train to give us an extra 4 hours in Bolzano. Fortunately for us, the trains ran to time and we didn't have to change platforms! We dumped our bags at our apartment in the medieval city centre and set about to find lunch. We thought we'd try something non-pasta non-pizza and visited Schnitzelhaus. It was good without being great, and at least it was good value!
Next was a date with Otzi the Iceman. Well...we should have made a specific booking for the date. Seemed like we had dropped many balls this trip. Must be out of practice! We did not realise that reservations were separate to tickets. The confusion came from the fact that we had bought a museomobil card. To cut a long story short, we did NOT make reservations and timed reservations were gone for the day by the time we realised. To our horror, we saw a long standby line. Fortunately for us, we only had to wait 25 minutes to be allowed in. So...if coming in the busier summer months, do make a reservation on the website . This is separate to the entry ticket itself which can be purchased onsite at the ticket desk (as soon as you enter after waiting your turn in line). Alternatively, entry is free if you have the museomibil card. Just show your card at the ticket desk and they will print you a ticket for entry.
With a combo card, came the need to maximise the value of purchasing the card. So we utilised Bolzano's good public transport system to bus our way to Schloss Runkelstein or Castel Roncolo in Italian. Famous for having the largest secular medieval frescoes, it was a case of the bourgeois wanting to be on equal footing with the nobles. Construction began in 1937 and the castle was a lot prettier than we expected and quite fun to explore in the 10 minutes that we had to explore it! We arrived at 1640, ten minutes past the last entry of 1630 before closure at 1700. Then came the hard work of walking up a steep path to get to the castle. By the time we ran (with difficulty) up and got to the ticket counter it was past 1645. The kind man at the desk said, be fast you have 10 minutes. Grazie and danke! It was great as there was only one other couple there. Unfortunately the downside was that we didn't really have time to read about all the various things that we were looking at. Fortunately, we were there at the right time to view a beautiful sunset looking down the valley into the township of Bolzano.
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| What one does when one has a spare 15 minutes in between trains. Practice "using the force" photos |
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| Our apartment. The 3 windows above the bistro on the right |
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| The apartment has lovely owners. They were responsive and let us put our luggage in whilst it was still being cleaned and gave us the keys then and there |
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| The spacious living area |
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| Bedroom 1. The beds were really comfortable |
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| Only one bathroom but the toilet is split |
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| Schnitzel |
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| Everything was in both Italian and German. If you're lucky in English too! |
Next was a date with Otzi the Iceman. Well...we should have made a specific booking for the date. Seemed like we had dropped many balls this trip. Must be out of practice! We did not realise that reservations were separate to tickets. The confusion came from the fact that we had bought a museomobil card. To cut a long story short, we did NOT make reservations and timed reservations were gone for the day by the time we realised. To our horror, we saw a long standby line. Fortunately for us, we only had to wait 25 minutes to be allowed in. So...if coming in the busier summer months, do make a reservation on the website . This is separate to the entry ticket itself which can be purchased onsite at the ticket desk (as soon as you enter after waiting your turn in line). Alternatively, entry is free if you have the museomibil card. Just show your card at the ticket desk and they will print you a ticket for entry.
With the minor panic moment out of the way...we actually enjoyed the Otzi museum. They probably let more people in than they should have, which we were grateful for as it meant we had a shorter wait, but it meant that it was very full inside. Despite that, the musuem was well done. It actually got us interested into who Otzi was, how he died and why he was important. Definitely something to visit in Bolzano!
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| Lining up to meet Otzi! |
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| The man (well recreated) himself. The original frozen version can also be viewed but no photos were allowed |
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| That's not my caveman |
With a combo card, came the need to maximise the value of purchasing the card. So we utilised Bolzano's good public transport system to bus our way to Schloss Runkelstein or Castel Roncolo in Italian. Famous for having the largest secular medieval frescoes, it was a case of the bourgeois wanting to be on equal footing with the nobles. Construction began in 1937 and the castle was a lot prettier than we expected and quite fun to explore in the 10 minutes that we had to explore it! We arrived at 1640, ten minutes past the last entry of 1630 before closure at 1700. Then came the hard work of walking up a steep path to get to the castle. By the time we ran (with difficulty) up and got to the ticket counter it was past 1645. The kind man at the desk said, be fast you have 10 minutes. Grazie and danke! It was great as there was only one other couple there. Unfortunately the downside was that we didn't really have time to read about all the various things that we were looking at. Fortunately, we were there at the right time to view a beautiful sunset looking down the valley into the township of Bolzano.
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| Yay a gate! Nope keep going up |
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| Made it! If the kids said it was tiring then it was tiring! |
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| It literally was just snap and keep walking |
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| No that's not an ewok. That's me in my Mickey beanie |
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| This is THE bus that took up and down the mountain. Bus 12 in case you were interested |
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| Back home and time for dinner at the bistro below |
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| Very cosy and nice decor |
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| My gin based berry aperitif |
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| Meat, potato and polenta stew |
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