Bolzano Italy

As our story begins, we find TJ and the Camel Queen on their way to a Mediterranean adventure.  Their flight takes them from Yanbu Saudi Arabia to Istanbul Turkey where, after a short layover they continue to Venice Italy.  This is our first time to fly out of Yanbu, we usually have a three hour drive to Jeddah and fly out from there.  The three hour drive is straight through, no place to stop, no bathrooms, just three hours of desert, we hope this will be better.

It is so odd, Istanbul is an Islamic city but so different from all the cities in Saudi Arabia.  You don't realize how much you miss Western food, dress and culture until you are back in an environment where it is acceptable and the norm.  It is truly amazing to see the duty free shops where liqueur is visible and restaurants where pork is served.

We spent the night at the Best Western Bologna in Mestre, Italy across from the train station.  We have a early train in the morning and wanted to be close to the station.  The hotel was nice, the room small but adequate.  Breakfast was included with the room but since we were leaving before breakfast was served they made us a "Early Morning Survival Kit" which had crackers, juice, fruit and other snacks.

To get to Bolzano we had to take the train West to Verona, change trains and continue North into the Itailian/German Dolimites (Eastern Alps).  In Verona, we only had six minutes to find the train schedule, find the right train platform and get on the train, I had been worrying about it for days.  I just knew we would miss our train.  As usual, all that worry was for nothing, six minutes was plenty of time, we had two or three minutes to spare.

On the first train we had reservations and rode in first class, the second train was second class and open seating.  There is not a lot of difference but I do prefer first class, less people, better seats and sometimes a table between the seats.  They also usually serve a small snack and drink of some type.

From a train you see so much of the country side and after being in KSA for a while it is very nice to see trees, grass and various crops.  There were vineyards all along the countryside, sometimes terraced up the mountain sides.  To see free flowing rivers and streams winding along the railway and through the cities and towns was very nice. 

Day 1
After arriving at the the Hotel Stadt Citta, we explored the area around us. We were located on the main square. We ate lunch at an outdoor cafe, then walked to the train & cable car stations to get ourselves oriented.

On our way back to the hotel, we window shopped at the many small stores along the way. We also stopped at a computer store and found the Apple store. Then we found a fabric store. Elizabeth bought 3 meters of cotton fabric. It was a bit pricey. I don't think she will ever forget that experience.

There was a bit of rain & cooler weather in the late afternoon/evening. We ate near the hotel at a covered, outdoor restaurant. The local beer is tasty but not as good as Berlin or Prague.

Day 2

We got a early start in hopes of making it up into the mountains.  We ate breakfast at the hotel, it was an elaborate selection of food but not a lot of things we usually eat.

To get to the top of the mountain, we had to ride several different modes of transportation, the first was a cable car to Oberbozen.  To get to the cable car we first had a ten minute walk.  After the cable car, we caught a train to Klobenstein. When the train arrived in Oberbozen, it was a bit of a surprise We had read that it is a narrow gauge train and we had expected something similar to the train in Silverton. This one is modern & is powered by overhead cables. It was still a nice ride. The mountains were hidden by mists. 

When the train arrived at Klobenstein, everybody disappeared and we could not figure out where to go.  It turns out there is a bus stop about 100 meters down the mountain.  When we got there, the bus was full and we had to wait for another bus.  All the signs, maps and directions are in German and Italian, not English.  We have really struggled with directions and menus on this trip.

After we finally got on the bus it was a good ride.  The bus dropped us off at a private cable car that is the final ride up the mountain.  This cable car doubles as a ski lift in the winter.  Once we got off the cable car there were hiking paths to various observation points.  We walked to the nearest one, it had a engraved plaque detailing the surrounding mountains and their elevations.  We got somebody to take our picture with the Dolomites in the background.

We each got a cup of hot chocolate from the cafe at the top of the mountain. It  was the first time either of us had cocoa that was so thick it had to be eaten with a spoon! There was a lot of haze and clouds in the morning but as the day progressed the sky cleared and we had beautiful scenery all around us.  We walked around enjoying the view and taking pictures.  While we sat there eating lunch we would take more pictures as things popped out of the clouds and the day cleared up.

On the way down the mountain, Elizabeth saw a postcard with a picture of a rock formation called The Pyramids which was very interesting.  After looking at some maps we determined we could get there by bus and tried to figure out which route and bus number.  In the end, she showed the driver the postcard, he said yes and we got on.  After a few stops we began to wonder where we needed to get off to see the pyramids and about that time the bus stopped, the driver turned to us and said get off and go 300 meters up the road.  That was much appreciated advice.  We walked up the path and got to see and take pictures of the pyramids, they were nice.  What makes the Pyramids so cool is the underlaying ground has washed out around large rocks leaving the rocks on top of the spires.


We walked back to the bus stop, just missing the bus so we sat down and  began to wait.  After a few minutes I looked at the schedule and realized we missed the last bus.  Now we were worried that we would miss the last train.  We started off walking not knowing for sure where we were going but we knew we needed to get to the train station.  

It was very hard on Elizabeth, we had already walked a lot in the mountains and this was very steep walking back to the station.  As we walked I recognized several bus stops we had passed on the way there so I felt we were on the right track.  We finally saw a sign to the Bahnhof (train station)...at the base of a very steep incline curving out of sight.  I thought Elizabeth was going to cry.  We made it to the top and the station was right there, we laughed a little, I told her she deserved a medal. I gave her chocolate instead. She appreciated that much more.

Day 3

Elizabeth had a rough night, very sore from all the walking yesterday.  We started the day off easy we visited a Gothic church in the town square.  It was very nice, I lit some candles for some people special to me.

We decided to go back up into the Alps, but not as high up as yesterday.  We rode the cable car and the train but did not take the bus.  We got off the train at several different places and took pictures.  The best place was a cafe/hotel called the Panorama Cafe that had a great view of the Dolomites.  We sat in the shade and drank our soft drinks taking pictures and enjoying being in the mountains.

TJ & EA not in KSA