Rained during the night and somewhat chilly this morning in the apartment. Finished yesterday's blog. The local forecast is for rain so our plan of driving to Bolzano in the Alto Adige wine area makes sense. Our plan is to see Ötzi the Iceman at Bolzano's Museum and get in one or two wineries in the afternoon. The wineries will be south of Bolzano.
Picture taken from our bedroom window/skylight this morning. Notice the clouds are below our apartment and there is snow on the mountains! When I opened the window to take the picture it was pretty cold.
Google Maps directions/route choices for drive from San Cassiano to Bolzano. Our GPS wanted to take us on the northern route and then go south like we did yesterday. I preferred a more direct route (see the blue route). Plus, I was curious as to how the more direct blue route was the same timelines as the more indirect northern route? When driving, I messed up as I thought we needed to go south first, but our GPS was actually correct so we turned around and found SS243 route.
We figured out pretty quick why the more direct route was basically the same as the indirect route. The roads were dramatically slower due to the curves and the fact we climb up into the mountains and then back down again. In fact, we get to Val Gardena which is famous in skiing circles with lots of World Cup events and I think the Olympics one year? Lana is reminded of the crazy Canucks Giant Slalom ski team back in the day. At one point we are driving below a chairlift! In fact, we end up well above the chairlift at the peak of the mountain. Lots of fresh snow around although not on the road thankfully.
During our drive to Bolzano/Bozen in the mountains we come across five Ferrari cars zipping down the mountain roads. Quite a sight - envious! So many hairpin turns and incredible curves. Some of the hairpin turns are banked so that helps. The traffic wasn't too bad in the morning and I mostly had chances to pass where needed at least in the mountains. According to our GPS the trip to Bolzano would be about 95 minutes, but in reality it took us close to 110 minutes. For part of the trip north of Bolzano we had the misfortune of following a garbage truck for at least 25 minutes. What the heck is a garbage truck doing on a main road anyway?
Picture off our GPS unit. As you can see the route is full of hairpins and curves in the narrow roads. The arrival time kept on changing with slower traffic and the occasional stop for construction. Thankfully Lana didn't get car sick but she said she came close a couple of times!! Yikes!!!
In this part of Italy, there are no flag persons. Temporary lights on either end of their construction zones. You see a red light then you stop and queue up. The opposing traffic drives through and there is usually only one lane open. The queues can get so long that you have to wait for a couple of lights.
We arrived in Bolzano/Bozen around 11:15 courtesy of our GPS finding our way in this fairly large city. Weird to be back in a city again. When we find a place where there is a underground parking garage fairly near the Museum we queue up again. The entrance to the garage has red/green lights for you to proceed in the queue. When you get your green light take a ticket from the parking machine and the gate opens. As you drive forward there are green numbers for how many parking spots are free on each parking level. Each spot has a light above it which you can see as you enter the package level: red light means it's taken, green light means an empty spot. We quickly find a green light and park the car. Very efficient says Lana. Keep your ticket as you leave your car as you need to pay in a machine on another level before you get in your car to depart. The paid ticket goes in the exit parking machine and the gate opens. We paid 7.80 Euros for 2 1/2 hours of parking in the heart of downtown Bolzano.
Bolzano/Bozen is the capital city of the South Tyrol/Alto Adige wine area. Of course this part of northern Italy is predominantly German speaking due to its long history of being settled by Germanic peoples and then under the control of the Austrian/Hungarian empire until the conclusion of WWI. Walking around the downtown core you believe you are in Germany or Austria given the architecture, language spoken and the organization/efficiency of the city.
Our reason for the long drive to Bolzano is to see the famous Ötzi the Iceman! He is in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. I/we have seen at least two documentaries about this Copper Age man found in the Alps a number of years ago by hikers following a different path. Plus, we have read numerous articles in papers and online. I am pretty excited to see him in person. We navigate in this part of Bolzano using the GPS and arrive at the Museum within about five minutes (11:30). Lots of people in this busy city. Of course, there is a long line/queue and we get at the back of the line. It winds its way from the entrance around the side of the building. Fortunately, the weather is good. Not raining and around 14 degrees Celsius. Most of the fellow tourists are really bundled up.
It will be close to an hour (50 minutes) before we gain entrance and then into the lineup queue for tickets. Lana goes for a walk to get us something quick to eat while we stand in line. All sorts of languages being spoken by our fellow tourists. When we get to the cashier she asks where we are from? When we indicate Canada, she confirms we are the only Canadian tourists so far today visiting Ötzi. It is a 9 Euro entry fee. Discounts for 65 and over, but I don't qualify. There are groups of teenage students and tweeners with their teachers in the Museum. I cannot bring my backpack into the Museum itself so I use a locker (2 Euro coin) and leave my backpack. Ironically, when I unlock with the key at the conclusion I get my coin back. Yeh!
Ötzi's body is located one floor up. There are three floors with Ötzi information and finds. The Museum is totally dedicated to Ötzi. Of course, I am in a race to get to see him as quickly as possible. Forget looking at the other Museum information it is Ötzi I want to see. NO pictures allowed on this floor! You get in another queue to line up to see him. He is behind a small window and in a temperature controlled specially built storage room lying on a table. When you look through the window you are super close to his body. You can simply stand there and look until you feel guilty and then let the people behind you get their chance.
Warning--slightly gruesome picture coming up--online picture of Ötzi lying on a table. This is pretty much how he looks. There are some icicle particles on his skin due to the temperature and spray. Room is at -6 degrees Celsius. 100% humidity.
These are my notes from Museum information:
- Ötzi 'belongs' to the South Tyrol Museum. There was a question if he belonged to Austria or to Italy, but the modern border boundary determined he was an Italian asset.
- Naturally created 'wet' mummy.
- 1.60 metres in length and 50 kg in weight before he died. They determined he was about 38 years old which was an advanced age for that time in humanity's history.
- He had brown eyes and a gap between his two front teeth (like Madonna has). He was bearded (old time hipster?) and was missing a pair of ribs.
- The local hospital is set up with a special cold cell in case anything goes wrong and they need to evacuate Ötzi. Police, fire and ambulance crews have all been trained on what they need to do to move him.
- Wolf skin cap with a leather strap was found in his belongings.
- He lived during the Copper Age.
- Goat hide leggings.
- His garment was sewn together with animal sinew. No Gap store in those days!
- Coat sewn together with sheep and domestic goat hides.
- His loincloth was made from sheep leather.
- Shoes were made of bearskin and leather strips from cattle.
- He possessed a longbow with arrows inside a leather quiver.
- A copper blade axe with the copper coming from southern Tuscany area.
- Shaft of the axe was made from ash wood.
- Ötzi used Maple tree leaves to transport live embers in a birch bark container to start a fire.
- Flint tools in his belt pouch.
- He had on a backpack but they could not reconstruct it.
- Scientists have spent more than 20 years studying him involving more than 100 teams from around the world.
- Interesting they found human fleas on him that would have been biting him. Plus, whipworm eggs in his abdomen giving him tremendous stomach pain.
- DNA analysis showed his maternal line died out, but there are paternal lines found in a few islands in the Mediterranean.
- He lived in the Etsch valley in northern Italy for most of his life.
- He was murdered by an arrow shot into his back from a fairly long distance into his upper left shoulder area. In addition, they found head trauma about 24 hours old before his death.
- His last meal was Ibex meat and some grains (bread?)
- Ötzi's blood was O Positive.
I think I might have bored you by now or intrigued you to see him for yourself?
Yes, they have a pizza in Bolzano called the Ötzi Pizza.
We spent about 45 minutes in the Museum and visited all three floors. We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and learned even more about Ötzi the Iceman. Ciao!
We are pretty hungry as it is now around 13:15. We navigate through the crowds of fellow tourists in this shopping area of Bolzano and get our casual and cheap lunches at a couple of German bakeries. I get a sandwich (yummy European bread) and Lana a wurstsalat. While on our way back to the piazza where our car is parked underground we find a place to sit and eat outside. We are immediately surrounded by 'tweener'-aged kids having some fun. It is entertaining watching how these kids at a difficult/awkward age act around each other.
Lana's Wurstsalat. We both agree that the version Lana makes at home tastes much better :)
While walking in the shopping area we come across a guy working behind a cart. He is serving automatic French fries as one of his products. The picture is a bit misleading as it implies that the machine takes a whole potato, peels it, cuts it into fries and then cooks them. Lana waits patiently to take a video to capture his machine making french fries (see below). Turns out you put already cut french fries into it (likely frozen) and it only cooks them!! But Lana speculates that a machine that does it all from start to finish could be designed.
Back in our car and program the GPS for a winery south of Bolzano. We are fairly close to the Autostrade (toll freeway) ramp. We arrive at 14:30 at Weingut Hofstätter Enoteca located in Del Vino. The toll cost us 2.40 Euros. We find parking nearby which is a huge score as this place is crammed with fellow tourists. The reason I selected this specific winery was based on it being touted as one of the best wineries in the Alto Adige wine area by Jancis Robinson (highly respected wine writer/author). As well, in a couple of restaurants we have been at they were serving their wine in bottles or by the glass.
This location has a Gewürztraminer vine garden, modern wine bar, restaurant, pavilion and terrace. Lots of money invested here! This is not a typical family run winery. 50 hectares of grapes with vineyards on both sides of the Adige river. We don't need a reservation as you simply show up. The wine tasting is free and you can choose from a very long list of wines to sample/taste. You stand at a counter in a very modern room and the pourer/hostess moves between two to three groups. Very civilized and their wines are amazing.
We choose seven wines to taste; six white wines and one red wine. I take notes so we can figure out which bottles we will want to purchase.
Our first three wines to taste. On the left is a Muller Thurgau, then two Gewürztraminers.
Our last flight of wine to taste and both are sweet wines. On the left is a German-style Riesling Spätlese and on the right an Italian Gewürztraminer Spätlese (375 ml bottle). We learn that the Italian style Spätlese is more like a very sweet German Auslese.
Simon from the winery yesterday gave us a strong recommendation to visit Weingut Glögglhof located just south of Bolzano. It is about a 20 minute drive from the winery and we are back on the Autostrade and 1.40 Euro toll charge before arriving at the winery. We found it reasonably OK, but parking was a challenge as it is located in a small village on a narrow alley. We do not have an appointment, but checked by phone before visiting.
We are greeted by the wife of the winemaker/owner Maria Luise. She speaks some English so that is good. Very casual wine tasting small nook. These family owned/managed Weinguts are very unassuming and non-pretentious. There are no fancy wine tasting rooms and they do the tastings themselves with so much pride and passion. Wine tasting free of course. Very generous pours.
Maria Luise sitting behind three of the wine we are tasting. Their winery is especially known for their local red wine varietals such as Schiava, St. Magdalener and Lagrein (I always mispronounce this).
Maria Luise provided a single page handout of their wines (always appreciated) with titles, bottle sizes, prices and some contact information. Great for me to write my notes on while tasting. We sample eight (8) bottles of wine and this is free of course. We were impressed with all their wines, but more impressed with their five red wines than their three white wines. We have only three wine skins left for our trip back to Vancouver. Two of the bottles we wanted were SOLD OUT. What the heck! We bought two bottles of the 2015 Lagrein Riserva and one bottle of the 2016 Südtirol St. Magdalene Classico DOC. That is it for all our wine purchases on this trip.
What fantastic aspect for this winery tasting was the ability to taste three local red wine varietals which we cannot purchase in Vancouver. The Schiava was a very light-bodied red. Probably the lightest bodied red on the planet? I enjoyed it more than Lana. The St. Magdalener was a more full-bodied red. They put up to 5% Lagrein in the wine as a slight blending. We loved this grape varietal. The Lagrein we purchased yesterday as well and this particular wine was fantastic and within two to five years aging will be more spectacular.
Maria Luise shared with us that they have already harvested their white wine grapes. They are now in the process of harvesting their red wine grapes. For this season there was lots of sun and heat although that was balanced against lots of rain. We leave this Weingut at 16:25 to head back to San Cassiano. We are eager to fill up our gas tank in the area of Bolzano as the gas is cheaper. We pay 1.64 Euro per litre at the green pump. Diesel is very common here so you need to be careful when filling up. Usually though the gas stations are full service.
Lana's video of the winemaker pumping red wine grape juice through a hose. Look closely and you can see the juice moving within the hose.
Picture near Weingut Glögglhof. Wanted to show the vineyards and the fact that many of the local vineyards are located on steep terraced land. This would explain the high quality in the Alto Adige area of northern Italy.
Grapes in a local vineyard. I just had to jump out to take a picture. Very cool pic with the canopy of leaves covering the red grape clusters.
We return on the same road we took this morning. Dry road conditions were good as no snow on the roads. The traffic was dramatically busier. Maybe people returning home from working? Quite the challenge in driving with all the curves and extreme hairpin turns. Check out the pictures of the Dolomite mountains with their first fresh snowfall of the season.
Example of just one of the extreme hairpin turns on this road. Guardrails for good reasons. I love the challenge of figuring out how fast I can get around these corners. One caveat--I can only do this while ensuring that Lana does not throw-up!! What a thrill to drive these roads on a motorcycle or a fast sports car!
We arrive back in Alta Badia area around 18:00 so time to consider getting some dinner. I Google casual restaurants in San Cassiano and come across Bauernhof Mit Restaurant Maso Alfarei and the reviews of Trip Advisor are outstanding. Plus, it is known for the local Ladin cuisine. The reviewers indicate it is a very unique dining experience. We phone and Lana is able to make reservations for us at 19:00 and it is fairly close to our location as it is in Badia.
Well this location is a real challenge for our GPS-basically it thinks there is a road when there isn't one. Fortunately, Lana has good trouble-shooting qualities and we find an alternate route so the GPS can line up to where it wants us to go. We are driving up a dirt road up the hillside in the middle of nowhere. We get to a place where there are a few buildings and one particular very old large home up the hillside. The place looks deserted. Uh oh!! Thankfully, I phone the owners to ask which building is their building and the lady comes out to greet us from above. Already an interesting start.
Their business card lists them as "Maso Alfred Hof". This is a great picture I found online. Yup, a pretty old home constructed in the style of Alta Badia. Not where you would automatically approach thinking you would be having dinner inside.
The couple that owns the 'restaurant' are the only two so they are both chefs and servers. There is no menu. It is a six course meal (learned this from Trip Advisor). We don't even know the cost. Neither of them speak English although the wife speaks a little. Very casual place that is their home. We enter a room with about four tables and at one table is five guys and another table a couple. Everyone is speaking the local Ladin dialect. I order a glass of St. Magdalener red wine (delicious) and we order our bottle of sparkling water. By this time I am exhausted from lack of sleep and five hours of driving on difficult mountain curves.
We seat ourselves at the remaining table and are beside each other on the same side of the table. Beside us is what looks like a huge tubular oven painted white. Very low wooden ceiling. We believe this is an authentic Ladin home and we will be eating authentic Ladin cuisine served by proud Ladins. Our meal is super filling and awesome! At the conclusion of the meal the fellow is wanting us to drink Schnapps. Also, after each dish is served he wants to know if we want more? We are finished eating and pay by cash (60 Euro) - great deal. Out the door around 21:05 and then a short drive home.
First Course: Speck and goat cheese. Some of the speck has a smoky flavour.
Second Course: Zuppe (Soup made with potatoes, barley, onion, carrots, celery, ham, pork stock). It was fantastic and I am not a soup fan.
Third Course: Ladin fritters? The rounder ones were like a donut. The thinner ones had either spinach or sauerkraut on the inside.
Spinach inside.
Sauerkraut inside.
Fourth Course: Ravioli with Spinach. Melted butter goodness with parmesan cheese and chives on top.
Fifth Course: Polenta with Pork rib. The pork is melt in your mouth tender, with a crispy salty exterior. Missing is a picture of the fantastic Knodel.
Goulash with Fifth Course.
Sixth Course: Dessert of Apple Strudel and Johannesburg berry jam. Must be a local fruit--small, sweet and tart, with a chewy seed inside. A classic representation of strudel.
Yes, this is a very long post. Lots to cover today and great memories of very diverse experiences. From a geographical viewpoint, our Alta Badia is over the mountains from the Alto Adige/South Tyrol area of wine. Skiing located near wine growing. This is just like our Okanagan valley located in the interior of British Columbia!
Given I am totally exhausted we are in bed by 21:15 and I hope to finally have a good night sleep. We have now purchased our 18 bottles of wine. The remainder of our trip should be getting in daily hikes and continuing to enjoy the Alta Badia area. Weather forecast is very promising for remainder of trip, although in the mountains the weather can change quickly.
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