Trentino-Alto Adige, ITALY
I recently did a six week backpacking trip in Europe, some of the highlights of which you’ll find littered throughout the rest of this blog. Just kidding, I don’t litter. But seriously.
Right in the middle of the trip, I decided to take eight days and travel completely on my own. I knew I wanted to spend the time in Northern Italy. After reading almost every single page in the “Italy” section of my Lonely Planet guide, I decided Bolzano needed to be on my map. This decision did not make much sense, seeing as the entire book dedicated one (1, una, eins) sentence to the city of Bolzano. And so, “alora”, as those crazy Italians say, I went.
When Italians in other cities asked me where else I planned to visit and I said Bolzano, the majority of them had no idea where it was. Their loss.
This place, in the Dolomites range of the Alps, was unreal. It is buried in the mountains, either snow capped or, lower down, greener with vineyards. It has about 100,000 permanent residents (thank you, Wikipedia) and the main languages and culture are split between German and Italian, which essentially means you can have a schnitzel for lunch and ravioli for dinner.
It also meant I had no one (minus waiters and the hostel guy) to talk to for 72 hours. I ate dinner alone, read my book on benches alone and drank the local South Tyrolean beer alone.
My days were spent taking buses to nearby valleys or mountains where I hiked (read: mostly wandered aimlessly) through the hills and counted my lucky stars I was there at all.
The Val Gardena is a valley of three main villages, which are jam packed during the ski season. According to Lonely Planet, come spring, the trails connecting them should have been bustling with other hikers. Erroneous. I came across one lady who was three times my age and obviously more prepared than I for the hike.
I loved it anyway. It was a cathartic experience walking for hours without talking to anyone, even deciding to ditch the iPod. I’d sometimes belt out tunes if I got scared in the woods, because for some weird reason that puts me at ease. It also further ensured that I would not be making friends on those hikes.
The scenery in Bolzano and the surrounding areas may have been the most beautiful I have ever seen. I know that’s a grandiose statement, so maybe I’ll go back in the winter – avec snowboard – just to confirm.
Show me on a map
I recently did a six week backpacking trip in Europe, some of the highlights of which you’ll find littered throughout the rest of this blog. Just kidding, I don’t litter. But seriously.
Right in the middle of the trip, I decided to take eight days and travel completely on my own. I knew I wanted to spend the time in Northern Italy. After reading almost every single page in the “Italy” section of my Lonely Planet guide, I decided Bolzano needed to be on my map. This decision did not make much sense, seeing as the entire book dedicated one (1, una, eins) sentence to the city of Bolzano. And so, “alora”, as those crazy Italians say, I went.
When Italians in other cities asked me where else I planned to visit and I said Bolzano, the majority of them had no idea where it was. Their loss.
This place, in the Dolomites range of the Alps, was unreal. It is buried in the mountains, either snow capped or, lower down, greener with vineyards. It has about 100,000 permanent residents (thank you, Wikipedia) and the main languages and culture are split between German and Italian, which essentially means you can have a schnitzel for lunch and ravioli for dinner.
It also meant I had no one (minus waiters and the hostel guy) to talk to for 72 hours. I ate dinner alone, read my book on benches alone and drank the local South Tyrolean beer alone.
My days were spent taking buses to nearby valleys or mountains where I hiked (read: mostly wandered aimlessly) through the hills and counted my lucky stars I was there at all.
The Val Gardena is a valley of three main villages, which are jam packed during the ski season. According to Lonely Planet, come spring, the trails connecting them should have been bustling with other hikers. Erroneous. I came across one lady who was three times my age and obviously more prepared than I for the hike.
I loved it anyway. It was a cathartic experience walking for hours without talking to anyone, even deciding to ditch the iPod. I’d sometimes belt out tunes if I got scared in the woods, because for some weird reason that puts me at ease. It also further ensured that I would not be making friends on those hikes.
The scenery in Bolzano and the surrounding areas may have been the most beautiful I have ever seen. I know that’s a grandiose statement, so maybe I’ll go back in the winter – avec snowboard – just to confirm.
Show me on a map
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