160 – Sunday 27th Sept 2015: How many Hairpins and Porsche???

Best laid intentions and all that …. we planned to get the bus up to Tre Cime and do a big walk, BUT both of us slept badly (it only takes one to sleep badly and inadvertently, the other does too!) and J really could not stray too far from the facilities ….   Today then became a Driving Day.  But what a drive!!!

We took the Dolomites Road through the Passo di Fassa and must have done 4 major passes with amazing views, such as:

And the hair pins .. the major bends are numbered and one descent had 34, however they only number the extreme ones.  Our brakes were hot and stinky (not J, his problem had settled fortunately!)

Our journey was very slow by necessity.

Porsche – we reckon at least 40 passed us going in the opposite direction.  The dealers in Italy are onto a really good thing!   And in equal number – cyclist both going up and down … they must be able to crack walnuts with their thighs!

Managed just to capture cyclist, no chance of the Porches!

We noticed the scenery become more mellow as we moved West.  Canazei is a major ski resort and the mural painter must be fully employed:

We had planned to stay in a town called Bolzano, but the free parking was next to a train station and there seemed to be some ‘characters’ lurking.  We ended up on a really lovely free parking about 12 km out of Bolzano.  It meant we did not have a wander into the old town, but how many Duomos can one see and we plan to see Trento properly.

161 – Monday 28th Sept 2015:  Pyramids and Porsches

A run for us both and then Pilates for K (slowly getting better at it).  A housekeeping session with laundry and hoovering.  We took the scenic route again down to near Cembra  –  4 Porsches in under 15 mins, but a slow day for them as most of the drivers must be at work trying to pay for them!

We stopped at the Pirimidi di Segonzano.It was quite a steep climb up, but well worth seeing these remarkable natural phenomena.  The stones in the soil prevent normal erosion, but apparently earth quakes, a flood etc mean that there are many, many less than 100 years ago.

Apples everywhere and being harvested.  Interestingly, the grapes are mostly not yet being harvested, but they were in Slovenia.  Roadside stalls selling apples and honey, so we had to stop and bag a bag of apples.  EUR4 for 6 kilos!  And they are delicious … nothing like the starchy soft fruit we get at home.  But we will be eating them for a long time (if we can keep them without going rotten), as J counted 48 apples!