Strada del vino

We set off on the Weinstrasse this morning but very soon found ourselves on the Strada del Vino as we went further into Trentino.

This is a fascinating part of the world, a real blend of languages, heritage and culture - somewhat confusing but also rather comforting: man spricht Deutsch but viva Italiano!

In Bolzano, we feel the Sudtirol outdoes the Alto Adige, but in Trento there's no mistaking, one is in Italy.

There's a wonderful cathedral - sorry, Duomo

with some formidable angels

and where they seem to be able to tie knots in stone.

My attention was caught by a window display for this newsagent, who had the largest selection of needlework magazines I've seen anywhere.  The photograph shows almost all of them.  Clearly, Giuliana Buonpadre has a strong following here - I've never seen so many books on Reticello, and this in a small town newsagent as well!

(stitchy friends might like to click on the photograph to enlarge it - see how many titles you recognise)

Driving back through the vineyards, I thought that geographers would appreciate this glacial valley - hard to imagine how it could be any more U shaped than this.

Yes, of course, we stopped and tasted - and bought - bringing a little bit of this glorious part of the world back home with us soon.

After the rain, a little sunshine

We were woken at 6am this morning by thunder - it didn't bode well for the day ahead.  But, undaunted by a bit of rain we set off after breakfast in the direction of Meran/o, where we'd read there were medieval arcaded streets to explore. Perfect for a rainy day, we thought.

 

Of course, everyone else had the same idea.  Not really feeling amenable to a s-l-o-w mooch along a crowded street with crying children and yapping dogs, we focused our minds beyond the souvenir shops

The bread here is excellent!

The speck is vacuum packed and we felt sure we could find room for it in the hotel minibar with the Mozartkugeln, if we took out a couple of things.

Then, since we can't focus solely on food, I left the men outside and browsed the trachten store where there was beautiful fabric to be found (for dirndls etc) - these two were in the window and cute as they are, I really admired the cushion they're sitting on.  Not really in keeping with our style at home, though, so not too hard to resist.

We'd had enough of Meran/o by then, but as we made our way back to the car, we spotted something to dance about - blue sky!

We decided to drive up to the village of Tirol high above all of those people and whilst we didn't quite have the place to ourselves, a short walk was rewarded with a quiet place to sit and enjoy a beer in the warm sunshine.  This is a great place!

Being the driver, Mark couldn't enjoy the Kapuzinerweisse that Edward and I did, but he was equally impressed by a glass of a more local brew - apple juice.  We'd driven for miles through huge apple orchards this morning and sitting there enjoying the view, we spotted them for miles in every direction.

The apples here seem to be grown like vines, with fruit low down on the tree and with fewer leaves.  We set off to walk downhill along the Falkenerweg through these fields of apples and some vines.

Beautiful.

Alto Adige

I didn't think I'd have a great deal to blog about today.  We've moved south, into Südtirol and had hoped to drive over the Grossglockner road but a pretty dire weather forecast sent us a less adventurous route over the Brenner  pass instead.

Thankfully, the weather was none too bad and actually cheered up a little as the sun came out later in the morning.  A brief stop for a walk around Innsbruck and we were all feeling more optimistic as the rolling green fields of the Austrian Tyrol gently changed into rocky outcrops and steep vineyards as we crossed the border into Italy.

We checked into our hotel in Bolzano - another beauty in a charming city - and decided to take a short walk around to get our bearings.  Late Sunday afternoon, there were a few families enjoying the sunshine and we too, enjoyed a stroll through the old town.

Then a sign reminded us of one of the reasons why we chose to stay here

Ötzi’s here.

Rather than wait until Tuesday (once again, Monday's closing day for the museum) we decided to go and see him there and then.  We joined quite a long queue and feared a scrum inside.

Not so.  This is a really well thought out museum which caters well for everyone.  We found the background story to Ötzi fascinating and the detective story which has arisen from the findings is remarkable.  Other exhibits in the special "Mummy" exhibition were interesting but not quite so arresting as the one we (and everyone else) had really come to see.

So, Ötzi is the highlight of the day - though we haven't had dinner yet and now we're in Italy...

Taste test

Wherever we've walked in Salzburg we've passed shops full of "die echte" (the original) Mozartkugel.  In every store, as we bought some to try, we checked with the salesperson, and yes, each one is most certainly "echt".

This afternoon, we sat down for a serious tasting. Hard work, I know, but we felt it had to be done.

First, the Mirabell Mozart Kugel.  This is the variety to be found in supermarkets and souvenir shops rather than in specialist stores, often in boxes shaped like violins or other curious presentations.  We bought a pack of three kugeln and spotted on the wrapper that the company is part of the Kraft empire.

All three of us voted this our least favourite.  Sweeter than the others, it was, according to Edward, "nothing special".  The marzipan in those we sampled wasn't anything like the colour of the one on the Mirabell website and was more of a muddy yellow.

Next came the Reber Mozartkugel, which are made over the border in Germany and are not actually kugeln but have a flat base.

 Mark voted this his favourite.  Not only was it less sweet than the Mirabell kugel, the inner layers were more defined too.

These were only available in the Reber shop where there are several variations on the theme - as well as "Sachertorten" for sale.  No-one was claiming those as "echt" however*

* we are staying in the Hotel Sacher here in Salzburg and I can give you chapter and verse on what indicates a genuine - echt - Sachertorte!

Finally, the silver and blue "Furst" kugeln.   I think they win hands down as far as "die echte" go and they are made in Salzburg, too.  Only available in the four Furst shops in Salzburg, they're pretty exclusive.

We found real green marzipan inside and only one layer of chocolate nougat under the dark chocolate coating.  Clearly handmade (and yet only marginally more expensive than the others), these were totally different to the others and were clear winners with Edward and I.

Having eaten three kugeln each, we decided we'd had enough of Mozartkugeln for a while.

Now, what about Bach Wurfel.....

not to mention Bruckner noten and the rest?  

Not this afternoon, thank you!

Salzburg

Another glorious day in Salzburg    

First stop was the funicular to the castle, aiming to get there before the rush and whilst it was still cool.  The views from the top there were lovely.

I found most of the exhibits pretty dull to be honest, though found a few odd things to interest me.

I especially liked the way the armour was displayed

and the "enemy" amused us all.

There was some spectacular door furniture

and the method of folding the medal ribbons most unusual and rather effective.

Leo, Prince-Archbishop adopted the turnip as his symbol and it's to be found all over the castle and elsewhere in Salzburg - fun to do a bit of turnip spotting around the place.

On then, from the castle to the Salzburg Museum where we thoroughly enjoyed the presentations of the city history - so much more than Mozart!

Wonderfully displayed, exquisitely presented, the whole museum held our interest.  Our awareness of such things has been raised since visiting exhibitions with Marieke, our museologist friend, and it was she who was high in our thoughts as we went on to visit the Salzburg Panorama

Until visiting The Hague at the start of this trip and the Panorama there with Ilya and Marieke, such things had not really captured our interest and imagination.  Today, we appreciated the dark approach, the steps up to the viewing platform and the panorama itself.  Not quite such a beauty as the Mesdag one but interesting nevertheless.

Back to the hotel then, for important business awaits.