Saturday, 8 May 2010

Went for a walk up the steep hill/mountain behind us to the pretty little village of Elvas. Walk up took 20 minutes and back took 1 hour after becoming lost in vineyards and apple orchards (knew I should have packed the hand held GPS). The apple trees here look like large grape vines at first glance - they are slender and cut back severely and grow on trellises. After breakfast Josef drove us down the valley to Balzano then up the Etsch Valley to Merano, stopping at Vilpian for our obligatory morning coffee. Merano is a beautiful small city with, of course, a raging river running through the middle. There are lovely promenades down the river and with the sun shining and the temperature climbing to around 20C the cafes were doing a roaring trade on a Saturday. Walked through the old town with shopping for bags high on the agenda. There are also plenty of shops catering for the extremely popular sports here of skiing, hiking, mountain climbing & cycling. A simple lunch of sausage and bread at Haisrainer on the Lauben (portico, ie street of arches). Strolled back down the river to the car and drove up to a great village - Dorf Tirol - which is a cable car base among other things. Coffee on the terrace at Tirolhof with a stunning view over Merano and down the valley - the clouds had lifted, the sun was shining and there was a fresh dusting of snow on the peaks above. Also tried the very visually attractive local drink - Veniciano - consists of Aperol, a type of Campari, white wine and soda. Tempting to stay on that terrace and have several more, but soon headed off back up to around 1200m through several pretty villages perched on the mountain side, back down the valley and back to Brixen. Drove back to Klausen in the evening for dinner at Torggkeller - pasta with asparagus and a pollenta dish - an amazing restaurant built in an old mill and crammed with all manner of implements, heads of animals, antlers and various bits - also had dining tables inside huge oak casks.