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Dolomiten!
On the way from Bolzano to Verona.
Are the traffic barriers really rusted or just painted brown?
Foto:Tilli
Our humble home for the next three nights:
GRAND HOTEL GARDONA
A room with a jungle view.
Aperol spritz in the hotel bar.
Hot tip from Oderazzi: check out the tower bar Torre San Marco!
Coolest location, walking distance from the Grand Hotel.
"Der Dichter Gabriele D`Annunzio ließ sich in seinem Garten
neben anderen ungewöhnlichen Dingen einen Leuchtturm bauen.
Natürlich war der Torre San Marco oder Ruhland, wie man den Turm nennt,
für den kleinen und zudem fast geheimen Privathafen des Dichters
funktionell gesehen völlig überflüssig. Der Künstler schuf sich damit
ein phantasievolles Stück Architektur, welches später
Mussolini und seiner Geliebten für romantische Begenungen dienen sollte."
(www.italien-urlaub.net/)
Just cool.
Promenade in Gardone.
Wild combo: bananas with bougainvilleas!
Boat tour at water is always a must.
Sirmione as seen from our boat.
The compulsory boating lunch.
Speeding ...?
Getting the facts. And figures.
Barboat!
Garda town as seen from the boat.
Spectacular parmesan lollipops!
Tatarturm. Torre del tartara. Tower of tartare.
Shrimps on black rice and green mousse.
Fish cooked in foil, how fancy is that!
The coffee was served as creamy something,
pannacotta, creme caramel ... dunno ... but very nice!
Gardona city at nite, before midnite, if I may remind.
Ahaaaa ... the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2012 was on telly!
Just switched on when the Finns marched in.
Kind of olympic feeling on the roads on Saturday morning at lake Garda,
thousands of cars jamming the roads, even the motorways.
Oderazzi recommendation: if you travel in Italy in July/August
try to avoid travelling on Saturdays!
Sue and Tilli returned back home, we continued to Brixen.
Brixen? Bressanone? On the way from Verona to Innsbruck.
Third biggest city in souther Tyrol.
Surprisingly exotic!
Got a room in the Elephant Hotel.
They really brought an elephant to Brixen in 1551. Or so.
The animal was presented by King John III of Portugal
to his nephew, Archduke Maximilian of Austria,
as a gift from one of his Indian colonies.
Poor fellow, was even marching further to Vienna later on.
Such nice calligraphy!
The hotel had a spacious garden showing an elephant art exhibition. What else.
In Brixen downtown the unicyclists were having a break,
In the barock Dome I found this fellow.
Was Brixen kind of center of the universe or what?
Very decorative.
Next door absolutely worth seeing: Kreuzgang!
And again those weird animals.
Elicorn? Uniphant?
Großartiges Bauwerk der Romanik (1250), Gewölbe um 1370,
Fresken aus der Zeit von 1390 bis 1500, edelste Werke der spätgotischen Wandmalerei,
erwähnenswert die Darstellung des Elefanten (3. Arkade) (REALLY!)
und die Anbetung der Könige (13. Arkade). Sehenswürdigkeit ersten Ranges.
www.brixen.org/
Brixen, such a pretty town.
Shopping might be good, too, but it was Saturday with early closings.
Back to Austria, jezz.
This was the weather situation on Austrian side of the Alps.
Luckyly it had rained in Frankfurt, too,
so our garden was not totally damaged.
