CYCLE THE ALPS – DAY 4
Bolzano to Trento
Distance
Total Ascent
Highest Point
Overview
Leaving Bolzano it was obvious this place was busy, with many cyclists coming into town dressed for business, and many joggers enjoying the cycle track next to the clean turquoise river.
The sun was out for us yet again, and with the Dolomites either side of us the early morning leg pain seemed less important. The tracks here in the countryside were raised up with the Adige River on one side and apple groves and vineyards on the other.
The cycle track followed the river and crossed it a few times over some wooden, Canadian like bridges. With spectacular scenery it was noticeable there were more cyclists on this part of the track. This was not surprising as the surface was fantastic and Trento is a great place to visit.
As we were getting closer to Trento there were a few more cyclists and joggers, but all well organised and friendly. So I was expecting a small town, but the castle perched high up to our right told me there was a lot of history here.
What a lovely town. I will definitely come back here with the family.
We headed for the centre of town to find the central square, Piazza Duomo. Our hotel, Hotel Garni Venezia was right on the corner of the central square and a beautifully flowered road, Via Rodolfo Belenzani.
The side streets were intriguing as we looked for a place to eat dinner. A bar gave us Tapas every time we ordered a beer, and the portions got larger as the evening went on, so that substituted dinner – what a result.
A couple of us went on and found another bar on the way home called Tetley’s Pizzeria, which was run by a lovely old man who gave me the history about the language dilemma.
Apparently during the 1st world war the Germans gave South Tirol (part of Austria at the time) to Italy for being an ally. Even the road signs are in German before Italian. The line for speaking German is Bolzano, so Trento being just 60 kilometers south is against using the German language. The irony was that this chap was telling me how much he detested using the German language, but as he couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Italian, he had to use German to tell me!
Anyway, it was fascinating for me to be speaking German on our 3rd day in Italy.
Trento is a great place to visit and very few tourists know about it, so I recommend a visit when you can.
