11th June, 2016

I left you last with a few thoughts about Austria and after a week there we were on our way to Tuscany – but not before we traveled through some truly stunning scenery on our way out of the Austrian Alps and then through the Dolomites.

I had spotted on the maps one of those roads bordered with green – aha, I thought, scenic route. It was certainly a bit further than a more direct alternative, but what the hell, we are on holiday. So it was due south from Harham where we had been staying, through Zell am See and up the 107 along the Grossglockner High Alpine Road (that is what it is actually called – but in German, of course – Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße). The pass is some 2,400 meters up and was originally mooted as a possibility in 1924, but was laughed out of court as unfeasible at a time when the combined car ownership of Austria, Italy and Germany was 154,000 with a further 92,000 motorcycles – especially as Austria had no money after WWI and was one seventh of its pre-war imperial size. Then, after the 1929 Wall Street Crash and massive unemployment, it was revived as a way to give employment – and also to raise money as a tourist attraction by charging a toll (they still do – and quite a lot!). It went ahead and was opened in 1935 with twice the number of visitors than originally estimated. And it is stunning! A bit cloudy on our visit, but it still takes one’s breath away. Not recommended if you are prone to car sickness!

That night we decided to have a stopover at Trento (as in the Council of Trent held between 1545 and 1563 to launch the Roman Catholic Church’s Counter Reformation response to the spread of Protestantism). Trento was on our way, but I had spotted a nice-looking hotel on Tripadvisor that was just a bit off the beaten track, let’s say. It was up a mountain road that Val describe very effectively as looking like a very large Large Intestine on the satnav. It was a bit wet on the way up and distinctly cloudy and misty, but the Hotel Montana was very nice indeed with lots of facilities such as gym, pool, tennis court and ping pong etc, that Val used selectively whilst I did some blogging. A very nice and imaginatively designed room, a so-so dinner (reminded me of school trips) and it was an early night.

12th June, 2016

It was lucky it was an early night as Val, who is somewhat of an early riser, woke me at about 5.00am to come and look at the view that we could not see the previous evening – with the sunrise! And what a difference!! It was like waking up in a different country from the previous night! I will let the photos do the talking…

And the view of where we were could now reveal itself…

A good breakfast and it was off down the intestine and through the Dolomites to what was supposed to be our lunch stopover, Mantua. However heavy rain dampened our enthusiasm and we sped along the autoroute with the rest towards Florence, then right onto the road known locally as the Fi-Pi-Li (Firenze-Pisa-Livorno) highway, trying to remember the instructions to get to our destination from a long email from our great friend and host for the week, Nick. We did well except that we had not made a note of the number of the house, so after some driving about and fruitless enquiries, we made the inevitable phone call and arrived at Casa tra colline Toscane to be welcomed by Nick, Stella, Tom and Carlitta at Nick’s lovely villa (available to rent – ask me about it if you are interested). More in the next blog!