Sunday 2 June 2019

Our Last Day

Friday, the 10th of May, was our last day in South Tyrol, and we were determined to make the most of it. And it became indeed a memorable day, with what I think was my favourite hike of this holiday (even though they were all great).

 The day did not start all that brilliantly with thick clouds hanging in the Etsch valley, but we were not going to be discouraged, and drove to the village of Verschneid/Frassineto where, according to our map, we were to start our hike.
View from our hotel at 9:00 on the 10th of May
The first part of our route looked easy enough, and very picturesque already past a farm and meadows full of flowers.

 A steep ascent followed, leaving us (well, me) breathless and sweaty. We could have stopped there for a drink and a rest, but as soon as we were on relatively even ground again, I regained my breath and we decided to walk on.
Gentian! I am not sure I have ever come across this Alpine flower in its natural habitat before.
Eventually, it was time for a rest and a large, cold shandy!
This brown pig was not in any type of enclosure and was free to move between his house and the meadow. It looked at us but kept a safe distance.
A curious look at us was all we got. The hay was more interesting than we were.
Now we were coming to something very special, maybe unique to this area: "Earth Pyramids", as they call them there (according to this wikipedia entry, they are called hoodoo in English - something I didn't know!). It is a geological phenomenon. Imagine a steep slope comprised of sandy clay and soil, strewn with large single rocks and boulders. Wind, rain, snow (and melting snow especially) work on the soil, taking it constantly downwards. But some of the boulders and rocks remain in their place, and erosion somehow works around them, leaving a column of clay and soil underneath, on top of which eventually the rock rests like a cap.
This curious formation looks man-made, but it is not. We took these pictures from relatively far apart, but I think you can get an idea of what it looks like:
Heading back, we came past a group of horses with foals. They were not easy to photograph, as they were in a very playful mood gallopping around, but here is one of the young ones:
Before driving back to Gargazzone and our hotel, we stopped at another small town to buy souvenirs for ourselves and our families at home, in the shape of typical products of the region, cheese and bacon.

 Driving back to O.K.'s village the next day took us 7 hours with three short breaks, crossing several downpours along the way. It was raining and chilly when we arrived, but to end the holiday on a celebratory note and to say thank you to O.K.'s parents for minding the cottage during our absence, we went to an Italian restaurant with them.

 I took the train to Ludwigsburg on Sunday, the 12th of May; the holiday was truly over.
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12 comments:

  1. Thickethouse.wordpress2 June 2019 at 16:37

    But what an amazing holiday it was, Meike! I can see why you liked this last hike so much. It had everything, including some marvelous mountain views. Good luck on seeing that gentian. Such beautiful flowers. And all the animals you encountered, too. Thank you for sharing so much of your hikes with us.

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    1. Librarian3 June 2019 at 07:41

      It was definitely a region that has not seen us for the last time, Kristi. And coming across that gentian felt like finding a small treasure!

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  2. Thickethouse.wordpress2 June 2019 at 16:40

    I was not familiar with the term "hoodoo", but I have been to Bryce Canyon more than once so I have seen many of them.

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    1. Librarian3 June 2019 at 07:41

      It said "hoodoo" on wikipedia; I've never heard the term before.

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  3. Kay G.2 June 2019 at 19:38

    How gorgeous! I love all these photos but my favorite two are these: the one of you with the giant shandy and the last one, where it looks as if God is giving a blessing on this lovely holiday.
    All of the mountain photos that you have shown us from this trip, they remind me very much of the mountain scenes from The Sound of Music. The ads for the film were shown for weeks and weeks in our local cinema when I was a kid, so those mountains were imprinted on my brain. I never saw the film until I was an adult!

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    1. Librarian3 June 2019 at 07:42

      I very much like the last photo, too, Kay.
      And I knew you were thinking of "The Sound of Music" when looking at all those mountain pictures! :-)

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  4. Graham Edwards2 June 2019 at 20:45

    What a truly wonderful walk and set of photos. I was fascinated by the Earth Pyramids which I had never heard of although through my school knowledge of the effect of the ice age on Britain I'd come across boulders left high and dry after glaciers had melted. I've spent a lot of time lost in your photos and can understand why you enjoyed the walk so much.

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    1. Librarian3 June 2019 at 07:45

      Of course the pictures can only give an incomplete impression - you can not hear the birdsong, smell the fresh air or feel the sun on your face. But I am truly glad today's technology allowed me not only to take so many pictures without any fuss, but also to keep them here for myself and others to see.

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  5. The Weaver of Grass2 June 2019 at 22:28

    Was there ever a blue as beautiful as that of the Gentian?

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  6. Saucy Siciliana4 June 2019 at 20:37

    I had never heard of Earth Pyramids, interesting. South Tyrol, is that in Italy, we have an area in the North called Tirolo. Are you going to drink that whole glass of beer? I don't drink alcohol at all...can you believe it we have such good wine here in Sicily but I don't drink it? What I like though is Marsala, just a bit though, I put it in my Uovo Battuto (beaten egg yolk and sugar, it's something my mother used to make for me when I was small. You beat the egg yolk with about three teaspoons of sugar until creamy then add a teaspoon of Marsala. It's delicious and it's supposed to be very healthy, but nowadays sugar has lost its image. I use brown sugar or honey, but I guess it's still kind of sugar.

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    1. Librarian6 June 2019 at 07:32

      Yes, we were in Italy, see the place names in my posts about this holiday, I have given them in both languages, as the area is bilingual and all road signs etc. are in both Italian and German.
      Of course I drank that whole big glass! :-) I would never drink it if it was just beer, but it was shandy (more lemonade than beer), which is very refreshing when you have been hiking up and down mountains.
      Marsala with egg and sugar was something my Sicilian husband's mother and grandmothers made, too; I have not had any Marsala in a very long time!

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