Monday Mountains

Monday (30.09.2024) was our last day in Naturns - we'd be driving home the next day after breakfast.

View from our balcony last Monday.

The weather looked a bit unsettled, and it wasn't clear on which side of the valley one would have the best chance at catching a bit of sun - turned out we chose the "wrong" side, but I didn't really mind. We still had a great hike up and down the mountains, through very varied terrain and with wonderful views across the valley and the city of Meran.

As before, we started by bus, getting off at the valley station of the Texelbahn on the outskirts of Partschins/Parcines. The Texelbahn is another one of the funiculars dotted around the area, and it allowed us to cover a difference in height of over 900 m within minutes.

Too early for us to stop, but I liked the name!

From the top station, we walked past Giggelberg to Nasereit and then on to the Tablander Alm, one of the summer farms that offer hospitality as well.

The paths were extremely rocky in parts and not always easy to manage, but I fared better with the uphill bits than I had feared, and enjoyed the mysterious dark green woods and big moss-covered boulders and rocks very much.

We often stopped for the views (allowing me to catch my breath at the same time), and most of those pictures are O.K.'s; I didn't take all that many.

Nasereit. The flag of South Tyrol usually indicates that a place is open for business.

This little block house tucked away from the main path belongs to the Anglers' Association.

At the Tablander Alm, a warm welcome by a friendly host awaited us, and we did not only order our customary shandy, but also had a bowl of soup each.

Tablander Alm. The stork sign near the door indicates that the family have a new baby.

We then tackled the descent - without using the funicular, meaning we covered over 1,000 m of height difference hiking downhill on foot. It was challenging in parts, but we made it, and our knees were hardly protesting. It probably helped that we'd already been hiking up and down the mountains for over a week!

Tabland, a small settlement outside Partschins

There, we spotted the largest parasol mushrooms I have ever seen - my pack of tissues is for size comparison.

Typical mountain farm house for this area.

And guess what - the sun appeared just as we were nearing the end of our hike!

The hike was about 13.5 km long, not all that much in terms of length, but the terrain required good sturdy hiking boots and the leg power to match.

After a relatively short wait, the bus took us back to Naturns. As it was already 6:00 pm by the time we arrived at the hotel, there was no coffee and cake for us today, but we had ample time to shower and change for our last dinner here.