Italy - Bolzano - Days 4 & 5 (May 26th & 27th)

May 9

3 min read

Updated: May 27

Tuesday 5/26

We were up early on Tuesday morning, packed up and out the door by 9am to catch the vaporetto boat transport across the Grand Canal to the waiting bus to take us to our next destination. Thankfully we had a couple of Venetian cappuccinos to help us wake up and get going! Venice was amazing and we'll always remember the city fondly.

Once on the bus, we had a fairly uneventful 3 hour journey to Bolzano, in the Italian Dolomite Alps. This is the one city on the tour that we had already visited, as it was part of our 2023 Alpine tour. So being already familiar with the town and surrounding area, we decided that today would be pretty low key and tomorrow would be our busy day.

Once arriving in Bolzano in the early afternoon, we checked in to the same hotel we had three years ago, the Stadt Hotel Città, which overlooks the downtown plaza, Walther Square, and has a majestic view of the rustic medieval Church (Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta). The room we were assigned was in the front corner of the building with a perfect view of the plaza and the church. We wake up every morning to the sounds of church bells tolling and sleepy people enjoying their morning coffee. It's literally the same room we were assigned 3 years ago, just a floor higher. Arguably the best view from the hotel!

Once we got settled in the hotel room, we went shopping in the historic square of town and grabbed some cheese and salami from some food vendors along the street. Later on we went next door to dinner and enjoyed a hearty plate-o-meat! We split the mixed grill which had chicken, pork chops, and a pork patty. We concluded the evening by taking a leisurely stroll through the town park and hitting the hay early as we had a busy day planned for Wednesday.

Wednesday 5/27

We woke up a little early on Wednesday as we had a big hike planned for the day. One thing we remembered from our first visit to this hotel 3 years ago, was the fact that they had an amazing breakfast that they offered to their guests. Speaking for myself, I had pancakes, bacon, eggs, a croissant, apple strudel, and a cappuccino. I think Katie had something similar, but definitely not as much! Delicious!

We returned to the room, packed up our backpack with all the items that we would need for the hike, and hopped on the bus for the 45-minute drive to the famous Alpe di Siusi where we would repeat the hike we took three years ago: the Witches Benches. The Witches' Benches (Hexenbänke, in German) are rocks that have the form of seats with armrests and backrests, located along the hike.

We particularly love this hike because it's not incredibly technical, (okay, it's easy!)It took us about 4 hours to complete the loop. The best part of it is that about 2/3 of the way through, there is an Alpine pub literally in the middle of nowhere, where we like stopping to grab a cold drink. Today I got a refreshing German radler beer, Katie a macchiato, and we split a basket of fries!

After the hike, we caught a local bus to take us back to town. After a quick refreshing nap, we decided to catch up on our laundry, and later went out for a nice dinner to close out the evening.

Tomorrow we have a challenging 8 hour bus trip to the Cinque Terre along the northwestern Italian coast. If anyone has any fun ideas on how to pass the time, we're all ears! I'm not sure how long our fellow tour members will stand to listen to me singing The Flintstones and other cartoon favorites from my childhood.

Thanks for following along and we will be posting again in a couple more days.

That's all for now, arrivederci!!