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Walking along the Via Romea Germanica from Stade, near Hamburg, in Germany south through Austria and Italy to Rome.

Monday 4 June 2018

Termeno / Tramin, Salorno / Salurn, Levico Terme (skipping Trento), Borgo Valsugana – Day 66, 67, 68, 69 on the Via.

As I said in the previous post The day from Bozen / Bolzano was covered by bus, several buses in fact.  My first stop was in Caldaro, where I had lunch and a bit of a wander, before boarding another bus to take me to Termeno / Tramin where I had a room booked.
Caldaro

The tourist office here was incredibly helpful, booking a room for me for the following night, and trying, unsuccessfully,  to find somewhere in Trento to stay.  Added to that they allowed me to leave my pack there for a couple of hours while I went off to explore.  This was necessary because my room was a couple of kilometres further on, and I did not feel like going there and then backtracking after leaving my bag.  As it was I had a stiff climb uphill to get dinner that night.

In Tramin there is a little church on top of the hill dedicated to San Giacomo (St. Jakob in German, St James in English).  I had had a tip about visiting this little church to see the frescoes.  When I arrived there was a couple looking at the frescoes and the woman took it upon herself to tell me all about one of them – it is a fresco illustrating the legend of the spurned servant girl who put pewter ware in luggage and accused the young boy of theft.  He was hung, but the legend goes that with the intervention of St James he survived and the mayor was disbelieving saying that he was as alive as the chicken on his plate (which then flew off!)– which is why chooks are kept in the cathedral in Santo Domingo, in Spain.  The lady thought I had been to the chapel before, but I explained that as it was a chapel dedicated to St Jakob, I was looking for evidence of him in the frescoes.  She was quite surprised that I knew the story!  The frescoes in the chapel were amazing, and I will let the photos tell the tale.  Of course, there was a steep hill to negotiate to get to it, but it was worth it.

                         
San Giocomo / St Jakob's Kirche
      
The St Jakob Fresco (above left) and other frescoes in the church (right)
      
Tramin
The view of the valley from St Jakob's Church
Looking back at Tramin, with St Jakob's Church on the the hill in the background

This whole region is famous for its wine making.  Indeed some of the trail doubles as a wine information trail.  Because there are so many tourists (it was the German school holidays last week) exploring the wineries it makes it very hard to find a cheapish room.  The path leaving Tramin sits up above the valley, more or less following the contour line, eventually descending and crossing the valley as it heads to Salorno / Salurn.  The whole valley floor is like a patch work of horticultural activity.  There are plots of vines, apples and other fruits, and crops.  There is a lot of activity with tractors buzzing hither and thither, and people doing labour intensive work in the vineyards.  At the moment the prime activity seems to be cutting off leaves that are covering the growing bunches of grapes so that they are exposed to the sunshine.  



During the night in Salurn I kept seeing flashes of light.  Thinking it might have been lightening I looked out the window to see, but the stars were shining (or shining as much as they can in this part of the world!).  I decided it must be cars at a certain point on the road, but the next morning the Adige River which the day before had been an icy blue / green colour was now a distinct brown colour.  There must have been a thunder storm up in the mountains in the night.    It is election time in Italy, and as I was leaving Salurn the local candidate was setting up a booth to promote his skills.
Heading to Salorno passing crops under cover. 
Looking back at the church on the outskirts of  the village of Laghetti.   It might be the vally floor but there are always mountains.
 Vines grown in such a way to make it easy to harvest, and to allow maximum sun light.
                        
The Church of St Peter & St Paul (left), Salorno, & and the castle above the town (right).
 The path to Trento along the River Adige.....
 ....and the brown river after storms in the mountains.
Almost the only photo I took in Trento.  A church, which I remember well form the last time I was there, next to the bus station.

Because of the lack of accommodation in Trento I decided that I would catch the bus from Salurn to Pergine Valsugana, about 10 kilometres from Trento, and then walked from there to Lervico Terme.  It was a lovely walk, the last 5 kilometres or so along a lake - Lago di Levico.  It was Republic Day, a public holiday in Italy, and so the whole path was very crowded with holiday makers taking a stroll, and then when I arrived in the village of Levico Terme it was in the midst of a “festival of flowers”.  As I headed towards my hotel I passed a very grand park, basically like a botanical garden.
     
Pergine Valsugana

 The castle above Pergine Valsugana
 On the way to Levico Terme
      
 Lago di Levico, on the outskirts of Levico Terme....
 ....and the "beach"
                         
 Levico Terme and the flower festival, above and below

I had a late start the next day.  I was supposed to be able to have breakfast at 8.30,  but when I went downstairs there was no-one there.  I had to sit around and wait another 30 mins till I could eventually eat, pay, and then depart.  I have to get used to “Italian” breakfasts.  They are somewhat spartan, a coffee and croissant, compared to German brekkies of eggs, cheese, meat, breads, juice and often more!

The next day the journey to Borgo Valsugana was reasonably short with only about 14 kms to cover.  It was a lovely day, sunny, but hot and humid, and busy.  Being a Sunday after a public holiday there were an incredible number of cyclists on the road.  There were young and not so young, tandem bikes, bikes with baby trailers, and bikes with pet trailers.  The cyclists had to give way to the tractors, and I had to give way to the cyclists, having to be so careful each time I moved a half step out of the line I was headed because there might be a cyclists coming up behind! There were cyclists on their own, in small family groups, and in packs of a dozen or more.  Added to that there were rest spots for the cyclists, and even a bar for them to stop and refresh – but of course this walker also made use of these facilities too!

      
 The red & yellow trailers are not for babies, but pets!  The dog on a leash was later put into the red trailer.  Dramas (right) when the bike traffic ground to a halt for the tractor & trailer.
      
 A bike rest stop (left), and a drinking fountain at a bar (right), & the bike path (below)

                        

      
 Borgo Valsugana (above & below)
                         
The grassy verge on the way into Borgo Valsugana,

I have really enjoyed Borgo Valsugana.  At first I didn’t like the look of it as there was quite a bit of graffiti at one point and a bit of an industrial area to walk through.  However the stretch into the village itself was along a nice grassy verge – easy on the feet, and I found a wonderful hotel.  So good in fact that I decided today to walk pack free, and return here for an extra night.  

1 comment:

  1. Sounding so lovely . Jim had coffee with Mt B group last night and told them of this address . Rob is off to Scandinavia today , Susan and Yvonne to Vietnam next holidays . He caught up with all of their problems !!!

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