We are on the aptly named Panorama Lift from Seiser Alm to explore the Alpe di Siusi. We have gotten up early to drive and park in Compatsch by 9am – we don’t want to miss much of this blue sky day!The clouds are still playing with the Santerspitz peaks as we start our hike in the dramatic dolomites. We are at around 6,500 foot elevation.The Navigator keeps us on the correct route. A little bit of mud but mostly clear trails!It feels more like spring than fall but still a beautiful day to be in the high meadows.A water supply pond reflects Croda del Zirmei and the blue blue sky.Isn’t this picturesque?Appreciating the Croda del Zirmei as it dominates our hike.This is for our new great niece who we are welcoming into the world from this gorgeous location in Italy. Wishing her a wonderful life, full of happiness!We toast to the good life with Italian cappuccinos, South Tyrolean apple strudel, and sunshine at the Mahlknecht hütte.We had a fabulous 6-mile hike on this gorgeous day. We hiked across the meadows, caught the Florian lift down to Saltria, and took the bus back to our car.
We have chosen another gorgeous balcony in Lajen, Italy to enjoy some of the local wines. Haus Aspenblick also came with a bus pass which cut down on our driving in the mountains!We enjoyed “Our Mountain” views from the apartment as they changed with the sunrise, sunset and passing clouds.Lajen, Italy was first written about in 993 but its history goes back to cave paintings and the Romans.Lajen’s Walther von der Vogelweide is a famous local minstrel from the Middle Ages (1200’s). There is a walking tour with his poetry displayed, like on this lovely sculpture. There is also a museum in town which we enjoyed learning more about this raconteur.Near by we went to Bolzano to visit Otzi-The-Iceman, a 5300-year-old mummy from the Bronze Age. This is a sculpture interpretation. We had visited Otzi here in 1998 before the museum was built.Another day trip to near by Passo Sella for a panoramic view of the Dolomites.The Dolomites were spectacularly beautiful with the fresh snowfall. We could enjoy the food at a hutte, even if it was not a conducive day for hiking.Back in Lajen, the cows have come home from the alpine pastures! There is a special fall festival to celebrate this annual event.A parade with a float reenacting the hay harvest. Also floats passing out new wine, schnapps, roasted chestnuts, and other local crops:Törggelen is the local food culture of this time of year.The bull whip performers (ala Indiana Jones) were amazing.The town square turned into a beer garden! A fun band, good food, and nice time to gather with friends and family. We are glad we stayed in the small village of Lajen.
We have driven the Grossglockner Alpine Road to the Edelweisspitz Overlook. Take My Breath Away! The view! But the road will make your heart beat also as you can see…The far barely visible peak is the highest Grossglockner – which we are seeing now from the east. What clear visibility!The Edelweisspitz Overlook has a 360 degree view. We could even see the Berchtesgaden peaks – we are only about 40 km from where we first stayed in Anger, Germany.This is a compiled panorama photo of Hohe Tauern NP Grossglockner Peak from the Alpine Road Edelweisspitz Overlook. What a VIEW!The Edelweiss Hütte had a very good apple strudel which we enjoyed with cappuccinos. Because who would not want to linger to enjoy this view? We feel like eagles, not marmots, but thought this carving was quite cute.Another stop along the Alpine Road is Kaiser Franz Josefs Visitor Center with this view of the Pasterze Glacier, the largest glacier in the Eastern Alps, which has melted in the last 20 years to leave this lake.Grossglockner peak is reflected in the lake, before the clouds claim it again.Enjoying the view with Kaiser Franz Josef, who was here with his wife Elizabeth (Sisi) in 1856. He loved this area and as it is when you are emperor, it was preserved for all of us to enjoy. Thank – you, Austria!
We headed up the nearby valley to Kals/Berg for a full day of hiking in the Hohe-Tauern-National Park.We are going to hike the Kodnitztal towards Grossglockner – that magnificent peak in the background, which is the highest in Austria- 3.798 meters.There is fresh snow on the peaks! It is so beautiful and we feel so lucky to be enjoying such fabulous views!The clouds are moving in so this might be our last view of Grossglockner – but we are sure there is much to enjoy here.These are the big five wildlife that live here – maybe we will be lucky to see some natives: golden eagle, chamois, marmot, ibex, bearded vulture.After a little over an hour hike up and up, we arrive at Lucknerhütte. Cappuccinos and apple strudels with vanilla sauce were enjoyed by us on this outdoor deck. We could get used to this kind of hiking amenity.We continued further up the trail to enjoy the autumn splendor.We crossed the stream several times.We saw quite a few marmots, busily eating to prepare for winter. They are very fast, a bit shy, and scurry amongst the boulders. But this one was so busy eating he could not be bothered with a photographer.The geography and rock outcroppings were really accentuated with the early snowfall.We especially enjoyed this rock face that kept us company.Would you look at that?!!!!This is a view back at the valley and the 3,050 foot elevation we have gained hiking up. Wow. Very glad we still have it in us to do this hike!The mountains and clouds have played hide and seek but we end our 5 hour, six+ mile hike with full satisfaction. An immensely enjoyable day.We have good memories of visiting Grossglockner! FABULOUS!!!
Our mountain view apartment in Matrei was very spacious, had nice views of the town in the Isel river valley, including from our balcony.We enjoyed walking the town and visiting the Hohe Tauern National Park museum.One of the walks we did on our no-drive day was above the apartment to enjoy the entire valley of Matrei.The Isel is the longest free flowing glacial river in the entire Alps!Upstream we walked into Hohe Tauern NP to hike the NaturKraftWeg Umbalfälle .The hiking path follows this exuberant water to the glacial source but we only followed it for an hour or so from the end of the road.This is a tributary with a nice bridge near the confluence with the Isel.We enjoyed the wildness of the river, the carved rocks, and the vegetation. This is the Umbalfälle, the Umbal falls.And what do you know – there is a hütte with some hot soup for us! Goulash stew and Tyrolean Knodel Soup, which is a bread dumpling ball of goodness.
A beautiful day to visit Slovania’s capital city with its car free center.Architect Jože Plečnik shaped Ljubljana in the 1920’s, and it now recognized as a UNESCO, for his Human Centered Urban Design.This is a city designed for strolling and just enjoying the ambiance.We appreciated the details, like the lamps on the bridge. We imagine this would also be intriguing at night.Gorgeous buildings – this designed by another architect around 1907.A detail of the door at the Union Hotel.We are the first to sit for lunch at this outdoor cafe –Druga Violina – great local food that we thoroughly enjoyed!We also took in the City Museum to learn more about Slovenia. History from Neolithic Pile Houses in the nearby marshes, Celts, Romans, various dynasties, changing borders, to the vibrant country it is now.We walked around the town again, found some of the old Roman sites, and enjoyed people watching.Of course we needed to try some gelato! Raspberry and strawberry were both excellent.Ha – even a bit of rock ‘n roll. English is spoken by all we encountered – it is the common tourist language – right down to the music.
A folk tradition of Slovenia are these painted bee hive panels.This Bee Hive is the one in the park in Bled where the bees are busy making honey and then the honey sold from right from the other side of this hut.We went to the Museum of Apiculture in the cute village of Radovljica to learn more. They had a neat exhibit where you could watch bees come in and work.The Carnica bees from this region of the Alps are exported all over the world, including as shown on a historical map to Colorado.The history of bee keeping and how to produce more honey was described in this 1775 book.We also went to nearby Kropa, the cradle of Slovenian iron forging.The river is channeled off to an canal on the right….…that is controlled and provides the waterwheel power for all the iron forging.The museum had models to explain the ingenuity of this system.This area was well know for producing nails. It took 2 people to work efficiently on a nail while the iron was hot. Some of the nails were over a foot long to go into beams.Much of the more recent works are window grilles – this from the 1950’s.Amazing detail – especially when you think about how you have to form all this while the metal is hot.
Triglav National Park is the only national park in Slovenia. It is one of Europe’s oldest parks, with the first protection dating back to 1924.It is named after Triglav, which rises the highest (2864 m) in the heart of the park and is also Slovenia’s highest peak.We are thrilled to have such a beautiful day to explore this eastern part of the Julian Alps!There are 50 numbered turns – 26 up and 24 down…depending on which direction your traveling.On our way up we stopped at this Russian War Memorial, remembering those that died here in WWI.A few more turns, we found a place for cappuccino and pastry with an incredible view! Life is good……View in the other direction. Spectacular.At the summit of Vršič Pass, elevation of 5,285 ft – a mile high!We did a short hike to get up to this incredible view point.360 degrees of rock. The Alps were formed by the African Tectonic Plate crashing into the Eurasian, dramatically uplifting, then carved by glaciers.After a visit to the very interesting Alpine Botanic Gardens, the informative National Park Visitor Museum, we reached the mesmerizing emerald green waters of Soča River.Teal Water! For those Ernest Hemingway fans, this is where he was driving the ambulance during WWI, and written about in his “Farewell to Arms”. In case you want to read more of the gruesome WWI battle of the area.This area is peaceful and tranquil now. We enjoyed our day exploring.
