Tramin an der Weinstrasse and the Dolomites

Getting out of Bellagio proved to be harder than anticipated. Again, a published 9:40 am ferry did not materialize. Our choices were to wait several hours until the next “fast ferry” came to Bellagio, take a city-hopper and spend much of the day meandering around the lake, or figure out the local bus. We chose the third option and all turned out just fine.

We rewarded our children’s patience and cooperation with McDonald’s in Como. In truth, Eli and I were very happy for a little American style fast food.

South Tyrol is an autonomous region of northern Italy at the Italian/Austrian border. Here, you are much more likely to hear Guten Tag than Buongiorno. The area is known for wine, apple orchards, and the Dolomite mountains – steep granite peaks in the Italian alps. As we approached the region from the south (near Milan) it reminded me a lot of traveling through California’s growing regions, with the exception of ancient castles and fortresses that dot the mountain landscape!

While popular with tourists, it does not seem to be a part of the world frequented often by English speaking visitors – at least the parts where we traveled. Perhaps the Dolomite towns closer to Venice see more American travelers. Eli and I realized that in the rare cases that an English menu was available in a restaurant it was often meant as a common denominator language for the rogue Russian or Croatian visitor more than for an American or other native English speaking visitor.

Here, with the freedom of a rented car and lower tourist density, we found our rhythm again and had some wonderfully fun days.

The Weinstrasse as seen from Kaltern.

Grapes everywhere. This is where Gewurztraminer is grown.

If not grapes, apples! They are able to cultivate tall, skinny trees to maximize the yield in a small area.

We stayed at a small, family run inn, called Weinlandstubl in the town of Tramin/Termeno. They have four boys and a dog and despite not sharing a language, Norah and Ben were happy enough to join in their driveway and yard games.

This amazing photo of the boys of the Weinlandstubl Inn sits in the entryway.