Day 48 - In Bolzano - Oh The Places You'll Go - 2025

May 28, 2025

Day 48 - In Bolzano

Ötzi!

Folks who have followed along on our bike and blog adventure since our cross Canada ‘right of passage’ trip ten years ago will have noticed that our trips are becoming more leisurely with ever increasing non-biking days and more creature comforts.

The next few days will reinforce that notion.

We’ve been through Bolzano a couple of times but never spent more than a coffee stop here (ok, in ‘91 we did spend a night, but it was one of those ‘arrive at 6 pm, find a place to sleep, have a shower, get some food, sleep, get up at 7 am and leave’ experiences).

Through the amazing CB community we’ve come to realize that there’s a lot on offer here and it deserves some quality time on its own. So that’s what we’re doing. The originally planned three nights has turned into four thanks to the crap weather higher up to the east in the Dolomites.

So what’s in the plan? Coles notes version - The Ötzi museum/exhibit - today’s feature, the main Messner Mountain Museum, a day ride to somewhere (surely there’s a nice place to ride around here?) and just our general wandering around the town and gorging when necessary.

So let’s start. First, we spent last night at Albergo Figl, a very central and very nice hotel, so central that everything we had planned today was within a 500 m radius of the place. That meant that we could sleep in, so we did, and then we went for a wander in search of coffee, a little breakfast and the odd picture or two of the beautiful old town.

The steep slopes of the Isarco valley are literally ‘right there’ on both sides of Bolzano. Such a beautiful setting

Coffee and our light breakfast dispensed with, we wandered the 100 m or so back towards our hotel. That’s when I had a flashback that ‘we’ve been here before … not just Bolzano, but HERE, at the Figl’

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, maybe even ad nauseam, K and I spent a night in Bolzano back in 1991, and I distinctly remember having dinner in the old town at a restaurant that was tucked into a corner just like the Figl. We struck up a conversation with the current hotel manager and he said that the the original family that owned the place, and in fact mainly ran it as a restaurant, sold the place in the early ‘90’s, the restaurant closed and it was eventually turned into the current hotel.

Facinating!

To K and me.

But guess what, it’s our blog :)

Seriously though, although we enjoy the comments and encouragement from everyone who follows along with us, and we realize that some people actually LIKE to follow along, the blog’s main purpose is for us to be able to remember the tour. Had we written up a journal in ‘91 we wouldn’t be guessing if the Figl was where we had dinner, we would know. Regardless, I’m pretty certain this is where we dined a loooong time ago.

Arriving back at Albergo Figl … spidy senses tingling ….

…. Off ramp … gotta have a vintage bike pic… this one’s parked alongside the Figl

Take away the potted trees, wash off the new yellow and red paint, and that is the little square where K and I had dinner way back in September 1991

It’s a lovely square that one of the main cross roads in the old town, now…. and then

Ok, enough nostalgia. The main event today was the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology. That’s the formal name of the place, but most people know it as ‘The Ötzi Musuem’. Ötzi, or ‘The Iceman’ was/is the mummified corpse of a ca 5000 year old Copper Age ‘European’ found at Tisenjoch pass (3210 m) in September 1991.

This was an incredibly significant archeological find as it’s the oldest Copper Age European and the museum does an excellent job at documenting and explaining this. Given that the place Ötzi was discovered, Tisenjoch pass, is the boarder of Italy and Austria (he was pretty close to lying on the boarder!) the discovery also set off a modern day ‘diplomatic’ dance that the museum also does a good job of covering.

Pictures are not allowed within the main exhibits, so you’ve been saved, but if and or when you’re in Bolzano, it’s certainly worth a visit.

Street scenes as we make our way to see Ötzi. It was about a 300 m walk.

Street scenes as we make our way to see Ötzi. It was about a 300 m walk. Another pic that shows just how narrow the valley is where Bolzano is squished into

The very quick timeline regarding the discovery of Ötzi. One of the few things you were allowed to photograph

About the only other thing you could photograph. The ‘reconstruction’ of what Ötzi was thought to have looked like. He was thought to be about 180 cm tall and weighed about 80 kg. His mummified corpse was about 150 cm and 13 kg.

The rest of the day was taken up with ‘moving house’ … we’re spending the next three nights in a wonderful apartment that’s also in the old town, catching up on domestic duties (there’s a clothes washing machine in the apartment as well a a nice desk to write blogs stuff), and planning where we’re going to eat tonight.

Our fine but utilitarian meals in Colfosco means that we were inclined to balance things out a bit and last night at Vogele was a fine start. We extended that tonight with an excellent dinner at Löewengrube (lots of food porn pics to follow).

So that was today, day 1.

Waiting outside the apartment garage entrance for Ivan, our excellent apartment host/owner.

Our home for the next three nights. La piece de resistance…. A clothes washer. Someone is very happy!

…and a very nice living room… there’s also a separate bedroom, all very nice

Doing what we do best …. Someone’s working hard getting necessary stuff done, someone else is just ‘kicking back’

A ‘street wander’ as we make our way to dinner. Everything is with a 500 m semi circle (not even radius!)

Love this Peacock decor. This is also a great wine store and bar. Ivan recommended it (it’s about 50 m from the apartment) and we had our aperativo here

Just a few buildings down from the Peacock

Just across the street from the Peacock. Every street in the old town is like this. What a beautiful place, and full of life, and not just tourists (although there are a lot)

The ‘low key’ entrance to the building where our apartment is

Great dinner at Löewengrube. Recommended by both Ivan and M. Michelin

A very local Lagrein, 2019. We probably cycled by very close to where the contents of this bottle was being fermented in October 2019. It was great.

A very tasty Amuse … veal mousse in a panko crust

My antipasto, fennel salad with marinated crayfish, anchovies oil and confit tomatoes

K’s antipasto, Panko crusted zucchini flowers stuffed with alpine curd cheese, braised tomatoes and basil pesto

My Secondi, lamb rack with coffee crust, celeriac, wild broccoli hazelnuts and pistachios

K’s Secondi, swordfish with rice, Sauvignon cream, confit onion, baby corn and fish stock

SOTD

Sometimes the reasons for SOTD are clear, sometimes they’re pretty obtuse. That’s today. Dining at the Löewengrube made be think of this song, and it stuck. The vibe also fits the day, low key cruising. That’s it.

Low Rider by War

Good night. we had a great day in Bolzano.

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Bob Koreis". . . our trips are becoming more leisurely with ever increasing non-biking days and more creature comforts. "

As they should be. A person travels all that way just for a bike ride? It's not unusual to read a journal where someone is traveling through a place they'd been before and express the desire to have spent more time there the first time around to discover and enjoy.
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2 weeks ago

Kirsten KaarsooTo Bob KoreisWe are returning to a few places we ‘flew through’ before. I guess one gets a bit wiser as time passes. We are enjoying the pace. It is allowing us more time to take in the places we stay. We are also enjoying the Messner Museum theme, we never really had a focal point like that before but it has some merits.
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2 weeks ago