Mountain Views

Mountain Restaurant

Kent in the Mountains

Mark in the Mountains

This morning we headed out from our hotel at 8:30am bound for a spectacular mountain setting in the Alps for the day. We first had to take the gondola from Oberbozen, where our hotel is located, to the town of Bolzano below. From here it was a short five-minute walk to the bus station where we caught a bus up the valley and into the mountains. The bus ride took about thirty-minutes to reach the Seggiovia Panorama Chairlift. The chairlift took us on a twenty-minute ride up and across beautiful green pastures and forested areas to a place called Compatsch. Here in the winter it is a bastion of skiing and snow activities. In summer families flock to the area to hike, ride bikes and enjoy the picturesque scenery.

Once we reached the top of the chairlift we hiked on a trail about two-miles to an area called Saltria where the elevation is about 5,500 feet. From here you have exquisite views of the mountains all around you that rise to over 10,000 feet in elevation.

The hills of the area are sprinkled with single family homes, cattle barns, ski resorts, horses and cows. Kent and Christine took us to one of their favorite restaurants where we enjoyed lunch outdoors on the patio surrounded by natural beauty. Lunch in this case meant plenty of wine, beer, water, meat and cheese platters, several types of pasta, local pancakes with preserves and powdered sugar, coffee, espresso and the local liquors to top it off. The setting really was spectacular and we enjoyed our time out in nature.

To save a bit of hiking on the return journey some of us opted for a bus ride back to the chairlift for two-euros each. Once back at the chairlift, it was a ride down the mountain, back to the bus to Bolzano and finally back up the mountain to our hotel by gondola. It was a long and exhausting day.

Back at our hotel they use Sunday dinner to use up what food is left from the week so there is less waste and it is the chef’s night off. Dinner started with a bean and vegetable soup followed by a cold buffet of vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, fish, roast beef, salmon, cheese, tuna and more. Dessert was a baked apple with caramel sauce, ice and whipped cream.