Plans have a way of changing and my winter project was not going to be updati hiking guides. Motivated by new experiences and changes we encountered and fresh perspectives (who says repeat visits to the same location are boring?) it seemed beneficial to issue new-for-2023 editions.
The Val Gardena book now includes some ideas for rainy days as well as for lazier days without hiking. There are also extensions and options to some hikes for increased activity and where possible, and details on where shorter hikes can be linked together for longer excursions.
For Switzerland, there s a new chapter on rainy day ideas since we had about 10 days of cloudy and damp conditions during our late-season stay in 2022. We still found plenty of fun things to do. Some of teh hikes have been tweaked based on 2022 experiences.
In each book, all URLs and maps are up-to-date.
This is a great time of year for planning a summer or fall hiking trip to either Italy’s Val Gardena or Switzerland’s Berner Oberland.
The other day we went for late morning coffee in the cute village center. We had decided to not go up high on a hike but to chill a bit ad do some shopping since the day prior was quite active. After a couple of grocery store stops, Ric realized he did not have his wallet. A frenzied search of the apartment led us to return to the last place we knew he used his credit card: a grocery store here in town late the afternoon of the day prior. No, they had not recovered it. Worried about compromise, Ric checked the two credit card accounts and two bank accounts for which cards had been lost. His driver’s license was also in the wallet which was actually a small folio for a few cards and cash. Goodnews: no unrecognized activity. Bad news: Ric had to cancel all of the cards which meant I was the only one with access to funds of any sort.
For a leisurely day, it was intense. We went three times to Ortisei center. We are staying up a hill a 10 minute walk from town center which doesn’t sound bad until the third uphill return.
After all of the efforts to cancel cards were complete, our landlady, Justine, rang our bell at 4:30 PM to tell us il portofoglio had been found at the café where we’d had coffee about 10:30!
Two young waiters had spent the day trying to track down Ric. They tried Facebook, Instagram, and God-knows-what other networks with no luck because Ric isn’t connected online. Finally, they called the Tourist Information Office who sent out a blast email to all lodging facilities in Ortisei. Did anyone have a guest “Ric di Oregon?” Luckily, Justine was at her computer and saw it.
The view from our table at Cafe Demetz, Ortisei. The wallet was found on the floor under our table.
We headed into the village center for the FOURTH TIME to retrieve the wallet and reward the guys. Everything was intact: all 4 cards, driver’s license, health insurance card, and about €50. Remarkable! This is such a small town that all the locals know each other despite hosting more lodging beds than there are residents. Such good news, the kindness and honesty of strangers.
The timing was just right for un’aperitivo served by the very guys who found the wallet. That eased us into the evening and we ended the day on a true high with great pizza and our favorite local wine, LaGrein, at the pizzeria next door.
Another view, in the evening with Aperol Spritz and a small bite.
Charles Schwab Bank is expressing a replacement debit card to Ric, but the credit card companies wouldn’t do that so I will be paying for most everything since cash is used less and less here as at home.
On another note, hiking has been excellent as the weather has been near perfect. We eased into mountain hiking with a few nights in the Alpe di Siusi where there are many paths and roads for walking that are fairly gentle and undulating. No need to take strenuous ascents and descents unless you want to. We didn’t even unpack our trekking sticks there.
We embarked a couple of days ago on an old favorite in the Val Gardena. We had not taken it since 2019 and 3 years made it seem a wee bit harder on the creaky old knees and hips.
I am contemplating a book update for 2023 after all. More hikes to add and tweaks to make aimed at other creaky-kneed hikers. We’ll see. Editing is such a job.
Frankfurt is an easy city to dismiss. We have merely passed through on flights a couple of times, landing one afternoon and leaving the next morning. In 2016, we spent a full day and self-guided using a tour in the Rick Steves’ guidebook. This time, we decided to spend two nights and take a tour with the highly recommended Jo of Frankfurt On Foot Tours.
There is far more to Frankfurt than the thru-traveler using it as a waypoint would know. Jo filled us in not only on the long and important history as a merchant city, but on current culture and the changing face of the city. After a fabulous 3-plus hours, we were exhausted but informed. We have learned over the years that a great private tour is an excellent way to get insight into a site or a city. Worth every Euro.
Frankfurt: old and new. And hot.
The reason we pass through Frankfurt so often is that there are non-stop flights from the West Coast on Condor Air that make for relatively painless travel, if 10 hours can be painless. Changing planes on the East Coast is a trial we’d rather not endure ever again whether coming or going. Far better to make a single hop to FRA and then jump on a train to our next location after a good night’s sleep. Having a favorite Italian restaurant there doesn’t hurt.
As to sleep, I had a few bad nights prior to departure with so many pre-trip things on my mind: Will Sven and Molly have separation anxiety? Will I have separation anxiety? Will Sven and Molly forget who we are after 2 months? Will our bags arrive or be cast onto a pile of 5000 others as we have heard in reports? Derek’s surgery, new house sitter to get organized for, third heat wave hitting this weekend: Good Lord, no wonder I was stressed! Oh, and then COVID hanging on. I packed a pile of masks because, sensibly, the Germans and Italians are still requiring them on public transportation. That included our German airline. Everyone was masked-up except when eating.
Speaking of Beyond the Guidebook, we are NOT updating the guidebooks this year. (THAT was a weak segue.) I wanted a trip where I was truly relaxing, not making notes and taking photos, and then spending the winter laboring over edits. I don’t envy the Rick Steves’ editors. It is a LOT of work checking and cross-checking details for a new edition.
This year is a true vacation and I will post discoveries on the blog instead of updating the books.
Click on any photo for a better view. The landscapes are stunning!
Clockwisefromtopleft:Morning light on the Alpe di Siusi; The Denti di Terrarossa above the Alpe; Before sunrise in the Alpe di Siusi; One of our many companions on a morning hike; Me fashionably dressed for the German trains; Long view on the Alpe to our hotel with the Sciliar and Punto Santander; The many faces of the Alpe di Siusi include forested sections; Center, pet alpacas at the AlpenHotel Panorama.
Thursday was a long train day traveling from Frankfurt to Munich where we changed trains for the journey south to Bolzano.
Our trusty driver, Ivan, picked us up and ferried us to the Alpe di Siusi where we nestled in to the AlpenHotel Panorama, a favorite spot on our Favorite Places Tour, for three nights. This is another Beyond the Guidebook place. The other guests — mostly Italians — are surprised to find Americans here, especially on a repeat visit. It is not in any guidebook I have ever consulted but it is in our own Walking in Italy’s Val Gardena. One of the best features: rooms include not only breakfast but a 5 course dinner. No cooking, no thinking about it, elegant, tasty, and many choices. We are never disappointed.
Fun story. We first met “Taxi Ivan,” as his business is called, in 2016 when we vacationed in the Val Gardena with our two cats, traveling from Rome to beat the heat for the month of July. (See Training Cats from July 2016.) We used to take a bus to Ortisei from Bolzano, but imagine getting on a bus — even a nice one — with 4 suitcases and two cats! Taxi Ivan rescued us and we have been using his services ever since.
Hope you will stay tuned as we continue our Favorite Places Tour.
Perhaps I should repurpose my worn out boots like this Swiss gardener did.
1.2 million steps.That’s what my Fitbit logged on our trip last fall to update our two easy-hiking books. Converting that to miles, between 400-480 miles in 10 weeks.
No wonder I needed a new pair of hiking boots when we got home.
Those steps have come to fruition at last: the 2nd edition of Walking in Switzerland’s Berner Oberland and the 4th edition of Walking in Italy’s Val Gardena are now available on Amazon in all markets worldwide in Kindle and in paperback. (These URLs are to the US site. Listed below are links to the sites for the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Please search your country’s Amazon site – Italy, Germany, Japan, India, etc. – if you are buying elsewhere.)
The Val Gardena bookstill features 23 hikes and minimal changes were made in this edition. We checked the local information and retook many of the hikes, rechecked URLs, transportation, cost of passes, and so on. For those with earlier versions, there are not a lot of changes and significant ones are noted on our updates page at ProjectEasyHiker.com.
An outing not in the book is one we call “A Path to Lunch,” an easy but satisfying outing in the Val Gardena that can be split into two shorter walks.
Seven new hikes were added to the Berner Oberland book for a new total of 20 outings. We spent 28 nights researching in the area last fall and never ran out of ideas for easy hikes. While the new book is the only place we’ve written up all of the new hikes, updates to walks featured in the first edition are on ProjectEasyHiker.com.
All of the hikes in both books feature maps and all of the maps are available to download to your mobile device.
Most notable this visit versus our last trip in 2019, there are now great apps for transportation in both Switzerland and the Südtirol. The SBB app links travelers to all modes of transportation: train, bus, boat, and mountain lifts with an interconnected route planner. It is also an easy platform for buying tickets on the go.
In the Südtirol, the südtirolmobil app offers timetables and a trip planner that are invaluable when you are on-the-go.
As always, we are happy to answer questions and get your feedback. Please drop us a note at ProjectEasyHiker@gmail.com.
It has been a very busy month. Having just released our book Walking in Switzerland’s Berner Oberland on January 26, we’ve updated our book of easy hikes in Italy’s Dolomites. Walking in Italy’s Val Gardena is now available in its third — and best — edition. Just released on Amazon overnight last night, the big improvement in this edition is that it includes maps for every one of the 23 easy hikes described in the book.
We first published “Walking,” or as I like to call it “WIVG,” in early 2017. Each year we’ve made it stronger, but I am really delighted that we found a tool to help us create maps. Each hike has a printed map and a link to an online map with an elevation profile. The viewer can customize their experience by selecting the type of map (Street, Satellite, Cycling and more), zoom in to see more details, and also personalize a timer based on individual walking speed. Maps can be downloaded in eight different formats.
For fun, here’s one route, a very easy but delightful art walk on a small mountain called Monte Pana where views over the valley from almost 7200 feet are accompanied by an art installation. Take a look and discover the Troi Unika.
The emblem a the start of the Troi Unika, a very easy walk.
WIVG is available in paperback as well as Kindle, and if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can read it for free. Our books are also available in Amazon Marketplaces worldwide such as Italy, the UK, Japan, and India.
Girovaga 