Reeder Italy Trip Report Part 8
Apr 23rd, 2004, 09:54 AM
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Reeder Italy Trip Report Part 8
I hope at number 8 I am winding down on my reports here. I was rubbing my eyes like crazy last night after a day on the computer, reading etc.
We are now on the road heading to the Dolomite Mountains. We took the back roads to and through the mountains. The views were absolutely outstanding once we hit the mountains. However the drive was uphill, downhill, and too many tight curves for me! I know it was a tough drive for Joohn but he felt it was well worth it!
It took us about 4.5 hours of driving. Enroute we stoppped briefly in Bolzano and then headed for our hotel--or what I thought was out hotel???
Now in my defense in this area of Italy both German and Italian are spoken. Many hotels and businesses for that matter have two names as a result. once we hit the mountains the Tryrolean influence in architecture etc became apparent.
I confirmed our reservations in another name but thought it was the name for this other place. Confused? Yes I guess I was.
Well John and I find our way to Hotel Uherhof in Bulla. What a place!! Divine!!I set up high all alone with the most beautiful view of the mountains. The place was new, cheerful. Balonies with views in every room I think. It seemed so charming and the people were very nice! I was excited and I could see my husband was as well.
We were at the WRONG place!! They had a room for us but of course we were confirmed elsewhere. The elderly lady there in broken English told us "Oh the place you are going is so congested and NOTHING like this!! I felt sick as we drove away!
Our real hotel Swatzer Adler was in Suisi about 20 minutes away. I was nervous but as we drove into Suisi --what a charming town it was. We ound our hotel--the right one--Hotel Swartzer Adler easily! We could not yet tell from the outside.
However we were received so warmly with a handshake by owner's daughter who acted like she was expecting us. She personally escorted us to our room and proudly showed it off to us. It had its own patio with views of the mountain and a church steeple in between as promised. Our bed had two wonderful white down comforters on it and everything was light, bright immaculate. (yet warm) We like this place immediately. She told us we MUST take the cable car up the mountain and we agreed we would.
Dinner was a buffet of Tyrolean specialities. I ate too much of the hors d' table not realizing they would continue to set up tables with more food. Too much food but very good. Here they set up soups, salads, hors d' things as buffet and you are served your main entree. We appeared to be the only Americans there. There were both Italian and German speaking people there. It seemed hotel was filled.
I wanted to shop for wood carvings but the shops were closed Saturday afternoon and all day Sundays. Poor planning there on my part.
We were fortunate to have had a beautiful sunny day on Saturday as sunny was fogged in. They have a great transportation system in these tons to and from the slopes. We walked to the edge of town and took the bus withe other tourists and mainly skiers and snowboarders to the cable lift. The buses are new and equipped to carry ski equipment etc. Being a Sunday I got to speak with many kids (who were taking English in school) and that was fun.
We took the cable car up hoping the clouds would burn off. They tried but no way. We hiked around on top a bit (Hello?) and both thought it was a good experience. I think they said the cable car was two years old. Each car could hold fifteen people and gear.
We had a very nice lunch at a busy cafe/bistro (I don't know what you call it in German/Italian. I had a huge bowl of minestrone goulache soup and salad and John ordered Lasagna.(with wine) We know A LOT of food is coming tonite at dinner so trying to save room. It was a busy spot on a Sunday afternoon--lots of families. We sat between a German family and a large Italian family. It was a festive atmosphere.Bill was 14 E with no extra charges.
We had our lunch after driving through Ortesei and Castelrotto one more time. Charming towns also but everyone was on siesta or family Sunday dinner. We saw no one out.
We came back to hotel and relaxed in solarium at three before we each had a delicious one hour massage.(42E each) Me at 4 and John at 5. He did the sauna in between. Hotel offer both sauna and steam room. They also provide nice robes and slippers in the rooms.
We needed this respite since we have been to and done so much in the past 12 days. We relaxed under our down comforters until dinner. Hope they don't serve too much food.
I should add here that masseaur did not speak a workd of English which made my massage so much more enjoyable. I didn't even try to start a conversation. That was nice!
Dinner on this evening was delicious but again so much food. I watch in awe as those around us devour course after course and yet so trim!! John is thinking he is just about "wined and fooded out" at this point. We did not feel hungry when we got to the dining room.
Our table awaited us with the remains of the wine from last night (nice Touch) We just each had a glass of wine but drank lots of water with lemon.
They put our a salad table each night with wonderful offerings. There was a platter of tomato and mozzarele, marinated ceci, various grilled veggies, carrots, lettuce with a multi choice of vinegars and oils and two different salad dresssings.
The soup pot was a clear broth with vegetables dumplings. Then came out a meat and cheese lasagna.(We are sampling these in VERY small portions.
The main dinner was breast of duck, duchess potatoes and glazed carrots. (As I've said previously I am not too sure about duck but this was so tender and delicious. (I ate more than John!--now that is a first) With his stomach still a little testy and his body so relaxed after his wonderful massage he really just wanted BED!!
Dessert was cheese filled crepes with a raspberrry coulis. First time John had neither his nor mine. We figured out that in the last 12 days (including both of our dinner desserts and some lunch desserts) he has had 28!! of them. So he could say no this once! We both collapsed before nine blissfully under our down comforters. Again i will repeat we have the best feeling about this place.
The next morning the sun was shining again (too bad we don't have one more day here) Church bells woke us at 7! We showered and dressed packed and went to breakfast. Same substantial breakfast buffet as yesterday yet neither of us feel hungry. I think I forgot to mention here that had an orange juicing machine . It came out like blood red orange juice (so good) but the oranges were smaller orange inside with a tinge of red. Joh was my orange juice maker each morning.
We managed to get down a slow very good breakfas, We had fresh fruit cup, a bowl of muesli mixing three different kinds) topped with dried fruit, hazelnuts, and almonds, then cafe latte, a brioche (stuffed with preserves) and the juice.
I know I am going on in greater detail about this place and food. However the breakfast offering was the BEST of the entire trip and the most healthful to boot.
Patrizia and her mother Elsa ( atru family owned operation) could not have been more gracious to us. Both had excellent English I should mention. You could just tell they really wanted us to enjoy our stay. Elsa told me the people of this area are "special people" and she is right. This was a great choice.
Suisi is a charming town well situated in the heart of the Dolomites with great bus service for skiing and sightseeing if you will.
We left the mountain planning to stop in Bolzano/Bozen enroute to the Venice area. We both hated to leave and kept stoppping the car to catch a snapshot of this view or that. You really don't hear too much about the Dolomites but it is a true find if you go.
Next report we are on our way to Venice!!!
We are now on the road heading to the Dolomite Mountains. We took the back roads to and through the mountains. The views were absolutely outstanding once we hit the mountains. However the drive was uphill, downhill, and too many tight curves for me! I know it was a tough drive for Joohn but he felt it was well worth it!
It took us about 4.5 hours of driving. Enroute we stoppped briefly in Bolzano and then headed for our hotel--or what I thought was out hotel???
Now in my defense in this area of Italy both German and Italian are spoken. Many hotels and businesses for that matter have two names as a result. once we hit the mountains the Tryrolean influence in architecture etc became apparent.
I confirmed our reservations in another name but thought it was the name for this other place. Confused? Yes I guess I was.
Well John and I find our way to Hotel Uherhof in Bulla. What a place!! Divine!!I set up high all alone with the most beautiful view of the mountains. The place was new, cheerful. Balonies with views in every room I think. It seemed so charming and the people were very nice! I was excited and I could see my husband was as well.
We were at the WRONG place!! They had a room for us but of course we were confirmed elsewhere. The elderly lady there in broken English told us "Oh the place you are going is so congested and NOTHING like this!! I felt sick as we drove away!
Our real hotel Swatzer Adler was in Suisi about 20 minutes away. I was nervous but as we drove into Suisi --what a charming town it was. We ound our hotel--the right one--Hotel Swartzer Adler easily! We could not yet tell from the outside.
However we were received so warmly with a handshake by owner's daughter who acted like she was expecting us. She personally escorted us to our room and proudly showed it off to us. It had its own patio with views of the mountain and a church steeple in between as promised. Our bed had two wonderful white down comforters on it and everything was light, bright immaculate. (yet warm) We like this place immediately. She told us we MUST take the cable car up the mountain and we agreed we would.
Dinner was a buffet of Tyrolean specialities. I ate too much of the hors d' table not realizing they would continue to set up tables with more food. Too much food but very good. Here they set up soups, salads, hors d' things as buffet and you are served your main entree. We appeared to be the only Americans there. There were both Italian and German speaking people there. It seemed hotel was filled.
I wanted to shop for wood carvings but the shops were closed Saturday afternoon and all day Sundays. Poor planning there on my part.
We were fortunate to have had a beautiful sunny day on Saturday as sunny was fogged in. They have a great transportation system in these tons to and from the slopes. We walked to the edge of town and took the bus withe other tourists and mainly skiers and snowboarders to the cable lift. The buses are new and equipped to carry ski equipment etc. Being a Sunday I got to speak with many kids (who were taking English in school) and that was fun.
We took the cable car up hoping the clouds would burn off. They tried but no way. We hiked around on top a bit (Hello?) and both thought it was a good experience. I think they said the cable car was two years old. Each car could hold fifteen people and gear.
We had a very nice lunch at a busy cafe/bistro (I don't know what you call it in German/Italian. I had a huge bowl of minestrone goulache soup and salad and John ordered Lasagna.(with wine) We know A LOT of food is coming tonite at dinner so trying to save room. It was a busy spot on a Sunday afternoon--lots of families. We sat between a German family and a large Italian family. It was a festive atmosphere.Bill was 14 E with no extra charges.
We had our lunch after driving through Ortesei and Castelrotto one more time. Charming towns also but everyone was on siesta or family Sunday dinner. We saw no one out.
We came back to hotel and relaxed in solarium at three before we each had a delicious one hour massage.(42E each) Me at 4 and John at 5. He did the sauna in between. Hotel offer both sauna and steam room. They also provide nice robes and slippers in the rooms.
We needed this respite since we have been to and done so much in the past 12 days. We relaxed under our down comforters until dinner. Hope they don't serve too much food.
I should add here that masseaur did not speak a workd of English which made my massage so much more enjoyable. I didn't even try to start a conversation. That was nice!
Dinner on this evening was delicious but again so much food. I watch in awe as those around us devour course after course and yet so trim!! John is thinking he is just about "wined and fooded out" at this point. We did not feel hungry when we got to the dining room.
Our table awaited us with the remains of the wine from last night (nice Touch) We just each had a glass of wine but drank lots of water with lemon.
They put our a salad table each night with wonderful offerings. There was a platter of tomato and mozzarele, marinated ceci, various grilled veggies, carrots, lettuce with a multi choice of vinegars and oils and two different salad dresssings.
The soup pot was a clear broth with vegetables dumplings. Then came out a meat and cheese lasagna.(We are sampling these in VERY small portions.
The main dinner was breast of duck, duchess potatoes and glazed carrots. (As I've said previously I am not too sure about duck but this was so tender and delicious. (I ate more than John!--now that is a first) With his stomach still a little testy and his body so relaxed after his wonderful massage he really just wanted BED!!
Dessert was cheese filled crepes with a raspberrry coulis. First time John had neither his nor mine. We figured out that in the last 12 days (including both of our dinner desserts and some lunch desserts) he has had 28!! of them. So he could say no this once! We both collapsed before nine blissfully under our down comforters. Again i will repeat we have the best feeling about this place.
The next morning the sun was shining again (too bad we don't have one more day here) Church bells woke us at 7! We showered and dressed packed and went to breakfast. Same substantial breakfast buffet as yesterday yet neither of us feel hungry. I think I forgot to mention here that had an orange juicing machine . It came out like blood red orange juice (so good) but the oranges were smaller orange inside with a tinge of red. Joh was my orange juice maker each morning.
We managed to get down a slow very good breakfas, We had fresh fruit cup, a bowl of muesli mixing three different kinds) topped with dried fruit, hazelnuts, and almonds, then cafe latte, a brioche (stuffed with preserves) and the juice.
I know I am going on in greater detail about this place and food. However the breakfast offering was the BEST of the entire trip and the most healthful to boot.
Patrizia and her mother Elsa ( atru family owned operation) could not have been more gracious to us. Both had excellent English I should mention. You could just tell they really wanted us to enjoy our stay. Elsa told me the people of this area are "special people" and she is right. This was a great choice.
Suisi is a charming town well situated in the heart of the Dolomites with great bus service for skiing and sightseeing if you will.
We left the mountain planning to stop in Bolzano/Bozen enroute to the Venice area. We both hated to leave and kept stoppping the car to catch a snapshot of this view or that. You really don't hear too much about the Dolomites but it is a true find if you go.
Next report we are on our way to Venice!!!
Apr 24th, 2004, 04:21 PM
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Never did get to Report 9 today--just too gorgeous outside. Come hell or high water I promise to finish this diatribe tomorrow. Just read an interesting thread about what people like and dislike about trip reports. I am proud to say I think I scored high on both sides. See you tomorrow! H
Looking forward to reading about Venice.
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