Dec 22 - Fourth Sunday of Advent

After breakfast in our apartment (me determined to eat as much as possible of that Christmas cake), we set out on a walk we'd found which leaves right from town, the Walk of the Four Churches, psyched when we easily found the starting point near Chiesa Del Sassello.

https://www.bormio.eu/en/walk-of-the-4-churches


Crossing the Frodolfo River

Chiesa Del Sassello

Bormio from above

About 3/4 of mile in, a woman came out on her balcony speaking rapid-fire Italian. We thought maybe we were trespassing, but after a mixed language back and forth and a lot of gesturing we think she was telling us that the path was closed, perhaps due to a landslide.

So, we backtracked, and located a road that led up to another trail above our intended trail. We forged on, not knowing where we were going, but just happy to be on a track with deer poop instead of dog poop.

The trail was soon snow-covered; we had our traction cleats in the pack, but hadn't worn them as the track was a mix of exposed rock and snow, and rocks and traction cleats can be a dangerous mix.

We spent the next three hours wandering various paths; we could see the town of Uzza way below.


Hiking above Bormio

Hiking above Bormio

Hiking above Bormio

All was well until Bill hit a patch of snow-covered ice, fell ass-over-tea-kettle and went sliding down the hill. I reflexively grabbed for him, hit the same patch of ice, fell, and almost landed on top of him. Only our pride was hurt, but had anyone been watching it would have been hilarious.

Some 4.1 miles and 995 feet in elevation gain later, we returned to town. Despite our rocky start, Bormio was growing on us.

Ristorante Pizzera Contado was open for the first time since we’d arrived, so we popped in for lunch. Bill chose the Salmi di Cervo con polenta, deer goulash with polenta, mushrooms and sausage (€18), I chose the spaghetti aglio olio (€8) our friendly waiter feigning disapproval at my faux pas of asking for parmesan, telling me it wasn’t meant to be eaten that way, but bringing some anyway.

We made the mistake of ordering 1/2 liter of house wine, which turned out to be the only bad wine we’d had so far, but not surprising, considering the price €6, (€38 total including sparkling water, and €1.50 each coperto).

It was snowing like gangbusters when we left the restaurant, the first snowfall we’d had since leaving Colorado 3.5 weeks ago. It was finally beginning to look a lot like Christmas.


It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We celebrated the snow over hot chocolate at Dolce Ozio, milk for Bill, dark for me, both delicious, then decided to redeem our lunch wine mistake with a nice glass of Sassella, served with complimentary snacks (€19).


Watching the snow from inside Dolce Ozio

Later in the apartment, the pellet stove made four beeps, and died.

And so began the troubles. I texted our hostess, who sent over her mother, who got it up and running again, but only temporarily.

To be continued...

Dec 23 -

We woke to a broken pellet stove and a high wind warning. We weren't terribly concerned as the apartment had been entirely too warm for us anyway, a few hours without heat seemed a good thing.

We walked to the bus station, dodging that crazy busy intersection again, and bought tickets to Livigno (€11.20 each return) situated at 1,816 meters above sea level in the Rhaetian Alps near the Swiss border.

All we knew about it at the time is that it’s considered one of the most renowned ski areas in Europe, it’s a duty-free area, and it had a Christmas Market.

I’ve since learned that the 2,291-meter high Foscagno Pass, which we crossed enroute, is the only way to reach Livigno without passing through Switzerland in winter. Access for those arriving from Switzerland is via the Munt La Schera Tunnel, transit is one way and alternating, and payment of a toll is required.

https://www.livigno.eu/en/tunnel-munt-la-schera-landing

The drive was gorgeous, and worth the ticket price alone.


Taken from the bus on the way to Livigno

Taken from the bus on the way to Livigno

We had no plans; we set about wandering through the bustling pedestrian zone, which felt quite festive with holiday music piped throughout the village.


Livigno

Livigno

Livigno

Livigno

Livigno

The base of the slopes was very near the pedestrian zone. I'd never seen anything like it, the base seemed to run forever and lined both sides of the valley. There were quite a few ski-in, ski-out hotels as the slopes kissed the edge of town.

Skier Bill said it was the widest ski area base he'd ever seen; the cable cars and lifts seemed to go on for miles with lots of beginner slopes. It looked like a great place for a family ski holiday. And it was nice to see snow!


Base of slopes, Livigno

Base of slopes, Livigno

Base of slopes, Livigno

Base of slopes, Livigno

We popped into the Touring Hotel, planning to have an early lunch, but the snacks served with our drinks were so generous that we didn’t have room (€14), so we moved on.

We wandered the village from end to end, watched the skiers, poked into a few shops, and watched some kids with go carts sliding over an ice rink, and then finally settled in for a late lunch at Hotel Alpina, one of the few restaurants that seemed to serve continuously.

Bill chose the risotto with mushrooms, bresaola, cheese, and apple, I had a cheese, garlic and onion pizza, most of which went back to Bormio with me (€48.70 including one glass of wine each, sparkling water, €2.50 each coperto).

Then we wandered some more, until the disappearing sun and cold chased us back to the bus stop where we joined a long queue. We heard more English here than we had so far this trip. Several ski buses passed as we waited, all heaving.


Livigno

Livigno

Back in Bormio, we walked from the bus station to the apartment. Vehicle and foot traffic had picked up, Bormio was gearing up for the World Cup races to be held here just after Christmas.

The pellet stove was still not working. We notified the owner, who sent over her mother, who fiddled with it a bit and then declared it kaput. Evidently it had been overheating due to a broken thermostat.

A technician was called and would be out tomorrow, Bill commenting that the owner must have wasta to get someone out on Christmas Eve.

It’d been a beautiful sunny day, but we’d be curling up in the duvets again on this heatless night.

To be continued...

Mel, you have clearly upped your game regarding photos! I especially admired those first couple shots in this latest batch. Really well done!
Your busted stove/heat story will probably become your go-to Christmas Eve tale in years to come.
Gotta go, it's time for Mrs Z and I to have an argument, exhausted as we both are mid-trip here in Santa Barbara.
I am done. The perfect Christmas.

Thanks zebec! Enjoy Santa Barbara.

Dec 24 - Christmas Eve

Bormio was still under a high wind warning.

We set out to walk the Sentiero Frodolfo cycle/walk path in the direction of Sondrio, soon making a detour to the Bormio 2000 ski lift.

https://www.wikiloc.com/walking-trai...olfo-104830926

Lots of holiday skiers stood around looking dejected; the lift was closed due to high wind. We continued walking until the path became impassible due to construction, then turned around and followed it to Valfurva/Uzza.


Bummer

Bormio ski lift

Once we reached Uzza, we tried to find an alternate trail back to Bormio on the other side of the river, but weren’t successful, so we backtracked the way we’d come. The entire walk was 5.3 miles, and today was the first time this trip that we’d worn our traction devices.


Making friends, Sentiero Frodolfo cycle/walk path

Sentiero Frodolfo cycle/walk path

Sentiero Frodolfo cycle/walk path

Sentiero Frodolfo cycle/walk path

Sentiero Frodolfo cycle/walk path

We knew today would be busy in restaurants, and tonight would be impossible without a booking, so we thought we’d try our luck at Bar Bormio, snagging one of the last tables.

Bill chose the pasta carbonara with bacon, which he said was excellent (€13). I almost ordered the lasagna, but our waitress deterred me, telling me it wasn’t homemade, so I chose the homemade pasta cacio e pepe instead (pecorino cheese and pepper, €13), also very good, washed down with our new favorite red wine, Sassella.

While in the busy queue to pay for lunch, I was drawn to a display case of mini pastries, and felt compelled to purchase a selection of six for later (€50.80 total, no coperto).


Pasta carbonara with bacon (after Bill covered it in pepper)

Bar Bormio

Bar Bormio

Then it was back to Dolce Ozio for one last cup of decadent hot chocolate, before they shut down for the holiday. Here we shared a toast with two local men drinking wine at the next table. Dolce Ozio had turned out to be one of our favorite places in Bormio.

We then wandered a bit, and popped into Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio to admire the ceiling.


Bormio

Bormio

Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio
Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio

The wind was now horrible; it had gotten a lot colder since this morning.

The pellet stove had been fixed while we were out; it was no longer throwing flames and heating the apartment to 30c.

Later that night, noise below the apartment drew us to the window; a group of festively attired musicians were walking towards the piazza. We knew the Filamonica Bormiese was due to perform, so we rugged up and followed them. They performed a few songs on the piazza and then began marching through the narrow streets of the historic center, onlookers following.


Filamonica Bormiese

We followed for a while, amazed at how Bormio comes to life after dark; businesses were in full swing, people were wandering the streets. Some holiday events weren’t due to start until 9 pm.

It'd been interesting to experience the ebb and flow of Bormio, near deserted until around 10 am, then busy until about 2, then a ghost town until the village came back to life around 6 pm and finally quiet again by 11 pm. As I typed this at 7 pm on Christmas Eve, the bar below our apartment was doing a booming business.

To be continued…

Beautiful ceiling in that church.

Glad to see that Bormio turned out to be a good choice. It looks charming, and the scenery is spectacular.

A little bit of friction keeps the fire lit.

"I almost ordered the lasagna, but our waitress deterred me, telling me it wasn’t homemade."

I think I would have left the restaurant following that comment.

BV LOL!
Mel, that Filomonica nocturnal shot at the start of this last section is world-class. Sooooo utterly evocative. One could almost hear the music. Def one to consider for enlarging and framing.
P. S. whoever invented autocorrect, should be taken out back and shot, immediately if not sooner. It just took meThree hours to
complete this posttutti.

I think she was referring to the pasta, that it wasn't freshly made in house as the other pastas were.

It was quite honest of her, and admirable.

Actually, I wouldn't really expect homemade lasagna that far north.

Dec 25 - Christmas Day

It was 28F, the streets deserted when we set out to hike the Pedemontana della Reit trail which begins above Bormio. Unbeknownst to us at the time, we had been close to it during our aimless wander on our first full day.

The walk up to the hike via the steep streets was a PITA; it took close to an hour from the apartment.

We walked up to the Botanic Gardens, then followed what looked like a trail up alongside it, next to a deep ravine and stream. The trail steadily became steep and narrow, and was soon covered in snow and ice.

Just as I was getting uncomfortable enough to bail, we reached the trail we’d been looking for, the Pedemontana della Reit. Here it leveled out and was quite nice, leading through forest via a wide and undulating path.


Looking for Pedemontana della Reit

Looking for Pedemontana della Reit

Finally, a trail sign

There were no views due to the trees, but it was a lovely sunny day and we were soon peeling off clothes as the trail began to ascend again.


Pedemontana della Reit

We took a side trail, planning to walk to Uzza, but we came to a fork in the road and had to choose between a 15-minute steep descent to Uzza, or a 30-minute trail to Bormio, so we took the latter.


Side trail back down to Bormio

Side trail back down to Bormio


The path was fine at first, but then narrowed to a skinny stock trail cut into the side of the mountain; it was icy, snow-covered, and steep; I thought it’d never end.

We eventually passed below the Broken Church, and continued down to Bormio, which seemed way down there, the trail rocky, with roots, ice, snow and loose larch needles. We didn’t dare put on our traction devices due to the various obstacles.

The trail finally joined several very steep roads leading down to Bormio; our knees were wrecked.


Back in Bormio


We later learned that we’d missed the actual start of the trail, which begins behind the Botanic Gardens, not alongside them. Oops.

There seemed to be a lot of trails up here for those with plenty of time and energy. There’s also a bus, but it drops you at the corner on the main road, so it’s still an uphill walk from there.

But, any hike where no one gets hurt is a good one; 4.5 miles, three hours, 1,372-foot elevation gain.

The day had been beautiful, we were tired. We walked back to the apartment to make a pasta lunch, surprised to see Caffe Cavour open for business. Otherwise, the historic center was very quiet and sleepy.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and preparing for tomorrow’s departure.

Impressions:

Despite the rough start, we enjoyed our six nights in Bormio. The apartment was well located, smack dab in the historic center. We found the local bus situation confusing, and in keeping with other places we’ve visited in Italy, information was a bit thin on the ground.

We’d hoped to do some hiking up near the ski areas, assuming they’d have groomed hiking trails as they do in other ski areas in Europe, but this wasn’t the case, or at least we were told it wasn’t.

The food situation was much better than we expected considering the Christmas holiday.

What baffles me about Italy in general is the lack of toilet seats; my quads got a workout from all the hovering. I could overlook the lack of TP, soap and towels; I’m always prepared in that regard, but toilet seats? It was so common that we were surprised when we actually saw one.

To be continued…

Premature posting...

Dec 26 -

We walked the 15 minutes to the bus station, our luggage rumbling over cobblestones.

We purchased tickets to Tirano (€5.60 each, plus €2 each for luggage). A lot of other people were waiting; we worried the bus would be packed again.

The Bormio bus depot is a very narrow concrete structure with room for only a few buses at a time. The bus that arrived ahead of ours almost knocked a woman down when it left; there was very little space between it and the next bus, and people were in that space trying to reach the incoming bus. Our bus left while people were still standing in the aisle; it was all a bit chaotic.

There were only about five unoccupied seats. Unlike the bus we arrived on, which took 1:15, this was the express bus; the journey only took 40 minutes and was mostly through tunnels.

Once in Tirano, we walked through the underground passage below the train tracks, and began our search for lunch. We suspected we might have trouble finding a place to eat in Poschiavo on this public holiday, and hoped we’d have more luck in Tirano.

The restaurant nearest the station was empty, but completely booked, so we walked over to Hotel Bernina and asked if they had availability; no problem, they even had a luggage storage area for our suitcases.

Bill ordered a Diavola pizza, I chose the margarita, both good, chased down with an Aperol spritz (or two) and Birra Trippel; we also shared a lovely panna cotta. With water and coperto (€2.50 each) it was one of our higher priced lunches in Italy (€62), but we knew the price of everything was about to increase substantially as we crossed back into Switzerland, so we took full advantage.


Panna cotta

We bought tickets on the SBB app for the short journey to Poschiavo via the Rhaetian Railway (5.10 chf each, half fare) and boarded the 1:41 train, both of us happy to be back in SBB territory.

The train line from Tirano to Poschiavo follows the renowned Bernina Express route and took us over the Brusio Circular Viaduct, a single-track nine-arched stone spiral railway viaduct, one of the highlights of the Bernina Railway.

https://www.rhb.ch/en/blog/the-brusi...uct-a-portrait


Our chariot awaits

Train shot Brusio spiral viaduct

A short time later we were in Poschiavo, where we located our apartment about a 10-minute walk from the rail station.

Our home for the next four nights was a self-contained unit on the ground floor of a family home; our hosts lived above with their surprisingly quiet four kids and a few dogs. It was cozy, nicely decorated and well equipped, albeit a bit small.

https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/...iavo-puschlav/

We knew the only grocery store in town would be closed on this public holiday, so we’d brought a small carton of UHT milk and cream for our coffee tomorrow, as well as a few food items with us from Bormio.

Our hostess had also left us a Paluani Pandoro di Verona, which I thought was Pannatone, but she pointed out it wasn’t the same.

I’ve since learned that Paluani Pandoro (golden bread) is a buttery Italian Christmas cake that’s lighter than Pannetone, and made without fruit. It comes with a packet of powdered sugar, which is shaken onto the cake before serving. I did my best to eat it over the next few days (Bill wasn’t interested), and it was delicious, but cake pig that I am, I couldn’t finish it.


Yum

Our hostess had warned us that most restaurants in this town of 3,441 residents would be fully booked this week due to the holidays. So, we figured we might be self-catering.

We set out to explore Poschiavo, stumbling across a sign near the church announcing a Christmas concert to be held tonight, which we later attended. It was fabulous, complete with a choir, organist and trumpets. An unexpected surprise.


Heading to the church concert, Poschiavo

To be continued…

"Welcome back"

I'm a lover of the Valtellina wines. They are almost all Chiavennasca, another name for the well known Nebbiolo in Piedmont (Barolo, Barbaresco...) and I have to admit I am with the few preferring the Valtellina Chiavennasca to the Piedmont Nebbiolo... (shame on me!) However, there are many area of production in Valtellina, and some have a DOCG. Sassella is one of those areas. If you have the opportunity, try also others, as Grumello, Inferno, etc. It's more or less the same wine, but from another area of the same valley. Among the producers, I love Mamete Prevostini and I like others, but I'm far to know them all or well.

Panettone vs Pandoro. I think the preference tends to a rivalry in many families! Panettone is from Milan, Pandoro from Verona, but both are wide spread in Italy, late November - all December and really beloved. As my brother is a master pastry chef and cooks a wonderful Panettone, I'm on this side. Unnecessary to mention it, my wife is for Pandoro... If you come to visit Venice in December, you will find another sort of similar Christmas cakes: the focaccia Veneziana. We call it simply Veneziana and its "mono portion" size was among my preferred cakes for a break when I was at school (given that my father and my grandfather were also master pastry chefs).

It's a cultural difference. I think most Italian women hover whether there's a seat or not. If they don't raise the seat before hovering, the latter becomes stained, or worse, wet. In general, ceramic is considered more sanitary, and is easier to keep clean.

I myself sit on the ceramic.

Finsteraarhorn - interesting about the wine. Bill found an Inferno that he really liked and I seem to remember him trying a Grumello as well (yep, just edited my next installment and I mentioned it there). So much to choose from.

I envy you having a pastry chef in the family! Any idea what the chocolate cake with fruit is called (photo above - it was a gift from our Bormio host)?

bvlenci - IME it's more difficult to 'aim' when hovering Seems a seat would prevent the need to hover, and therefore prevent any wet, etc but I guess we all have a different technique.

We ran into plenty of squat toilets as well - I thought we left those back in the Middle East and Asia, but I've read they're still quite common in parts of France and Italy. Not something I personally miss.

Just getting caught up on your report. I love, love the photos of "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" in Bormio. I admire you and Bill for having the energy, desire, and determination to do all this hiking in sometimes less than ideal situations - the snow covered, icy trails, rocks and tree roots! Lucky for the both of you that you didn't injure yourselves when you fell. Snow always makes scenes look so pretty but we are not cut out for winter traveling and winter hiking like you are. Especially since we've gotten older. We used to ski but that was years ago! I've really enjoyed all the Christmas photos, too, the decorations, the markets, etc. So festive.

Squat toilets in Italy??? Who would have thought??? I hope we don't encounter any in May! I hated using them in China! We did come across a few in France but luckily I was able to wait until we found real toilets!

I'm sorry, at the moment I don't have a clue for the chocolate/fruit cake (I just know the "bisciola", a typical cake of Valtellina midway between fruit-bread and panettone) nor why should a buckwheat pasta be white, unless the flour was too much refined or the part of buckwheat over the total too small.

Poschiavo, not a ski resort, between Christmas and New Year should be a place where the families reunites, as many people quit the valley for studies and job career. Still quiet but fairly lively.

No worries Finsteraarhorn, perhaps it was a type of Panforte although I believe Panforte has nuts and more fruit. Whatever it was, it was good!

I did some internet sleuthing and think I found the bakery it came from, Panificio Eredi Romani, as I found a photo that looks exactly like it. Evidently, it's a hugely popular bakery in Bormio, that we somehow managed to miss.

https://restaurantguru.it/Eredi-Roma...and-C-Bormio-3