Began the day with a magnificent breakfast served at the table on the hotel terrace overlooking the piazza. The day was going to be warm again so we decided to take the cable car to Soprablozano, on the Ritten plateau just over 1200 m above sea level.
The cable car journey takes about 12 minutes with fantastic views over the city of Bolzano as it rises quickly up the mountain side from the station. Going over the the crest the view opens up to the jagged Dolomites and passes over small farms and vineyards.
It’s a few degrees cooler at this height. We try to understand the hiking trails around the area and end up walking through a forest in search of better views of the mountains. The air is fresh and there are surprisingly few people walking the trail. Eventually we come out of the forest around some farms and the jagged mountains appear in all their majesty. The road takes us back to the village center and the cable car station. There are some amazing holiday homes here with magnificent views. I guess it is even more popular during the ski season.
We stop for an ice cold beer at a café before getting back in the cable car and returning to Bolzano.
Back in Bolzano we have lunch near the hotel and then stroll around the city stopping every now and then for a drink. Looking for a wine shop we find the Lisa Wine Boutique and Wine Bar on Via Dr. Josef Streiter. We get a table in the shade we try some whites and a rosé and end up walking away with four bottles to take back to Sweden.
For dinner we try the Wirthaus Wögele, recommended for its local cuisine. It is extremely busy and crowded but we manage to get a table. Cooper is squeezed in between guest’s chairs and not everyone seems pleased to see a dog there but he is very well behaved and after a while nobody notices him. The atmosphere is chaotic and orders get confused but the food is good, although I can’t remember exactly what I ate.
We end the day with a G&T on the piazza taking in the warm evening and bustling tourists before retiring to our airconditioned hotel room for a good nights sleep.
