Ritten-Renon

Almost everything in this part of Italy is written in both Italian and German because, throughout history, the region kept changing hands, a prize for whoever won the last war. 

So today, in beautiful sunshine, we caught the cablecar up to the Ritten plateau. The view was stupendous. Lyn infamously chickened out of a cablecar ride in Malcesine some years ago. Times have changed. I think she would admit she enjoyed today. 

At the top we caught the little train to Klobenstein. I'd planned two connected walks. Off we strode.

It was all alpine architecture, livestock with bells and cute churches.

At the cutest of these was a war memorial.  If you look closely you'll notice that the parishioners chose the wrong side - twice.

(It is a very sad memorial. Still - I think you can guess what happened to the Jewish population.)

To our right there was a broad alpine valley, then mountains, the Dolomites.

At the furthest point of the walk was a viewing point for the local earth pyramids. These peculiar structures form when hardened earth underneath large rocks erodes more slowly than surrounding soil. The result is spikes of dirt with rock caps.

The views were special.

We backtracked to do a shorter walk through a pine forest. At the occasional viewpoints we could see that the tops of the mountains were getting a little cloudy.

We returned to the station cafe for lunch and beer. Ordering food here for us happens in a mixture of Italian, German and English. 

We retraced our course by train and cablecar to Bolzano. It was a terrific day. We finished off with a great dinner at an Indian(!) restaurant.