Monte Altissimo

Some more pictures from the Lake Garda area. One of the days we went to Malcesine pretty early to take the first lift to Monte Baldo, from sea level up to over 2000 meters high. From there we hiked along the mountain ridge to Monte Altissimo peak, which took a couple of hours going up and down. Monte Altissimo peak is at 2079 meters, so it sounded easy from the map. But in total we had several steep climbs, followed by stretches of downhill paths.
It was a very cold morning with terrific clear air, we were able to see the mighty Ortler group in the north, snowcapped, which had loomed over our holiday home a couple of years ago.
Here is how Riva del garda looked from above. Don't ask me what the sign shows to the people in the valley, my guess is: ...nothing at all.
Historically interested visitors can enter the trenches from the World War I here, which criss-crossed the mountain head. Here the Austrians and the Italians fighted for the beautiful area north of Lake Garda, in the end the Italians won, ...obviously.
Then there was the main attraction, at least to me;-), on top of that mountain, the Monte Altissimo Rifugio "Damiano Chiesa".
The food was great, I had Minestrone, then gulasch con polenta, followed by coffee and cake, all of it homemade by a very nice surfer boy-looking young cook. The highlight of the meal, which took hours, was a selection of the finest home distilled "Grappe", which the owner seemed to do very passionately, according to his introduction of the different flavours at our table.
Eventually, when we realized that we really have to get back somehow before darkness and started to move our lazy bodies outside, we met two friendly pets which seemed to live a good life on the kitchen waste in such a breathtaking surroundings.

Going Underground

On one of these perfect autumn days we we had an appointment for an underground adventure. The place was Wünsdorf, a part of Zossen. Among all of these places with a record in military history -yes, there are way too many in Germany- this one is even more remarkable. The area was acquired by the German army around 1905 and used for barracks and training grounds for many years. Then, in preparation of World War II, construction activities started under strict secrecy in 1937. They built a large bunker containing a modern telecommunication central hub several stories below the ground, perfectly camouflaged. The official name of the bunker was "Zeppelin". In the following years of the "German dark age" until the end of the war, from here the army communication between army divisions all over the world was co-ordinated, during their effort to enslave and/or kill everybody they could get.
Also built here have been several shelter houses, connected via a network of bunker corridors, which looked from the outside like country homes including flower boxes in the windows and wooden doors, covering the huge bomb-safe steel doors inside.
These safe houses, called "Maybach I and II", had been used as offices for the German army high command during the war, before they where evacuated in April 1945, just before the Russian army went in. The fake look seems to have worked well, only one allied bombing raid was conducted weeks before the evacuation of the building which is rather surprising in relation to the importance of this military command center for the German war efforts.
The Russian army not just went in but stayed for another 60 years, keeping the military tradition of the area going and even increased the area. Inhabitants of surrounding houses where told by letter that they had to leave their homes within two weeks.
First they tried to remove the German buildings which was found impossible since the explosives of the time weren't able to destroy it seriously. So they decided to use it instead, the cold war era made them feel a necessity of having a bunker. Later all the West-European air traffic was monitored from here. Eventually the Russians left after the German re-union about 1994.





However, we were taken on a 5-hour guided tour over and under the ground, including passages barely accessible and very damp, dark and dangerous because of the rotten junk. It was very impressive and I took some pictures, but only of sufficient illuminated places. The weather and the wood which has overtaken much of the ground were very nice too, so it always was a pleasure to climb out of the holes into the warming sun.
In the end we had discovered no treasures or secrets and, to be honest, had not much been reminded of the actual purpose of these buildings since the interior was completely gone. Anyway, after all we had fun and only very small bruises :-)

Lake Garda

Well, after all these years I'm back to post something, surprisingly. But only a small post for a start, will try to keep going and follow up soon. We went to Lake Garda in September, to Riva del Garda on the northern shore. It's a rather small village with a small port but beautifully surrounded by mountains and olive trees. Only divided by a rock is a sort of sister village: Torbole (picture). Here good old Goethe stayed for a couple of night during his famous Italy travel.

Despite of the main road and the ugly hotels along it and the tourists which inhabit these Riva is a paradise-like place with all the plants and trees and olives and fruits and vineyards and so on...

It even gets better if one climbs the surrounding mountains. The view is amazing, the air is fresh and suddenly the important business issues from last week seem so remote and small.

We entered a boat as well and discovered the other part of the lake. The picture shows the city harbor of Malcesine, also mentioned in Goethe's travel diary in an interesting story...

Firenze - Giorno Uno

First couple of days we had stayed in Florence before moving further south into the picturesque countryside near Siena. So this is about the first evening after arriving in Florence in the late afternoon of a very hot day. The flight from Berlin to Pisa was surprisingly short, the most time-consuming part of that journey was the ample breakfast we had at Schönefeld airport. Then, from Pisa a quick and easy ride with the Italian railroads to Florence where our small but cozy hotel Casa del Garbo, right on the Piazza della Signoria, was awaiting us.
Actually it's so small you have to make an appointment for the check-in because the reception desk is only open during business hours. So we were in a hurry, had to pull our luggage through the crowded city in the heat of that sunny day, pushing through the heaps of tourists. Anyway, in the end the nice reception girl was still there at her desk, the room..or better the suite..was great and the location awesome, so we had big smiles on our faces after all.


After a short stroll in the neighborhood...
..we discovered the small wine bar, where one can taste several of the great wines of the region for only a small ammount of money. They also offer small Italian snacks to have beside the wine, this was the perfect place for a casual dinner which we were looking for. It's located right behind the Palazzo Vecchio.
Later, when we had learned a great deal about the different wines ;-) we went for the other attraction Florence has beside history, culture, architecture: shopping :-)





In the end of that nice day, when we were on our way back to the hotel...
...we discovered, as a big surprise, that just this night there was open air opera on the Piazza della Signoria, playing La Traviata. I can't think of a better place in the world to watch that, it was so exciting. And best of all, after the music had finished, we just opened the door to the hotel right from the Piazza and were home, I bet we had the shortest way home of the whole audience :-)

Back from Italy

...and heaps of pictures to come, soon....