The 5,300 years old Iceman
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THE Seiser Alm is an area in the most northerly part of Italy, in one of the regions that more or less govern themselves, which some would see as a good model for Scotland.
One of the by-products of this autonomy is an integrated public transport system that makes getting around very easy and very economical for tourists. Again of interest if Scotland is serious about attracting more tourists.
The region covers the southern ramps of the Alps, and German is more widely spoken than Italian. To get there, go to Innsbruck and catch a train over the spectacular Brenner Pass, or to Verona and catch a train north. The centre of the region is Bozen (Bolzano in Italian), a town sitting in the bottom of a valley. The railway and motorway are busy with goods traffic passing between Italy and Germany and further north.
Among the many attractions of Bozen is a museum dedicated to the Iceman (www.iceman.it), a perfectly preserved copper age man, complete with his clothing and tools, discovered in a glacier in the Ötztal Alp in 1991. He is 5,300 years old and is preserved in a four-floor museum (entry a reasonable 9 Euros per adult). In the centre of the town is a park and the Park Hotel Laurin (www.laurin.it), built in 1910 by the Staffler family who still run it. It is a 4 star superior category hotel which has top-class tea, including paper insulators to slip over the handle of your silver tea pot so that you do not burn your fingers – now that is class.
The bar is decorated with original paintings by Bruno Goldschmitt from 1911, illustrating the legend of King Laurin, a dwarf king who had a fantastic rose garden in the hills. Not wanting others to see them he turned it into a rocky landscape so that no one would view it by day or night, but he forgot evenings. As the sun sets the hills glow crimson, even today.
The hotel has 100 rooms, with original works of art in each room, which are depicted on your key card folder. The dedication to art even extends to brass plaques the size of dinner plates being set into the pavement outside the front door, with words connected to travel engraved on them. Across the river, railway and motorway, on the other side of the town, is the oldest cable car in the world, built in 1908 by another Staffler family to reach their hotel Kohlen (www.hotelkohlern.com), which has been modernised in keeping with the original. Large panorama windows look out over the town of Bozen. There are only has 16 bedrooms but it has an amazing heated outdoor pool and sauna. Guided walks are provided, with a rucksack full of a picnic for two people available for only 15 Euros. It is also an “Idyllic Hotel” (www.idyllicplaces.com).
Bozen is a very attractive town, bustling and ancient. Two castles protect it, and one of the cable cars going up into the hills is the Rittner Bahn, which sweeps over vineyards to the Ritten plateau, with its unique railway, spectacular views of the Dolomite mountains, peace and quiet, and a great many excellent hotels. Traditionally, the valley dwellers came up here in the summer to escape the heat, and in the winter for the many miles of skiing pistes. One of the charming high quality and (for us) very reasonably priced hotels is the Hotel am Hang (www.hotelamhang.it). From its front door a small path leads across a field to the station on the Rittner Bahn. The rooms look out over the mountains and valleys in utter tranquillity. The food is excellent and the family who run and own it provide spotless accommodation, good food, and top class pots of tea.
The Alps in Switzerland are stark, bleak and magnificent. Here in the Sud Tyrol they are softer, and descend in vast plateaux which provide many interesting places to explore. The Mendelbahn funicular takes you up to St Anton, a fashionable resort in the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There are still majestic large hotels, although some now closed. It is still popular for its shops and restaurants and wide views over the Alps.
Another great place to explore will take you to the mountain farm café Gostner Schwaige (email gostnerschwaige@rolmail.it). Here the farmer serves hearty, home-made food in a solidly built wooden farmhouse, with cows and tractors all around you. Fresh air and walking in these high mountains on good well signposted paths gives you a good appetite.
There are many ideas for tourists, including Hike Yourself Fit trails and loads of marked paths to get you close up to the Dolomites, a mushroom walk, geology path and many more. One that appealed to me is the Wine Trail. This is one of the oldest wine producing areas in the world, appreciated by the Romans. Because of the geography, there are 20 different grape varieties grown, depending on the location, at different heights, in small vineyards. There are over 1,000 growers, so they work in co-operatives to produce the wine, which is of very high quality. As it is in small quantities, it is not attractive to the UK supermarkets and so is not so well known here, which is a shame. There is even a Wine Safari taking you to several bottling places. See the wine in their wooden casks maturing in cool dark cellars, and sample the sparkling, red and white wines (www.suedtiroler-weinstrasse.it).
A must to visit is Kellerei Kaltern (www.kellereikaltern.com Kaltern), situated above Lake Kaltern, the warmest in the area, which is surrounded by a horse-shoe range of mountains facing south or south-east, catching 1800 hours of sunshine per annum. The shop and tasting building is modern, bright, and I could have stayed there long enough sampling the different wines – all excellent. We cannot get such quality for such a good price in the UK.
The whole of the Sud Tirol area is a very attractive holiday destination. It is not expensive, the currency is the Euro, and English is widely spoken. To visit the Seiser Alm (www.seiseralm.it) there are various cards to cover public transport, including the eight different cable cars and funiculars. A 7-day Seiser Alm card Gold costs 75 Euros per adult. If you pay for each journey as you go, you will be pleasantly surprised just how cheap public transport is here, as little as 10% of the equivalent in the UK. A Mobilcard for trains and buses costs 28 Euros for 7 days per adult see www.mobilcard.info
It is a special part of Europe that is largely unknown by we Scots but well worth discovering.
