Great breakfast again especially that melt on the palate Gorgonzola and the cured meats accompanied by sweet grilled vegetables. We purchased our train tickets at the station self service machine with a little help from a roaming/attending official train staff. This was great as it facilitated us getting some 1st class tickets cheaper than 2nd class – go figure that one! It was due to a promo price where the 2nd class had sold out, so 1st was still cheaper than regular second price. Nice. Even better once we were on the train it was comfortable and airconditioned with a mini glass petitioned room all to ourselves.
The train route to Bolzano took us on the high speed train bound for Munich through one long scenic valley, with numerous villages each with a church with an onion dome top and frequent stone castles perched on high points. Cradling the valley are large hills on either side, getting taller the further we got. There is a lot of horticulture with pip and stone fruit trees, grape and get this – predominately kiwifruit plantations. I tried to do a bit of blogging but Vern was distracting me alerting me to lovely scenery every 5 minutes! The trip took about 1.5hrs but seemed to go in about 30 minutes, which I guess is the effect you get on high speed trains.
We had prebooked and paid for a rental car with our travel agent before we left, this particular vendor was Avis Budget down town Bolzano. Well downtown is not exactly where the main station is so when we arrived in Bolzano central we realised it was closer for us to go to Bolzano Sud (south) – no problem 1.50 euro and half an hour later (time for ice cream) we were there. The rental car place was a further 12 minute walk in 32 degree heat reflecting and increasing off the concrete and tall city buildings so we were pretty hot and sweaty by the time we arrived. I took a seat and let Vern do the sorting with the voucher etc as he is the driver with the international liscence etc. From here it went bad quickly and I lost my composure equally as fast.
The message coming from the reception was that she could not issue us a car as the credit card used for security, was not in the name of the licensed driver. I cannot repeat the conversation verbatim, nor would you want to read it but I basically engaged in an argument with her, at the ridiculous nature of the matter as our card is effectively a joint one – same number, same pin, same account but different name on the front. Could she not just punch the number in? No. Could she find a work around like very other bleating car rental on holiday had (if in fact it may have been an issue for them) NO. Could I not go home and get my liscence? REALLY – um no – its on the other side of the world. Can I not ring home and get them to send me a photo of the liscence? Well it is night time, and I didnt want to wake the house and dog sitter however, it didnt matter how much I fumed or debated she was not budging. We even entered a stand off where she just then ingnored us, and we just sat there. At that point my language deteriorated and I erupted to Vern – loud enough for her to hear – voicing my opinion of her level of service, incompetence at a work around, rudeness, and bit of pedigree. I was in full tantrum mode – something that is actually pretty rare, but not pleasant when it occurs.
Basically we were stranded, I tried ringing an after hours help for our booking but the number did not work, so I had no option but to pay exorbitant roaming rates and try and wake Wendy our fur baby nana and house carer. After two attempts we had success and she very capably found the liscence and Verns credit card and emailed photos of both. We are so very thankful for having her, and knowing she is more than capable with technology to do all of that in an instant – even when woken in the middle of the night. When the email dropped into our mail box I left Vern to deal with the reception as I clearly was not in a state to not cause grievous bodily harm or make matters worse!
Finally 1 hour later we had a car – well I think it was a car – Fiat Lancia two door. I query whether it was a car or not as our two modest bags would not fit inside the boot without reclining the back seats. I already miss our little ‘Megane’ car. Still fuming and apologizing to Vern for my tantrum, we put air con on full blast, plugged in the Garmin GPS (nowhere as good as Tom Tom) and made our way north east to Castlerotto or Kastleruth depending on which language you choose. The Italian Alp area has historically been both Swiss and Italian, currently Italian so everything is known by two names and most locals are bilingual at least. There is also a local dialect spoken by some. The general look and feel as you get into the Dolomite is Germanic whether it be architecture, food, or the look of the people.
There was a bit of negotiating to get out of town, but not too bad and it was only a 35 minute drive to our home for the next 3 nights. The scenery got more enticing the closer we got to Kastleruth, the journey took us through lots of tunnels, winding along and up the side of valleys as we climbed higher through green Swiss like rolling ranges. The area is similar to the nice areas around Chamonix and Switzerland that we have visited. We also got to see glimpses of the Bruner Pass that goes through to Germany – which is an impressive piece of engineering.
It was a bit after 4pm but the time we arrived at Villa Gabriella and the boutique spa resort was such a welcome to my hot, tired and bruised spirits. Set in a pretty green farm settlement 3km out of town it is a converted farm house sleeping up to 18 guests. The husband is an architect and Gabby is a Michelin rated chef that looks a bit like Bridget Bardot. They have two young children – tweenager and teenager that help the family business. At the time of booking I chose a half board option that included breakfast and a 5 course dinner on the basis of fantastic reviews from guests – and was looking forward to our first evenings dining. Our room was upgraded to the largest one on the below ground floor and is huge! It is a pretty luxurious place which is designed and dressed in a very clever arty fashion and fine detail. I can see that I will be very happy here….
We took the time to have a mega soak in the huge bath and do a blog before going upstairs for dinner. To begin you are offered an aperitif on the patio and maybe meet other guests before you get your numbered and beautifully decorated table. The husband waits on you with help from maybe one staff and one of the children and the meals come out at a good pace, each a work of art presented to your with a description.
I wont go into a full description at this time, as I hope to load photos later with the detail. However, I will summarize by saying the highlight was a beetroot Klose (German dumpling) with two sauces, and one of the best fish dishes I have ever had – simple steamed with buttery kohlrabi and swede and a salsa verde. Gabby is so clever with her balance of flavours – I want to stay here for a long long time …..
Travels with Valrock 