The Hills are Alive

Day 9 -Bad Reichenhall/Rovereto

Cloudy but none of the biblical rain that was forecasted. Weather forecasting seems to have become less and less accurate yet much money has been spent on sophisticated systems and models that should ensure the opposite. I did an AI search on this and got a very chippy answer, obviously AI has feelings too. However, the models are based on historical data and as our weather is apparently changing dramatically, it seems fairly obvious that the forecasting isn’t going to be accurate. Oh well, back to the finger in the air.

It’s a travel day today. After much thought and calculations as to where was best positioned for an overnight stop we came up with Rovereto. A town in the Trentino province of Italy, it has a surprising amount of museums.

The drive went well, we crossed Austria without too much trouble, but like Germany it’s awash with roadworks. The queues going into Germany were awful – to be avoided.

We arrived at our destination, a flat on the outskirts of town. When we were told Paolo’s son Marco was going to meet us, I had an unpleasant flashback to our experience In Samarkand where we booked a glum and rundown apartment and it was the very young son of the family who made all the arrangements as he was the only one that could speak English.

Luckily Marco was not a rerun of that scenario and the apartment was very nice and just a short walk into the historical centre of Rovereto.

I was tempted by the museum of contemporary art which looked fabulous but as we’d been in the car all day, decided a leg stretch in the fresh air would do us better.

It takes a little while to adjust to the workings of a new country and Italy really does take some adjusting to especially when the last place you stayed was Germany. The German obsession with order and cleanliness is swept away with a flamboyant, gesticulating hand and replaced with town squares where cars use the fountain as a roundabout and the locals are drinking aperol spritzers at 4 in the afternoon.

Apart from anxiously looking over our shoulders, wondering where the next vehicle was going to appear from, we enjoyed our stroll around Rovereto. Like everywhere in Italy, the old town is beautiful in a crumbling, ancient way and there is lots to see. We tried to make it to the Bell of the Fallen, a huge bell that tolls 100 times every evening to remember those who died in the wars and to promote peace throughout the world. I wish we’d made it but it was a very long walk up a relatively busy road. If we ever return to Rovereto, we will take the car and make sure we see it.

Dinner was had at the Tema restaurant, barely a 10 minute stroll from our apartment. On our way , walking through the park, we saw loads of bats flying around.

We had the most delicious meal at Tema. Not everyone’s cup of tea I know, but we had pig cheeks in a bilberry sauce and riced potatoes. It was superb. A very friendly restaurant too. As soon as they realised we were English, the waiters and waitress switched to English and were very chatty.

So that was Rovereto. Definitely worth a visit.

Tomorrow a long travel day to the Italian Riviera, replacing our first choice of hiking in Austria. Hope it’s worth it.