R. David Morrow's Hiking and photography site: Trip to Italy, October 10-23 2021

We went on the Overseas Adventure Travel trip to the Italian Alps and Dolomites. It was two weeks long and was all in the northern part of Italy.

View of the Swiss Alps from the plane on the way to Milano.

View from the hotel balcony on lake Como in the town of Lecco. We stayed at the Clarion Griso Hotel right on the lake. We spent 3 nights there.

Brenda on the balcony

Reflection along the lake walk.

The next day we took a bus to Milano for a walking city tour.

Therre is a very nice mall with a glass ceiling. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The shops are expensive like the shops at the Shops at Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas.

A mosaic in the mall

Close-up

The large cathedral in Milano. Duomo di Milano

Inside columns with stained glass illumination.

Saint Bartholomew the Apostle

On the way to the top of the cathedral for the view.

Madona statue on top of the cathedral

City view from the top.

The next day was a transfer day with a side trip to a gorge with waterfalls. On the way we spent time at a small fishing village.

Ivy and wisteria covered walls

Probably a kind of fleabane growing on the stone walls.

Path along the lake with an accordian player in the tunnel.

Narrow steep side streets

The botanical garden from the road. We didn't pay to enter.

Many thanks to our trip leader Claudia.

The fishing village.

View across the lake.

Brenda on a bench resting.

Great Crested Grebe

Another clock tower.

The entrance to the gorge.

There were walkways built on the sides.

The side waterfall

The walls were filled with ferns

Also some wildflowers were blooming. Impatiens balfourii

A bell tower.

Then we had a trip to a goat farm that made cheese.

Just as we got off the bus to walk up to the farm there was a cemetery. It is a practice in Italy to place photographs of the deceased on the graves.

A white campion side view.

Anyone who wanted to could milk a goat. Later we had a demonstration of cheese making.

Yellow Toadflax

Brenda leading her goat.

A new tree to me. Harlequin glory bower

Flower of the Harlequin glory bower.

Some mountains were visible from the goat farm.

Later, back in Tirano, our next lodging location, we hiked up the hill to and old church. This is the view of the town from there.

White Campion, front view.

Village church. Santuario della Madonna diTirano

Old church on the hill. Chiesa di Santa Perpetua

Bell flower

Grapes that missed being harvested.

Small blooming shrub. No idea what it is.

Wild hops

Front of the church in the town. Santuario della Madonna diTirano

One of the goats.

The next day (14th of October) we took a train up the Bernina pass to a cable car to the top of a ski resort. Elevation 10,000 feet. There is a glacier there and the Swiss ski team was practicing.

Starting up the tracks the train sometimes ran in the street with cars.

Higher up there was a glacier and a lake.

Near the pass the train passed several lakes.

After ariving at the pass we transfered to a gondola that went up to the ski area at 10,000 ft.

Crevasse in the glacier.

There was a people mover at the top just like the ones in airports that took skiers up a little bump to the restaurant.

The snow machines were running.

View down to a chairlift servicing the skiiers training.

Looked more icy than I like.

The gondola we rode on the way up.

The view in the other direction away from the higest mountains. The max elevation in the area is about 13,000 ft.

Small pass above the top of the gondola.

Convergence of two glaciers.

This is a mountain route up the peak. There are 5 people on the track comming down. They appear to be hiking in crampons.

This is zoomed in a little so you can find the hikers. They are in the middle just comming out of the shade.

On the train back the light was better on the lakes and mountains.

Village in the mountains from the train.

In a steep section the track makes a 360 degree loop over this bridge to gain the elevation required.

On the 15th we transferred to Lake Iseo and toured a sparkling winery on the way.

hiking the vinyards

bark of a cork tree

View out our hotel window on lake Iseo.

Same view at night

Up the lake is an Island, Monte Isola. We took a ferry to it and walked around it for about 2 hours.

The main town on the island.

There is an Abby on top of the island. We thought about walking there but luckily time ran out.

Swans are common on lakes there.

Three wheel pickup truck.

Wild mint grew everywhere on the island

The castle partway up the island. Torre Rocca Martinengo

Common wall lizard

As we walked around the island the views changed.

There is a cat sactuary on the island. These are the Cat Houses.

Drying fish at the docks was a tradition. These are fake.

A new thing. A segway version of a wheel chair. I looked them up and found they retail for around $16,000.

Classic 190 SL

A statue on a fountain planted with moss and ferns.

On the 17th we transfered to Trento and visited Verona.

This is the start of the Verona tour on a bridge on the east side of old town.

View up the river.

The entrance to old town is an old Roman wall.

This is engraved on the wall.....must say something in roman.

Random carving of Medusa incorporated into a newer building.

Shakespear is revered in Verona because it was the setting for several of his plays. This must be his personal pen that he wrote Romeo and Juliet with. Why else would it cost 2600 euros?

Painted rocks in another store front.

Large building at the north end of the main square and marketplace.

Stilleto cowboy boots walking through the market.

Masks for sale in a street vendor stall.

Tallest clock tower in Verona. You could climb to the top if you bought a ticket.

Other side of the same tower.

This is in a minor square on a side street. It is a vinyl overlay on the ground printed with a 3D geometric pattern. We didn't get the chance to try on 3D glasses to see what it would be like to walk it.

Close-up of the pattern.

Dog warrior

Balcony on Romeo's house.

Old Roman sites are all over town. Most are below street lever and can be seen in excavations. This is a tile mosaic.

Style is most important in Italy. These are cheap sneakers with sparkly highlights. Priced at 360 euros.

Verona Arena guard.

Verona Arena

The famous balcony from Romeo and Juliet. The line was very long to pay to get a better view.

Another Roman excavation.

Now we are back in Trento exploring the city on the evening of the 17th.

The big church in Trento

In the church square is a fountain with Neptune on top. Photo to follow of the top of the fountain.

Round window on the back side of the Duomo.

The next day we had a walking tour of the area in daylight. That would be the 18th.

I think these tiles are made of wood.

The castle near the hotel. We had a tour planned until out local guide fell down the steps and was taken to the hospital. Possible head injury.

Ivy growing on the castle walls. There was a lot of Virginia creeper too which was turning red in several of my photos. If it's red that means it's virginia creeper/

An almost ripe persimmon.

Detail of castle archway.

The doorway we exited through just before out guide fell. You can see this same doorway in the photo of the castle that was taken from the top of the cable car later.

New Tree to me.

EMT's checking out our local guide.

Neptune staue and Duomo.

The next few photos are from inside the Duomo in Trento

Neptune

Murals

Another side of the cathedral

Old town from the top of the cable car. The castle is on the left edge 1/3 of the way down. The Duomo just to the right of center and down a click.

A different church in a different part of town. Santa Maria Maggiore

View from the cable car with shadow of the car.

St Apollinare church

The Duomo from the cable car.

The castle from the cable car.

Big cemetery from the cable car.

the small cable car.

On day 11 we transfered to Brixen and visited Tyrol Castle on the way.

Our bus dropped us of in town and we walked the mile uphill to the castle.

Tirol Castle

It was on top of the slope with another castle on the downside.

The lower castle with virginia creeper highlights. Brunnenburg castle

Different angle on the Brunnenburg castle.

This part of Italy is like Germany. They speak german, eat german food and have german lookimg castles.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Chestnut trees seem to grow everywhere we went.

Virginia creeper on a wall.

Another example of photos on gravestones.

Unusual way they grow apples in this area of Italy,

Arriving in Brixen we walked around before it got dark.

Brixen cathedral

Day 12, Oct 20th, we stayed in Brixen and saw more of it. We also took a train to Bolzano and gondola/train to a bee keeper. In Bolzano we saw Oetzi the ice man museum.

This is one of the deserts we had on our previous evenings meal.

Desert

Main course

Breakfast meat slicing machine

Fresh honey for breakfast

Breakfast cheese board

Automatic orange juice machine. Just throw some oranges in and juice comes out.

Giant Nutella dispenser.

At the beekeepers these are the presses they used to use to extract the honey

The queen bee is marked with paint to identify her and tell her age. Different colors are used for the age.

Photos were not allowed in the Ice man museum except where they had this reconstruction of what he looked like. He was found frozen in ice and is estimated to have been there for 5000 years.

This was at the top of the gondola where we transfered to a train to the beekeeper.

Our first good view of the Dolomites.

From the gondola we saw a previous rockfall that destroyed a hotel. There was no one staying there when it fell.

A one-man-band playing a hammer dulcimer.

The last day in the mountains were to see the Dolomites close up. It was a cloudy day with no sun and light rain. The best photos i got were from my cellphone.