This post is the continuation of a series documenting our time in the western part of the Dolomites in Italy. We had started our trip in the Bavarian city of Munich ( A short stay in Munich – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 1 ) and then crossed the border down south passing through Austria and reaching Bolzano in Italy which was our base for 3 days. We had spent a great first evening walking to the Runkelstein Castle and enjoyed the beautiful vineyards around Bolzano ( A walk to Runkelstein Castle on a beautiful evening in Bolzano – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 2 ).
On our first full day in Bolzano / Bozen we had planned a cable car ride up the hill in Bolzano to what is called Soprabolzano / Oberbozen (literally over Bolzano in translation!) since we had read about the only narrow gauge railway of the region – the Ritten Railway and the numerous trails up in the hills that could be done from there. All that necessitated a rain free day and we woke up to blue skies which immediately made us get up early. We set off from our hotel towards the Cable car station after having a heavy and delicious breakfast at the Goldenstern Townhouse. It’s necessary to load up before a day full of hiking.
Enjoying our breakfast at the Goldenstern Townhouse
We walked to the train station where we bought ourselves a 7 day travel card for the region which included all buses and trains in the Dolomites as well as the 2 cable cars in Bolzano. (There are also other inclusions, you can check them out on http://www.suedtirolmobil.info ). Wherever the price isn’t exorbitant I prefer having these travel card/ passes as it gives us the freedom to take whatever mode of transport suits us and without wasting time in lines buying individual tickets every time. We always make the most of it and this would be no different.
With travel cards in hand we walked to the Funivia del Renon / Renon Cable car station nearby and took what turned out to be the first cable car up. The cable car was almost empty and we had a nice view on the valley and the town below. I thought we had reached the end but it then crossed over the hill we could see from below and continued going across the valley till we reached the other end and what was Soprabolzano. It was a much longer cable car ride than I expected and even if you aren’t interested in hiking the trails the views are worth it.
Enjoying the Cable car ride up to Oberbozen
The Cable car continues across the valley as the descending one crosses us mid way
We got down at Oberbozen and went across the street up there to the handy information office which has free basic trail maps and booklets for things to do. We collected one and then had a decision to make. Whether to immediately take the historical narrow gauge Ritten Railway to Klobenstein or spend some time on this side. There were what are known as earth pyramids ( rock tower formations formed by erosion ) in the valleys at either end. So we decided to leave the train ride for later and take the trail to the earth pyramids on the Oberbozen side first.
So we took the trail to the pyramids which first took us to a wide meadow full of wild flowers right below the cable car station.
The trail take us to a wide flowery meadow
The cable car by which we came up
Walking to the Earth Pyramids in Oberbozen
I had clicked some photos when I saw a bird flitting around in the trees. That was enough incentive for me to change to my favourite 300mm lens on my SLR and leave the landscape photos to the better half’s trusty pixel phone for now. It was a small crested tit flitting around in the bushes and I managed to take a few photos before it flew away.
The Crested tit makes an appearance at Oberbozen
The trail then led through a path down the valley through a forest and I knew that I would get at least some bird photos here. The trails here are really well marked and if you pay attention to the signs and painted markers on trees it’s very difficult to get lost. That certainly was a good thing as we didn’t encounter another human being on the entirety of this trail except for a worker maintaining the trails by removing fallen branches and removing blocked gutters allowing the streams to flow uninterrupted.
Walking amidst the forest on a well marked trail to the Earth Pyramids
The decision to keep the 300mm on turned out to be a good one as first I got progressively better photos of the willow tit. A small European bird I have never taken decent photos of, till now!
The Willow Tit gives me some decent photos
Then there were the common birds I have taken photos of like the Eurasian Chaffinch , the chestnut bellied nuthatch and the Eurasian Robin.
A Eurasian Chaffinch on the trail
Wild flowers every where in summer
A chestnut bellied nuthatch
A Eurasian Robin in the sun
The sighting that made me the most excited was seeing a Great Black Woodpecker in the wild in Europe. I enjoy taking photos of woodpeckers as they are excellent posers and this was the first time I was seeing this variety. It posed beautifully in the typical woodpecker pose on a cut tree trunk and I clicked away to glory.
The great black woodpecker on the trail to the Earth Pyramids
That put a big smile on my face and we walked the rest of the way through the forest till we reached the view point where the earth pyramids were seen.
Well marked signposts at every turn
The Earth Pyramids formation in the valley below Soprabolzano
The earth pyramids have delicately balanced boulders on top which will eventually collapse in decades 
The only people on the trail to this point with the Earth Pyramids in Oberbozen
We saw a church that we had seen at the start of the trail from near the meadow that was a further distance away and labelled as an expert level hike. We were not experts so we took some photos of the church and also got some decent photos of grey rumped swifts that were flying around in the valley and turned back towards Soprabolzano. I assume they had their nests in the rock face near the pyramids.
St Jacob’s church in the middle of the forest
A grey rumped swift flies around in the valley
Starting the climb back to Soprabolzano
Encountering small streams along the way in the forest
We huffed and puffed our way up the valley till we reached the meadow again where we stopped to take photos of St Jacobs church and photos of the flowers and insects feasting on the bountiful nectar on offer.
St Jacob from the top of the valley
The flowers and the insects enjoying a plentiful brunch at Soprabolzano
Happy us at having completed our first trail for the day
The Dolomites beyond and the Renon cable car in the foreground
The typical jagged craggy peaks of the Dolomites
We then walked the way back to the train station where now there were significantly more number of people than when we had reached in the morning. We waited for the narrow gauge train to arrive and got on board the Ritten rail and managed to get window seats for ourselves.
Back at the train station in Soprabolzano
On the Ritten Railway to Klobenstein
Sadly we didn’t realise and sat on the opposite side of the valley view. So we made a mental note to ourselves to sit on the other side on the way back. The train winds through meadows and small patches of woods and a few stops later we were at the last stop of Klobenstein. We alighted from the train and walked through the town and decided to walk the Fenn promenade which was a 3 km long walk which promised great views across the valley and the jagged peaks beyond.
Passing through the town of Klobenstein
Looking back at Klobenstein at the start of the Fenn Promenade
This walk turned out to be a breeze as compared to the steep descent and ascent through the valley from the pyramids, it was a level walk with minor ups and downs on a wide path through the forest. The main attractions were the gaps in the forest from where there was a panoramic view of the valley below and the Dolomites in the distance. We could even see the Seceda Ridgeline peeking out from behind the first line of mountains. We would there in a couple of days weather permitting. (More on that in a later post – hopefully soon!)
The views of the Dolomites with the Seceda ridge peeking out from the mountain on the left
More views over the Bolzano valley and the rolling hills around
The view towards Lake Carezza – we would see those mountains in the distance up close soon
A fallen tree trunk carved into a squirrel on the Fenn Promenade
As in most places in the Alps there were these superbly placed benches where you could just sit and enjoy the view after the walk. We have used and enjoyed these all over Europe and this one in the Dolomites was no different.
Enjoying the bench with a view on the Fenn Promenade
After we had sat and relaxed for a few minutes and taken in the views on this beautiful afternoon we resumed our walk. The rest of the walk in through a forest with tall conifers that make you feel really small. It was a great way to spend the morning but now it was well past lunch time and our tummies were growling for food.
The last part of the Fenn Promenade through a tall coniferous forest
Luckily for us the promenade ended at a town called Longomoso / Lengmoos and right at the end of the trail was the strategically placed Ristorante Der Amtmann. We checked the menu and saw that it had a vegetarian pasta for the better half and decided to satisfy our tummies here. We took outdoor tables since it was a beautiful sunny day and enjoyed our hot and tasty meal with drinks after the 2 trails in the morning.
Well earned drinks after 2 trails walked in the morning
My burger and massive portion of fries and the better half’s penne pasta with red sauce
After enjoying our lunch at a leisurely pace we said goodbye to the small town of Longomoso. We were about to take the tar road back to Klobenstein when I spotted the church on top of the town and decided to pay a visit. It was a simple country church with gothic interiors but nonetheless it still had the pleasing symmetry which makes churches a photographers dream. We went inside and did our church routine of sitting in the pews for a few minutes before resuming our way back.
The simple church of Maria Himmelfahrt in Longomoso
The simple gothic symmetry of the interiors of the Maria Himmelfahrt church
The pretty little town of Longomoso
Passing under the clock tower and saying goodbye to Longomoso
Reluctant to take the tar road back I consulted the map from the information centre and saw that a path called the Von Eyrl Promenade ran above the tar road on the slopes. We always prefer a scenic path to a tar road and we still had gas in the tanks so we walked the Von Eyrl Promenade back to the train station at Klobenstein. Though the promenade had nice views of the meadows and the peaks what we will remember it for was the sheer number of Italian wall lizards on this walk. There must have been hundreds of these beautiful looking lizards on this short stretch. There was one every few feet and with the 300mm still on my camera I enjoyed taking photos of their patterned bodies making it a very slow walk back.
Few of the photos of the Italian wall lizard on the Von Eyrl promenade
A wild strawberry in the hills
Bringing the peaks closer with the 300mm from the Von Eyrl Promenade
The walk ended at the Klobenstein train station from where we took the next train back to Soprabolzano. This time we sat on the valley side and enjoyed the beautiful views throughout the ride.
Sitting on the right side to enjoy the valley view
Views from the Ritten railway train
We returned to Soprabolzano and were about to take the cable car down when the better half reminded me of the Protestant church that we had seen in the town itself at the start of the day. So we walked up to this oddly designed church with pyramidal interiors. The entrance was not clearly demarcated but luckily a local saw our confusion and pointed towards and unmarked door which was the entrance.
The pyramidal roof and single tower of the church at Oberbozen
We went inside and sat in the pews and took a few photos of this asymmetrical (for a change ) church and then returned to the cable car station to take the cable car down to Bolzano. When we came down the line to go up extended almost till the train station! It is always good to start early.
The asymmetric interiors of the Oberbozen protestant church
We would visit the interiors Bolzano Duomo ( Will show that in a later post ) before returning back to our hotel with a packed lunch from a nearby bakery (Panificio Hackhofer) that would be our go to place for a cheap but delicious dinner for the next 2 days. ( The tiramisu they had was just too good and cheaper than back home in Mumbai!).
The Duomo of Bolzano
It had been a great day hiking the trails up in Soprabolzano. We had walked more than 14 km up there and now our legs were crying out for some rest. So we finished our packed dinner and retired early for the night.
Retiring early after a long day full of walking
We had plans of taking the first bus to Lake Carezza the next morning. Since it was a popular place we knew it would get crazy crowded as the day went on, hence getting there early was paramount. Whether the weather would continue to be on our side and we would get to see this magical lake is the topic for another post. Some other time, some other day.
Till then,
Ciao!
Happy memories of Oberbozen / Soprabolzano
yogictravel 
beautiful dolomites. On my bucket list for sure. Thanks for the ride along with you
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Thanks ma’am ☺️
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