The European Trip, Day 29 - Uraling to Cortina d'Ampezzo

I left Bolzano after breakfast at around 8:20AM soon after checking out from the hotel.  The rig and I took SS12 or Strada Statale 12 (state road) and headed north towards Colma.  Most of the traffic was inbound into Bolzano so no traffic issues for us.

Just before reaching Colma and it's junction with SS242, I saw a small castle on a hillside:

Just south of Colma or Kollman depending on

whether you lean Italian or Austrian.

Historically, this area between Austria and Italy has been fought over many times.  The names of the towns changing depending on which army was victorious at the time I believe.  So the signs showing you the name of the town usually have two names, the Italian and Austrian/German name.  Just thought I'd mention it.

An eye-catching piece of "artwork?" I saw along the way today.

This was at St. Christina.

Riding over the bridge we then motored on SS242 towards the first pass of the day, Passo Gardena which is reachable via SS243 where it junctions with SS242 in Plan de Gralba.  All the tour bus traffic seemed headed down SS242 so it was an easy choice.

I next backtracked towards the junction with SS242, the road was now almost empty, funny how that happens once the tour buses go away.  I rode on SS242 towards Passo Sella:

I kept riding on SS242 until I realized that when it junctioned with SS48 that SS28 was the road that I'd driven on the way towards Switzerland!  As I was getting my bearings sitting on my rig at this junction, this bicyclist approaches me and in Italian he asked me about the road back where I'd just come from.

In quite a UDF session, he turned out to be a former URAL rider, some 20 years ago.  Sergey, or Sergio is originally Russian, now living in Italy working in the cheese industry.  Small world eh?  

After we said our goodbyes, he kept going towards Pordoi Pass on SS48 and I decided to backtrack towards SS243 as I wanted to ride new roads towards Cortina d'Ampezzo, tonight's destination.

So, I had to drive through the twists and turns all the way up towards Plan de Gralba, enjoying the views of Sella Pass once again.  Darn.

Now on SS243 once again, I went through Gardena Pass once again.  Darn.

The route would be to reach SS244, take it north for a bit until it junctioned at Villa Stern with the road to Valparola Pass.

After Passo Valparola, it was riding on SS48 towards Passo Falzarego, there wasn't much of a scenic view content at this pass, so here's the one picture I took to record passing through:

One continues from Passo Falzarengo towards the small village of Pocol and then turns south towards Cortina staying on SS48.  This portion of the road is quite twisty in spots and pretty soon one begins to get glimpses of the big mountains that surround Cortina.

Just before the last few kilometers to Cortina however, I elected to ride up to Passo Giau via SP638.  I'd ridden through this pass before on the way out towards Switzerland but the day had been hazy and no really good opportunities for pictures of the mountains near Cortina.  Today, I would get decent shots:

Backtracking on SP638, I approached Cortina d'Ampezzo and stopped an an overlook which showed the town quite nicely:

You can see the approaching rain from the south

The rain would compliment what had been a much cooler day of riding than yesterday.  Not to mention that there were a lot less motorcycles on the road darting about the cager traffic!  I made it to the hotel before the rain really started, and it wasn't really that much rain.

View from my hotel balcony, to the west in what would

turn out to be a pretty sad sunset.

I found the hotel I'd booked last night with no major issues now that my internet access via smartphone has been restored.  The process wasn't as complicated as I understood it to be, the nice lady at the Tabaccheria straightened things out in Bolzano this morning.

iphone6 pic on the way to dinner tonight

The European Trip, Day 28 - Traveling Day and Some Notes

Due to the oppressive heat wave that is hitting the region of Europe that I am riding in, I am changing my riding schedule a bit.

Now, most of the riding will be done in the morning, with the objective of being at the next hotel by 2-3PM at the latest, earlier is better.  It was 95°F (35°C) this afternoon according to weatherunderground website.  It has felt like an oven the last few days, in the afternoons.

Some travel notes before I forget them and then, on to the pictures today.

The following are my observations, based on my experiences, if I am in error, please let me know.

1.  When buying a SIM card for your phone, go to the cellphone provider's main stores, don't go to a shop that provides such things from multiple vendors unless you know it's trustworthy either by reviews from site such as yelp.com.  I overpaid by 35 Euros by trusting the sales guy at this "Telecom Shop" in Fussen, Germany and he bundled in crap I didn't need.

2.  If you have an Italian SIM card, and you do data roaming in Austria, it somehow invalidates your Internet access via the SIM when you return to Italy.  Now you have to find an open Tabacchi store, where they sell smokes, and have them "recharge" or ricaricare your phone with at least 5 Euros.  That's the theory anyways, it's Sunday so these type of stores are all closed.  I have to wait till tomorrow morning to find out.

3.  On Sundays, Italian gas stations without an attendant (and a lot of them outside the cities are automated service only), will not recognize your Visa Credit card.  Turns out, when in such an automated mode, they only accept cards issued by Italian banks!  Sure, you could use cash, but if you don't have a bill close to the amount you need, don't expect to get change back.  I realized this seconds after I pressed the commit button and ended up paying double for a tank of gas.  Stupid.
Try and find a manned gas station, and even then, I have my doubts about non-Italian bank cards.

4.  If you're not going fast enough (and you may be speeding according to the speed limit signs) drivers and riders will zoom past you.....lane markings are apparently just a suggestion, so don't count on solid line markers keeping folks from passing in dangerous spots.  They really don't mean to be dangerous, it's the way folks drive here.  Don't take it personal.  Keep a wary eye on the mirrors and try and slide over if you can.

5.  Leaving what in the US is seen as safe following distance is something that is apparently an open invitation for cross traffic to drive out of a side street and onto the road you're on.  You can't tailgate and be safe, you just have to be prepared for vehicles to dart into traffic in front of you.

6.  The GPS app I got for my phone proved lacking.  Sure, it can store maps offline but to do route corrections you have to have Internet access.  It also has an annoying lag when doing voice prompts so that by the time you're told to turn somewhere, you've gone past that street.  This got annoying quick.

I use voice prompt mode only, I don't want to look at a tiny screen and monitor busy traffic conditions at same time, one must be hyper alert in traffic!  So the lag I mention above led to many wrong turns, re-routings and frustration.

I've taken to navigating by road numbers and towns, using the GPS only for the last few miles to find the hotel in question.  No sense draining the battery on the GPS when really there's only one route to your destination, and most times, it's clearly marked.  I did lose a lot of riding time by having to stop and check my GPS whenever I'd get confused (which was a lot).  Sometimes I'd miss a sign because of traffic or poor sign location, sometimes it just wasn't intuitive, sometimes all of the above.  I have found though, that I have a great facility, when presented with two choices of road, of picking the wrong one....then within five minutes realizing this, checking the GPS and reversing course.

I have got to get a blue tooth headset for my helmet, wires for headphones are driving me crazy.

7.  I am now booking hotels the night before, not after traveling all day and being hot and tired while searching for a place to stay.  My mind, being frazzled, has caused me to make some big mistakes in terms of booking, costing me time and money.



I'll add to the above as other things are recalled.  Now, here's some pics I took while driving from Amerlugen, Austria to Bolzano, Italy today.  The idea was to be in a good staging point for tomorrow's passes enroute to tomorrow's destination of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Taken yesterday evening while in Amerlungen, Austria, really close to the northern border town of Schaan, Pricipality of Liechtenstein.

The view from the main viewing areas of Hotel Yoga

where I stayed while in Amerlugen, Austria.

That's the castle in Vaduz, where the reigning Prince and
his family lives.  

I left at 8:20AM this morning after a nice breakfast with a family from Denmark on their way to France for vacation.

Just a picturesque scene, this area of Europe is chock full

of views like this.

Festung (Fortress) Nauders, near the town of Nauders on

the road to Reschpass (nothing to write home about).  

You come out of a tunnel and face the gun

ports of this old fortress.

Convento Monte Maria or Marienberg Abbey, the highest Benedictine abbey in Europe
thanks to Bob VanArsdall for the info!

The rest of the ride was boring state road driving, looking for gas and paying double for it, and just generally baking in the heat of the day!  Took me a while to find the hotel as my sim card wasn't working (see #2 above) and I had to navigate by stop, look, drive, and repeat.

Took this shot of Bolzano, Italy after taking one last wrong

turn before finding the hotel.

The European Trip, Day 27 - Fourth of July Riding on Four Passes

Happy Birthday to my adoptive country!  Today I spent it showing the flag (little one on the left shoulder of my riding jacket) around four very nice mountain passes in Switzerland.

Today I woke early and was on the road by 5:35AM heading towards Furka Pass to get the mountain peaks visible from there with the early morning sunlight if possible.

No cow stau this early in the morning so no problem getting up there in time to see the sun begin to paint the top portion of the mountain peaks with light.

The town of Realp, Switzerland

On the way up to Furka Pass Summit from Realp

Same spot, as last night's pictures

Another view of the peaks from further west of the 

Furka Pass Summit area.

Once you twist and turn your way down on the western side of Furka Pass Road, you can get a look at what's awaiting you to climb up to the summit of Grimsel Pass.

Road to Grimsel Pass

Besides shops, there wasn't much else to take pictures of

at the Grimsel Pass Summit, but the scenery got better

as I headed now east towards Sustenpass.

The other side of Grimsel Pass

Following pictures are taken after Grimsel Pass and before Sustenpass.  The many short rock tunnels along the way gave me an idea.

The view from the eastern side of Sustenpass Road

After Sustenpass, it was steady riding with still some twists and turns thrown in along with a few small towns, until I arrived once again in Andermatt, just south of my starting point in the town of Goschenen.  Took me just shy of two hours, but as you know, I stop a lot and when moving was moving at URAL speed.  

Andermatt, Switzerland

From Andermatt, it was cruising on the road to Chur heading towards Lichstenstein.

There was one more pass to bag, the Oberalpass:

I almost blinked and missed the summit of Overalppass, 

it wasn't too twisty or difficult of pass.

Looking back towards the summit of Oberalppass

Made it to Liechtenstein with no issues in terms of riding.  Did have some trouble finding internet access as I didn't have an data sim that would "roam" within Austria.  I had booked a hotel in the town of Amermulen but no wifi, so no route.  I don't have a dedicated GPS, using an app on the iphone which supposedly works when offline but not to do the inital route planning; and if you deviate, it doesn't re-route without internet access.  Kind of dissapointing.

I overheard a local man talking in English to his little daughter and I asked him for help.  His English was very good and he told me that once you go into the Zentrum or City Center (we were in Feldkirch, which I knew was "close" to the hotel) that the city provides free wifi.  Score!

He also looked up the route on Googlemaps and gave me some directions as well.

I thanked the man and after waving to his little daughter (who kept eyeing me suspiciously),  I motored over a few blocks and found the free wifi.  Got the route downloaded to my phone and off I went.

Found the hotel at the top of a big hill, quite steep that driveway, you must maintain momentum or you'll smoke the clutch on the rig!

The hotel reception desk wasn't manned, heck the front doors were locked.  There was a number to call but again, no data/cellphone sim for Austria.  I took a chance and guessed at what the hotel wifi password would be and guessed correctly!

Now with Internet access, made a VOIP (voice over IP) call to the hotel's manager Anton, he came over in under ten minutes and got me checked in.  I am waiting out the heat of the afternoon as I craft this posting.  All the locals are saying it's been one heck of a summer so far in terms of heat and humidity!  Just my luck.

Oh, I did ride a few miles within the confines of Liechtenstein, it looked he same as Austria or Italy to my eyes!  So I decided to stay in a hotel in Austria instead of worrying about exchanging money and such.  I don't know if I'll do any touristy things in the morning before continuing my way east.

Am debating, Garmish-Partenkirchen or Bolzano?