The Tälertour - Our Wonderful Bike Tour Through Südtirol, Italy

This July from the 14th to the 20th, we were part of a group of 34 bicycle enthusiasts traveling with Bender Royal Tours touring five different valleys (Tals) in the South Tyrolean Alps.  One of the most beautiful places on earth I think.  We had perfect weather, a wonderful hotel, terrific food and a fantastic group of people to enjoy it all.  It sounds impressive to say that we did a bike tour in the Alps but about 95% (our guide Bert told us this) was downhill.  My kind of biking.  Of course, the 5% uphill was definitely enough!  On this tour we only had 5 or 6 E-Bikes.  E-Bikes are bikes equipped with batteries to assist the bicyclist on those uphill battles.  They are becoming very popular here in Germany where biking begins when you are about 2 years old and ends when someone tells you that you are too old to ride.  E-Bikes are extending the life of the average biker.

Anyway, here is our tour.  The pictures are beautiful but they don't do it justice.  Same as when you see pictures of the Grand Canyon.  They are beautiful but when you look at the real thing, it's a WOW!  OK, put on your helmets here we go....

First Day.  Here is a picture of Wolfgang helping to unload his bike from the trailer.  Our driver was Andreas Bender and our tour guide was Bert.  They took care of everything so we could all just roll downhill.

Our friends Gisela and Willi joined us on the tour.  We hung out in the back of the herd.  More space and time to look around.

This is what most of the flat areas looked like but what you don't see in this picture are the huge granite mountains in front of us.

My "Selfie"

Rolling downhill through the fields and farms.  I know, where is Heidi's Grandfather?

OK, so here is the first glimpse of the incredible mountains that we looked at every day on our tour.  Each day there were new views and each one more breathtaking as the one before.

With mountains come streams, rivers and waterfalls.  The water was so clear and cold.  The sound was fantastic.

The bike trails were fantastic and most of the time empty.  Of course there were always those show-offs that were riding uphill against our group.  We tried not to be impressed.

Pause (resting).  Bert would blow the whistle once to say get ready to start again and then twice to say that we were rolling.  Sometimes the whistle blew too soon because we wanted to take more pictures.

This is Cloister Neustift.  A still active cloister in fantastic condition.  We stopped and took a look around once we got down to the main gate.

The inside of the main church from the cloister.  If I attended a church like this, I would never hear a word being said.  I would be too busy looking around.

Outside in the garden area of the cloister. 

I don't know, there was a hole in the wall.  Need I say more...

As we were rolling along, we had to cross this wonderful old covered bridge.  The sign above says that it is the bridge to get to Burg Taufers (A Burg is a castle on a hill).

If you look closely, you can see me but since I am so fast, it was a lucky thing that Wolfgang got the shot.

And this is Burg Taufers.  No time to visit, we had to keep rolling.

Our hotel and mode of transportation from valley to valley.  Our guide Bert is the man in black.

Once again, unloading and getting ready for another day.

It's beautiful in summer but I bet FREEZING in winter.  Definitely a place to visit but not a place to live year round.

That's me in green.  The lady in the front is Marlene.  She road in front of me every day.  If she isn't already 80, she has to be days away.  She told me that I was her guardian angel because if someone was coming from behind, I would always tell her to "stay right".  I just loved this lady.

Lots of tunnels on this tour.  Gisela wasn't thrilled but I loved them.  Of course, we rang our bike bells.  I mean, we were going through a tunnel!

Of course, every afternoon there was a break usually for ice cream or beer.  You can guess what we picked.  At one of our stops this was out in front .  The Ultimate Biker!

I have included this picture because our group thought it was very funny.  An old VW Van set up as a bike repair shop.

Here we are enjoying some shade.  It was in the 90's and although it's not a problem while riding, especially downhill, sitting and enjoying a beer needs to be done in the shade.

The local beer.  Looks good doesn't it.

Back in the saddle and rolling farther along.

Traffic!

So we weren't always out in the fields.  Sometimes we enjoyed the forest too.  I would bet that Wolfgang is pointing out a bird.

It was not all fun.  Here I am earning my keep hooking up my bike to a milk can.  The farmers all load their daily milk into these cans and put them down on the road for the main milk truck to pick them up.  The truck was late so I had to do the job.

So here we are in Bozen.  Home of the Ötzi man.  You know the guy they found in the Permafrost.  He was a young 5000 year old man.  This is a farmers market where Wolfgang bought some salami made from Esel (donkey).  Really, he says that real salami is made from Esel.  No comment!

The main square of Bozen.  A beautiful college town.  College towns are always lively and interesting.  This is a statue of Walther von der Vogelweide.  He was a minstrel singer from the 1170 - 1230 a.d.  His actual grave (they say) is in Würzburg.  Here we had ice cream and beer.  Yes, I know really healthy but we were on vacation and it was REALLY hot.

This is a hard working man.  He is mowing a hillside.  The hills are too steep for a tractor so this is the answer.  After the mowing, they rake it all up for the winter food for the cows.  Now this is work.  No aerobic classes needed here.

Now, I said that the tour was 95% downhill and this is a pretty impressive grade.  Problem was, we had to ride up this hill.  I walked.  That was hard enough and remember I had to push my bike too so you should still be impressed.

We had one free day.  We did an additional bike tour from Meran to Bozen and finally to the Kalterer See (a See is a lake).  We had to buy our own lunch so we found this Metzgerei (butcher shop) and got Salami sandwiches to go.  I didn't ask what was in the salami so I have no idea what I ate.

Just a nice picture while we were in Meran.

After riding over 50 Kilometers.  The Kalterer See was fantastic.

Yes, they are wearing bathing suits.

End of the ride for the day.  What did you expect?

OK, so every day was beautiful but when we rode through the Dolomites, I cannot tell you in words how incredible it was to see these mountains.  The air was so clear and smelled so fresh and clean.  It was truly a place I will always remember.

The group getting ready.

Here is Gisela rolling on down the mountain.

All Right, another tunnel!

Just turn your head and there's another mountain.

Sad to say, no bears, no mountain lions, no poisonous snakes.  I mean what's camping in these mountains.

A Pause.  I don't think anyone wanted to leave this spot.  Everywhere you looked it was stunning.

OK, another selfie.

Wolfgang and I standing in the middle of heaven I think.

Heading into Cortina.  Home of the 1956 Winter Olympics.

Wandering around Cortina.  Nice town.

Oh that Willi!

What the people in this town consider house decorating.

OK, he is real, no weird costume.

Here is the Ski Jump arena from the 1956 Olympics.  It is so small compared to what they use today.

Heading out of Cortina.

Lunch!

OK, no beer.  Anyone want a Schnapps?

Heading out after lunch.

Here is a picture of Gisela and Marlene.  Does Marlene remind you of anyone I knew in my lifetime (how about Natalie).

All right, end of the day and this was the last of the big mountains.  It is called the Drei Zinnen (Three Pinnacles).  If you can believe it, there were people Para-sailing off these mountains.

Wouldn't Bob Ross love to have shown us how to paint this picture.  If you don't know Bob Ross, check him out on You Tube.  I am sure he is there.

OK, end of the day....

Hey, look beer steins!

These guys were practicing how to mountain climb.

The last ride.  We started at the boarder between Austria and Italy.

It was a great ride but really hot.

A little religion.

In the middle of nowhere on our ride was this sign.  I am sure that the Kilometers were correct.

The end of our ride.  There was the option to ride farther or go swimming.  We voted on swimming.

Our last picnic lunch.   Wurst (sausages) and beer.  Oh and the little white cups were for Schnapps and don't pick on my hair.  You wear a helmet for hours and let's see how you look.

OK, we went to this little lake where it was really locals only.  The water was just above freezing but it was refreshing.  Wolfgang and Willi were buying ice cream (Gisela and Sarah) and beer (Willi and Wolfgang). 

Although the lake never got very deep it was enough.  I think the kids thought it was perfect even though you couldn't feel your toes after 5 minutes.

Our hotel hosted a barbeque for all of us (alcohol not included).  I mean it's a group of Germans.  They would be broke.  This was our music man.

This was our bartender.  A beautiful young woman who couldn't speak much German but could speak English.  One for me!  Why this woman was a bartender and not a model, I don't know.

Gisela and I being fabulous.

Lots of fun and it went late into the night.  We didn't have to get up and ride, just sit on a bus for 6 hours.

I believe you can figure out what these men are doing.

The final beer together.  Doesn't it make you thirsty.

Well that's it.  A great time in a beautiful land and fun for all of us.  If you ever want to do a tour, please check out Bender Royal Tours at www.busradeln.de.  Yes it is German but someone always speaks English, especially if you are riding with me.

Auf Wiedersehe!
Wolfgang and Sarah