Passo di Stelvio

  Nauders, Tyrol, Austria
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Top of the pass at Stelvio

During our stay we got to know several people from various places including Barbara and Jurjen from Netherland and another cool couple from Finland. Of course, today it took us forever to pack up and leave the campsite as everyone wanted to say goodbye and chat some more. No big deal as we had made some great new friends.

Once we were able to get underway, we started our trek towards Passo Di Stelvio, the highest

Cemetry in Italy

drivable pass in the Alps. On the way, we happened across a familiar sight in Italy, which was the walled-in cemeteries. These are completely enclosed small areas with high walls all around, probably to keep people from getting out as everyone is just dying to get in.

The first 75km or so was through a low valley in the mountains and once we reached the end of

Who picks these grapes

the valley at a town called Tirano the road started to go upwards. We went through a few tunnels of one to three kilometres long and arrived at the town of Bornio, which marked the start of the road towards the Stelvio Pass. The road went upwards very quickly from here with very tight hairpin turns and it was startling to be this high up with long drops down into the valley below while there were higher mountains all around us. The

What the hell is he doing up here?

road was barely a car and a half wide and all the way up we encountered people on bicycles coming down the road that were obviously part of some race that was going on. These were being passed by cars and motorcyclists coming down while others were going up, which made the hairpin turns very interesting. We tried to stop as often as possible to take pictures, which don't really grasp this amazing road or the sights.

Road to Stelvio...curvy!

Part way up we ran into some light rain and cooler temperatures so we stopped at a small Gasthaus so Connie could get her rain suit on. I was surprised to see so many motorcyclists going up and down the pass, especially BMWs.

Once we reached the top we stopped for the obligatory photos, spoons, and keychains. Okay, while we were here I thought I also would try a beer and perhaps a Bratwurst…and guess what Connie had? If you guessed a café you would be wrong…she found herself an Apfelschorle, which is a combination of apple juice and mineral water, and Connie’s favourite drink. While we were taking pictures, we asked a person walking by to take a photo of the both of us. The person happened to be an American who was a retired US Soldier currently working at SHAPE in Belgium. He mentioned that he retired while posted in Naples and Connie told him that a Canadian friend by the name of Pat Palahicky was also there about the same time. Wouldn’t you know that these two not only knew each other but he was also very good friends with Pat. Such a small world indeed!

The trip down the other side of the pass was equally as exciting although downhill is always a bit slower. Once out of the pass we had a 50km ride through low mountain roads, which we found a

Going down

nicer ride than the pass itself for pure curve riding pleasure as after a while going back and forth from hairpin to hairpin becomes boring after a few hours. As we made our way into the valley areas between the mountains we went through several little typical Alpine towns. At one point we rounded a corner and came face to face with an amazing Medieval town called Glurns that still had all its turrets and walls intact. As it had started to lightly rain again, we decided to get a room at a Gasthaus in the town so we could explore it

Old Medieval town

more. Once settled into the room, we stepped out to see the town sights and have a bite to eat at a local Stube, which was filled with loud beer drinking locals playing cards.