Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 5 morning to lunch.
3/8 Day 5 morning to lunch: Breakfast at Cafe Verona and gelato at Vital Cafe. Took the cable car up to the mountains at 10.50am to Soprabolzano. Cable car departs every 4 minutes and the ride took 12 minutes. Continued with the train at 11.30am to Collalbo (or Klobenstein in German). The ride took us 18 minutes. Arrived at Collalbo slightly before 12pm. Hiked towards the Earth Pyramid and stopped for lunch along the way.
Must-Incur Costs
(1) 1 day MobilCard pass that includes return trip for cable car from Bolzano to Soprabolzano and train from Soprabolzano to Collabo - EUR15. If one buys the ticket for cable card and train separately, it costs (with return) - EUR10 for cable car and EUR6 for train. So, it is EUR1 cheaper with the 1-day MobilCard pass.
(2) Facemask is compulsory on public transports. Bought at Eurospin which was behind the cable car station - EUR1.47 for 3 persons
Optional Costs
Food
(1) Breakfast at Cafe Verona - Brioche EUR1,30 and cappucino EUR1,80
(2) Gelato at Vital Cafe - EUR2.50
(3) Lunch at Gasthus Amtmann - Spaghetti with shrimps EUR18 and a radler
The Story
030822 - We woke up to a lovely sunny morning and the morning got hot very quickly. My Swedish company was in sweat as soon as they stepped out of the apartment. Haha! I think it was about 27 degrees. My friend wanted to get a sunhat so we walked into a grocery store and I got shouted at by one of the staff, that I wanted to ask if the store sells sunhat, when I said - Excuse me. She started saying a lot of Italian words and I got surprised by it that I took a step back. So, I pointed to my head and asked for hat. She said no and went back to her work. Gosh, what an experience! I did take a picture of the price of the tomatoes there. They are very cheap, and not to mention, very red too. I love comparing prices. So, EUR0,99 per kg is about SEK10,78. So CHEAP! The cheapest price of Swedish tomatoes I have ever seen was SEK15 per kg.
We left the grocery store when we could not find any sunhat. Then, we found a random cafe to have breakfast. The staff could not speak English so she pointed the menu to us which was in Italian. Not a problem. It was easy to guess what the words mean. Haha!
The walk continues to the cable car station which is in town. It was beginning to get hot. As we walked across a bridge, my boyfriend pointed out that Bolzano is like a big and deep pot. Bolzano town is at the bottom and surrounded by the mountains. Heat is trapped inside the bottom as the sun shines brightly so it is always hot. So, we stopped by at a cafe to have gelato. When in Italy, one must eat gelato! Although it was only 9.30am! The cafe was right opposite a church.
It was not difficult to identify the cable car station as there were cable cars going up and down very frequently. It is as frequent as every 4 minutes. We bought a 1-day pass at the counter and was informed that we needed face masks. I am sure the cashier at the counter get asked the question each time by tourist on where to get face masks. We could buy them at Eurospin store which was behind the cable car station. We blipped our pass at the ticket reader machine and waited for the cable car.
The cable car ride took 12 minutes from Bolzano station to Soprabolzano station. There are many routes to hike in the mountains which is also known as the Dolomites. One can start the hiking journey from Soprabolzano station but we decided to go to Collalbo because we wanted to see the Earth Pyramids. One can hike from Soprabolzano to see the Earth Pyramids but we did not have much time to explore so we took the train. Soprabolzano is at 1200 meters above sea level. Here, we could already feel the cooler air. Collalbo is at 1154 meters above sea level. The train arrives every 30 minutes and the journey takes 18 minutes. Due to that, there were a lot of people waiting for the train. The train stops at a few train stops if anyone wants to get off. There are lots of hotels, resorts and AirBnb in the mountains too but I did not know that until I spoke to 2 German travellers. A disadvantage of staying in the mountains is the food is expensive and one has to travel to Bolzano town to buy groceries.
These are the stations along the way to Collalbo.
We were very hungry by the time we arrived at Collalbo station. Collalbo is the last station for the train. We decided to head towards the Earth Pyramid and stop for food along the way. There are clear signs along the way for the routes that one chooses. In the photo below, you can see the last sign is pointing towards the Earth Pyramid (Erdpyramiden). The skies were so blue which mean there are no clouds = very sunny! Hence, it was very important that we had hats and applied lots of sunlotion.
Leaving Collalbo town and entering Lengmoos.
We found a small restaurant in Lengmoos and was so relieved to finally find a shady place to have lunch! I enjoyed my spaghetti with shrimp and the radler was so refreshing to the throat. It was so delicious as there was a tinge of lemon in the spaghetti. The staff could not speak English and could only speak German or Italian and the menu was in Italian. But Google Translate helped us. It was then I realised that German is the first language of Bolzano. There is a historical explanation which I cannot remember.
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