Trento Day 1

July 25, 2021

Our new plan is to take the train to Trento and bike up and down the Adige. This means backtracking on the train on a Sunday when there are mechanical problems. We use a bus, an old spare train (a shuttle between PDG and Verona), a double-full train (because of cancellations) and finally arrive in Trento. It was worth every bit of schlepping to get here.

On the train again? This time the bike car is jam-packed and we are asked to move them to the door way. Once again happy not to be dealing with full-sized bikes on the train.

The river, the cliffs, the layers of mountains, the cleaner air, the dead-simple biking. It is an absolute treat. We check in to the hotel, leave most of our things and scout out the town by bike. First thing I see is a young man carrying a length of bright pink/orange climbing rope. He is doing knots as he walks. You know there is a climbing culture when this is a Sunday activity.

We ride along the Adige and strain our necks from looking at the hillsides and the cliffs. Their presence is constant and continually change as the weather forms around them. Some people like to watch the ocean and this is sort of like that idea.

The relief of topography (Zelda’s pun). River Adige in Trento.

Along our friend the Eurovelo 7. The sky continually changes.

Trento is a good base for us and we would rather be here than Milan. We spend a good part of the evening sorting out a new plan. It all hinges on getting a covid test for our upcoming return to US of A. We will try to get a test in Trento and that will take pressure off the return to Milan. If that doesn’t work then we use our afternoon in Milan traipsing about looking for a test. The back-up to the back-up is a Parking Lot and Drive Up covid test spot at the airport. They have lots of appointment slots.

Dinner is at a German-Italian restaurant. We are in South Tyrol for real. This means that dinner is served earlier (6 is not outrageous for dinner here) and there are potatoes with everything. The center of town is easy to navigate as we roll away from our carb platter tasting menu — pretzel, spinach dumplings, potato cake/roti, and beer. We share a salad for good measure. And a sachertorte (chocolate cake with ganache, marmalade, choc icing served with a dollop of salted caramel ice cream) because it is vacation.

We finalize all of the bookings and fall asleep to the sound of nothing. It is very quiet here. A nice hotel, and they are happy to extend our stay for a few nights.

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 285 km (177 miles)

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