Monday, June 20, 2011

BIKING THE TURES & AURINA VALLEYS

Leaving our hotel this morning we headed by bike towards Brunico through the Aurino and Tures Valleys. It was an easy ride since it was mostly flat, passing small hamlets, cattle farms,

And high mountains dotted with slope hugging castles.

Being early for the planned Barbecue lunch, we had time to bike the relatively short distance to Campo Tures, translated as "sand of the Taufers" which is a mostly German speaking town very close to Austria. In the town square we encountered this gentleman reading the local paper, a beautifully executed statue.

Nearby, these fanciful gnomes decorated one of the many shops.

The main attraction of the town though was this impressive 13th Century Medieval Castle.

Our lunch place, in a beautiful setting of woods by the Riva River was a special barbecue prepared by our host Mani.

It consisted of a variety of tasty meats and crisp vegetables, home made potato salad, wine and a wonderful German strudel for dessert.

Could one ask for anything better, though getting on our bikes afterwards was not easy.

Our afternoon ride continued mostly following the Rio Aurino river, past beautiful little villages and countryside.

At the end of our ride we found the van to shuttle us to the town of Brunico. It was a colorful town busy with hikers and bikers and wonderful little shops.

And of course, the most important shop, for a glass of water and a gelato - there is always room for that in Italy.

Passing by a sporting goods shop I couldn't resist photographing these "climbers" (not real of course) scaling the wall.

And of course the steeples of the town church.

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