Today's tour was to Bolzano, close to the Austrian border. We arrived there late in the morning, stopping for a quick espresso at a truck stop - it's hard to get used to doing things the Italian Way when you have to pay for what you want first, then go and join the queue to get served! So simply getting a coffee takes quite a while, especially when the Italians are prone to barging in front of anyone!
Bolzano is nestled in a deep valley between mountains and as the main city of the region has numerous industries as well as a couple of universities. German is actually the main language, but most people are fluent in Italian as well, and all the road signs and street names are written in both!
We had some free time so we walked around the streets, before returning to the coach and being driven up one of the surrounding mountains to a spot where we got absolutely magnificent views of the local Dolomite Mountains and to the snow capped Alps to the North. It was a glorious warm day and we stood for ages taking in the scenery - it is truly a wonderful part of the world!
A glass of wine and a local apple strudel, while viewing all this, made a great afternoon tea and then we caught a cable car down the mountain and back to the city - again with views of Bolzano and the the beautiful vineyards surrounding it!
Later when we returned to Riva Del Garda we dined at a restaurant overlooking the little harbour by our hotel, enjoying the very relaxed atmosphere of the town, and also thoroughly enjoying being able to enjoy bowls of amazing homemade pasta, washed down with local wine for about $20 each! The food and drink here is way cheaper than we expected, I guess we are lucky that it is not high season yet!