It seems like months since I’ve tasted the last heat of summer…well, whadoyaknow it’s been months. Now that the weather has turned cold and wet here in Vienna, my thoughts are going back to the wonderful adventures of this past summer.

It has been our first full summer vacation here in Austria, we took a whole three weeks just to spend in our surroundings so to speak. One week was for laziness by the sea, in Bibione, where we have been before. The other two were for exploring South Tirol and Austria. This story is about South Tirol. Now I know that “on paper” South Tirol belongs to Italy, but trust me, there is nothing Italian about it, not like noisy/pasta/garlic/ciao bella Italy. As Reinhold Messner once put it, probably the most famous South Tirolean of our times: “I am neither Italian, nor Austrian, nor Tirolean, I AM South Tirolean”.

South Tirol (Südtirol) is just about as big as a third of the state of New Jersey. Its history is turbulent, as you would expect of such a geographic location, at crossroads between ancient great empires. Thus, it is amazing how these people resisted and maintained their cultural identity, so much squeezed between Austria, Germany and Italy. I enjoyed talking to the locals while I was there (they prefer German, if you speak Italian they stiffen up) and found out that they are not very different from my own ancestors. I suppose mountain folk are alike everywhere: rough on the outside, honest, and willing to offer hospitality to whoever has made it to their cabin. I especially loved this one little old lady who was running a local restaurant at a hut on top of a mountain (we drove up the hills till there was no more road to drive on). After she fed us (best home made Austrian food I’ve had), learned where we were from (feeling sorry for us that we are living in the city), she showed us how to get down on the other side of the mountain. This was a one car road (and I mean one small car) that was only used by locals, as a tourist I would have had to go back the way I came. But she dismissed that restriction and said that since we were capable of driving up the mountain, we could certainly use that road, at her own personal invitation. Which we did…eh, bit scary, luckily no car met us going down, and wonderful scenery. Yes, wonderfully hospitable people these Tiroleans….

We stayed in Dorf Tirol, a little village that sits just atop Meran, next to Bolzano, the main city in the valley, at a wonderful bed & breakfast complete with outdoor swimming pool. From there we took day trips all around, including hiking in the mountains. Given that we adhere to the Austrian way of hiking, which means walk a little, rest a little, eat a little, drink a little, we took the cable car up the mountain, then hiked up there.

But it was not the mountains that impressed me the most. Sure, they were beautiful, but so are the Alps and the Dolomites. What is amazing about this place, particularly Meran, is the fact that you have flora from so many different geographical zones come together in one big garden of Eden. Here you have the pines growing next to the kiwis, next to the oaks, next to the palm tress, next to the olive trees. Living in the Pacific NW I thought I was used to evergreen, but I have never seen luxuriant vegetation such as this. Even though we’ve had a very dry summer I couldn’t catch not even one dry leaf. In the valley between palm trees and orchids it was steaming in the 90s. On top of the mountain at 4600 feet it was already pleasant low 80s, even 70s when the sun hid behind clouds. All around the valley fruit orchards and vineyards cover the hills. There is no sunny hillside without a vineyard. I can’t imagine a more glorious place to be in fall when the smell of apple cider and grape juice fills the air. At the end of July it was just all a luscious green.

South Tirol is not only breathtaking scenery but also a cultural feast. There are ancient castles and fortresses to be admired, museums to visit and local festivals to enjoy. In between our nature escapades we visited Schloss Tirol, Schloss Trautmannsdorf and a little agricultural museum located in an old castle in Dorf Tirol. I couldn’t choose between any of them, they are all worth a visit.

We have enjoyed every day in South Tirol, even though it was really hot in the valley, sometimes even in the upper 90s. But whenever it got too hot in the afternoons we retreated by the pool or into the high mountains. Meran is now on my most favorite places list and I would like to return there in fall, when you can loose yourself in colors and feast on apples and pears and roast chestnuts. It would also be lovely in spring, when all those orchards are in bloom and the meadows are covered in soft spring green. There is no wrong season there, it’s just perfect, just like the Garden of Eden might have been.