Family Visit, Chiusa

Today we were going to meet Julian’s parents and brother in Italy. We started our drive from Innsbruck and drove for towards Chiusa. His parents stayed in a hotel in Villandro, sadly we couldn’t sleep in the same village, so we settled for Chiusa, just below Villandro. Arriving at the campsite was quite chaotic, it was really busy and there was no one at the reception at the time of arrival. After waiting for a bit, it was our turn. On Park4Night we read that the campsite had two parts, the normal one, and a parking a bit further specifically for campers. We asked about it and it would come to €24,70 per night. She then mentioned, this was without any facilities whatsoever, we would not get access to the main campsite to use bathroom or shower, only water was available at the camper parking. We had to think on it for a second because €24,70 for basically nothing did not sound appealing, and since our van doesn’t have a toilet, that might become a problem. We walked a bit around and found a public toilet in the bus station, very close to the actual campsite, so the toilet problem was solved. There being no alternative campsites available, and the main campsite costing over €65 per night, we decided just coughing up the €24,70 for the public toilet in the station would have to do for the next few nights.

After settling down we walked to the grocery store on the other side of town to get some water and snacks for the hike planned. We met Julian’s family at the grocery store and we drove back to Limão with them. We all got ready for a hike towards the Totensee. We drove with them towards the starting point, which was all the way up the mountain, this meant the walk would be mostly at the top of the mountain and the route wouldn’t be too steep. We started our hike around 2, we followed the path towards the Totensee. It went up gradually and eventually we arrived in a place that looked like a valley, but all the way up the mountain. It was really cool to look over to all the enormous mountains around us and we had lunch enjoying the view. After a break of around 30 minutes we walked up towards, where we thought, the Totensee would be. A chapel stood at the end of the valley looking over to the other side of the mountain, the Totensee however, still wasn’t visible, which was worrying. But Julian found out we had to go up a bit more, and towards the left where the Totensee would look over the entire valley. We eventually found it, but couldn’t enjoy the view for long since some bad weather was on it’s way and we didn’t want to get caught in a thunderstorm.

The way back would go over a mountain ridge on the side of the valley, instead of through the valley. It was a nice and bit more technical path. We got a little bit lost a few times, but eventually found our way. Since the bad weather was coming our way faster then expected we did decided to cut down into the valley again. Julian, his brother and me cut through a field to make sure we got back to the car in time, his parents decided to take the original route, which meant we had to wait for a bit. After coming together again we upped our tempo and hurried towards the car. Just before arriving at the parking lot, we crossed a path filled with thousands of flying ants, and we almost ran towards the car to get rid of them. Around 6 we finally arrived back at the car, luckily dry and safe.

We drove down the mountain, showered at the hotel in Villandro and drove towards a restaurant for dinner. At 8 we got there and we quickly ordered some drinks and our food. Julian’s mother ordered a bottle of red wine to share, we quickly came to the conclusion just the two of us would share the bottle, since the others apparently didn’t want any. We had a great time, but dinner itself was a disaster; the starters never came, the wine came later than the main course, the pizza’s were forgotten while the other main courses were already at the table and as a peace offering, we got stale bread and 2 sausages. After a chaotic dinner and half a bottle of wine, it was time to head back to Limão and get a good night’s sleep.

The alarm sounded early in the morning, since we were going on another hike. This time to the Barbiano waterfall. Julian’s family would pick us up around 10 to leave and together we drove to the supermarket to buy some snacks. We settled on some bread, chicken wings and brioche. After arriving in Barbiano we started the hike, which was steeper than we originally thought it would be. It was also a very hot day, but in the shadows of the trees and next to the water it was quite doable. We stopped for some chicken at a beautiful view point and walked on to the top of the waterfall. We stopped every time we crossed paths with the waterfall and cooled off a little by putting our feet in the ice cold water. At the top, Julian and his brother went for a swim, and we continued our way up. We were questioning if it was the right way, but didn’t see any crossings we could have missed, so we just went with it. At the top, the view was absolutely insane, but we also realized that we somehow did miss a crossing and went the wrong way. Going back down to the top of the waterfall, then down a bit more, we saw where we should have gone and taken a left. We started the actual descent, and since some bad weather was coming our way again we decided to hurry a bit.

We arrived at the car around 6 and headed to Limão for dinner. I made gnocci with tomato sauce and some vegetables. After talking for a bit, Julian’s family left for the hotel and we headed inside for an early night.

It would be a very hot day and we had some laundry to do, which made us decide to go over to Brixen with Julian’s family. Here we could do laundry and visit a local market. We parked the car, put in our laundry and headed to the city center. Julian and I hadn’t had breakfast yet so we stopped at a bakery for a croissant and a Topfentasche (Austrian pastry). The market was kind of disappointing, since there was barely any food, and mostly clothes and knickknacks. We did go into a beautiful cathedral and walked around the historical streets for a bit.

We did some groceries for the rest of the day and headed back to the laundromat. After waiting for the dryer for a bit we headed back to the car and got ready for our drive to a lake. The planning was a bit poor this day since we passed our campsite on our way from Brixen to the lake, but nonetheless still worth it. We arrived at Lago di Fiè, where we settled for the rest of the day. I went paddle boarding with Julian’s mother for about two hours. A bit later I went paddle boarding again with Julian for about an hour, this made the day pass very quickly. We ate some ice cream and headed back to Limão for dinner.

On the way back we needed to stop at the grocery store, but since it was almost 7 and all stores closed around 7 or 7.15, groceries had to be done quickly. Julian and his mom went inside to buy everything for a salad and a caprese sandwich. However, when we got back to the van it turned out they forgot the lettuce, quite a crucial part of a salad in my opinion, and the bread they bought turned out to be a traditional anise bread, not very suitable for a caprese sandwich. But, Julian got creative and made a great dinner with the ingredients he did have and we had a great evening enjoying all the food.

This is the last day Julian’s family would be with us, so we were originally going for a hike, turns out it would be way over 30°C, so we opted to go to Lago di Monticolo Grande instead. Julian and I hadn’t had breakfast yet so after his parents picked us up around 11, we stopped at a grocery store and bought some breakfast and other snacks for our beach day (honorable mention to the Pierre Baguette chicken nugget sandwich I had for breakfast). We continued our way to the lake and parked about a 15 minute walk away. We brought some chairs, beach umbrellas, a volley ball and some food and drinks to enjoy a nice beach day. Upon arrival it turned out the entrance fee was €10 per person, this also meant access to the swimming pool next to the beautiful lake. Disappointingly, you were somehow not allowed to put up your own beach umbrella, you could however rent one for €4,- per day. Also, you were not allowed to play with a ball, so we carried some unnecessary stuff and were annoyed with the huge amounts of rules to oblige after paying a not so small entrance fee. But, the lake was beautiful and extremely clear and clean. There was also a huge water slide near the pool and some dive boards at the lake. We luckily found the last little spot in the shades and settled in for a nice day.

After swimming for almost the entire day, since being out of the water was just too hot, we left towards the hotel of Julian’s family to shower. We all showered and got ready to go out for dinner. We decided to have dinner in Chiusa, it was already 9 so only one restaurant was still open, but it looked great so we sat down. I had the cheapest wine ever, 0,33l of the white housewine for only €1,90 and it tasted absolutely fine. We all ordered pizzas and schnitzels and had a great last night. Some strudel and tiramisu’s for dessert and we headed back to the van.

We said our goodbye’s to Julian’s family and went in for a great night’s sleep.