I wake up, step out to the balcony and the view instantly puts a smile on my face.
We really booked a nice one but the rest of the hotels there didn't look any worse.
We leave the room to get our breakfast and...it was too epic. Too goes for the fact that I stuffed my stomach to its very limits unable to resist the extra wide and delicious variety of goodies.
2 countries waiting to be visited by us on this day, Austria and Slovenia, so we didn't hesitate to jump on our bikes. In the cold and humid morning our engines break the silence. 1,2,5,10...20 of them working and off we go. We enter Austria driving on the 108 and we can't wait to do the Grossglockner, a driving pleasure that a single pair of eyes is not enough to capture the whole amount if its unique beauty.
This place is easily in the highlights of every traveller regardless how well travelled one can be. It attracts a lot of traffic which can spoil the driving fun a bit but the scenery pays back effortlessly.
One of the most impressive parts of Grossglockner is the glacier. A vast area of ice that on early July we could see it melting on one side. Older guys around kept commenting on how much larger it used to be decades ago. Sign of the times...Few of our group me included made it up to the very end past 2500m where we were riding in freezing cold, mist and finally even snow! The coldest July I ever had in my life.
We entered the nice and cozy refuge up there to warm ourselves a bit.
Though it was magnificent to fill our eyes with this spectacular images we couldn't wait to go back to more sane temperatures and conditions so we rode South East on 100 to make it to Slovenia. The last km were quite rainy so we had to make a short stop to make way for the storm and after a hard day riding we make it to Kranjska Gora. We didn't hesitate to reach a restaurant hungry like wolves as we were. Food is a thing there. The local kitchen is quite Austrian influenced and the portions are huge. I said huge. I shared with another mate a mix grill that was supposed to be for 2 but this was easily a generous dinner for 4 hungry persons.
At the end of eating and drinking both in large quantities my friend Antonello comes to my ear saying "you know this area is famous for their strudel, would you like one if they do them here?". You bet my answer...but you'd be surprised by what arrived at my table. That strudel had the size of a shoe box. Of course I ate it. There was no space for it but there is always space for such a thing. I'm drooling each time I recall it. The guys at the local hostel did their best to serve us as we flooded their place resulting in some of us sharing a bed with another two guys for the first time in our lives. I bet last one as well :)
I wake up relatively early next morning and walk around a bit to enjoy the nice weather and view since it was too dark and rainy to do so last night.
We were more than happy to ride the 206 crossing the wonderful National Park of Triglav, one of Slovenia's main attractions. Actually the whole country feels like a beautiful dense green forest in a way that almost every route around the countryside is impossible to regret.
Heading back West towards Italy we took the 401, a route on a narrow road full of bends riding under the shadow of the trees. Very nice but take care for branches on the tarmac and upcoming traffic. After these beautiful but a bit challenging km we we stopped for rest and lunch at Baita al Botton d'Oro, a very nice place by all means. Plus we had the chance to listen to a local kid playing and singing traditional tunes on his violin :)
It was time to unfortunately split the group. The guys living in more Southern parts of Italy had to head South while I followed the ones from Torino so we continued riding West and how could I complain since we crossed the Bellunesi and Lessinia National Parks. Top mountainous routes on both and when they were over we started descending for Lago di Garda. This was really a special moment. After so many km in the mountains I started seeing familiar things going down for the lake such as instects, flowers, even olive trees! Well, Lago di Garda is at sea level so the nature there kinda resamples the Mediterranean! I felt (almost) like home there. And the bike didn't seem to complain either.
This lake is among my favourite ones for sure. It was so soothing to walk around at night at Riva del Garda watching the night lights reflecting on the water
This town on the North end of the lake is so neat and cute. A perfect stay before we would continue West next morning to make it to Torino.
Stay tuned for part 3!