trento + bolzano

Last month DH had a conference in Riva del Garda, and since we'd never been there we took the opportunity and turned it into a week family trip. We started by visiting the nearby cities of Trento and Bolzano, the perfect location for exploring the Dolomites later on. They are both smaller cities, not very touristy but with nice pedestrian areas filled with shops, cafés and restaurants, ideal for a short stay.

Our first stop - Trento - is a smaller university city. We had been there before in December 2006, a very quick visit one evening for some shopping and dinner before moving on to our next destination, and at the time I remember we were both quite impressed by it. So this time we decided to go back, maybe visit the Castello di Buonconsiglio and some other attractions. As it happens, when we arrived there on Sunday it was already closed and on Monday mornings it seems everything is closed in Trento. We had a nice time anyway, exploring the streets of Trento and its lovely piazzas.

There isn't much available in terms of accommodation offers in the center of Trento, so we ended up staying at the Grand Hotel Trento, which although not exactly charming, turned out to have nice rooms and reception areas. It was located right outside the historical area, and in front there's a lovely public park where Sara chased the ducks.

:: Trento, Castelo di Buonconsiglio

:: at the Grand Hotel Trento

:: the lovely park in front of the hotel
:: the main piazza in Trento

:: Trento cathedral

 :: chasing the pigeons

:: we found a nice public playground in the center of historical Trento and guess who loved it ?

 

Bolzano was livelier and a bit more busy overall. We loved the main pedestrian street Via dei Portici, it features arcades filled with shops on both sides, and it went almost from our hotel doorstep to the Archeological Museum (where we went to pay a visit to Otzi). We stayed at the Hotel Fleichter, a family run hotel with very reasonable prices and located just at the start of the pedestrian area (they do have a garage nearby for parking)
::Piazza delle Erbe

:: the fruit and vegetable stalls at the local market

:: the main piazza (Walther von der Vogelweide Platz)

:: walking with daddy in the streets of Bolzano

 

:: yes, I found a yarn shop ! This is located in Via Argentieri, and it's called Aufburg. All the yarn is stashed downstairs, behind some huge rolling cupboards which the nice owner will gladly let you explore. Needless to say, I ended up purchasing a few skeins of the local yarn Lana Linda.