Clifton Park-Colfosco in 24 Hours
By Lothar. Filed in Italy |
It is a sunny, picture-perfect day, as we leave the Munich Airport and drive on the A 8 to Kiefersfelden and enter Austria at Kufstein. We continue up the valley of the river “Inn”, with views of the “Karwendel” mountain chain on our right. Near Innsbruck, the autobahn climbs into the mountains toward the Brenner Pass. There are many fortresses and ruins along this crossing of the Alps, a few wars have been fought here over the centuries. We enter Italy at the Brenner-, now Brennero-Pass. The last time, we had traveled here by car, was with Sonja and Carsten and that was before the creation of the European Union. In those days we had to stop at the Austrian and Italian border checkpoint and by now would have changed German Marks into Austrian Schilling and Italian Lira.
Now it is smooth sailing, except for paying the Autostrada toll. The Brenner interstate is a marvel of engineering and we drive through breathtaking alpine scenery. It is dusk by the time we take the Klausen-Groednertal ( Chiusa-Val Gardena) exit. This is Sued-Tirol or Alto Adige and everything is bilingual. 22 hours after leaving from home, I am now driving hairpin turns over the “Groednerjoch” (Passo Gardena). At times the road appears to be vanishing into the night sky, as we navigate around the turns, snowbanks on one side, the abyss without guardrails on the other. I am glad that I had fortified my nerves with that “Muenchener Weissbier” before leaving on this interesting road trip. All of a sudden, we make it over the top and see the twinkling lights of Colfosco (or Kolfuschg in German) way down in the valley below us. We check into our hotel 24 hours after leaving Clifton Park, and on our first night here, are spoiled with a nice steak dinner as part of our half-board package.
I like to arrive at a new destination in the dark. You are still in for a surprise the next morning, when you can appreciate your surroundings ( and in this case the stunning, panoramic view of the Alps from our balcony) in daylight.