{"id":14709,"date":"2016-10-06T21:08:17","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T21:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=14709"},"modified":"2016-10-08T07:08:57","modified_gmt":"2016-10-08T07:08:57","slug":"meeting-cavemen-in-bolzano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/meeting-cavemen-in-bolzano\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting Cavemen in Bolzano"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A word of warning… \u00a0 If you plan on visiting Bolzano on a Saturday morning, go in time for breakfast (this is Italy after all, there are masses of cafes to choose from!), or even better, go just beyond the break of day. \u00a0Anything later than 8am and you will be greeted with queues of cars snaking around the streets, as the weekend markets block off various parts of the city that you can actually drive through (much of it is traffic free). \u00a0 \u00a0 It’s not hard to understand why it’s already crowded at this time – Bolzano’s food markets are fabulous, with amazing displays of regional foods that leave you hankering after many a tasty thing (even though you’ve just had breakfast!). \u00a0But, combine the locals stocking up for the weekend en masse with the usual visiting tourists, and you are in for a long long wait for somewhere to park…<\/p>\n

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Can’t get fresher than that!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thankfully, after a long (quite often hair-raising) slog driving up and down various streets (desperately hoping that many of them weren’t one way!) we found an underground car park that cost us the princely sum of \u00a33.50 for the entire day – Car Park 12. \u00a0You can thank me later. \u00a0 Yes, it’s a little out of the city centre, but what’s a little extra walking on what you are about to undertake anyway?<\/p>\n

Bolzano is somewhere that we have always driven straight past on our way to Folgaria<\/a>, Lake Garda<\/a>, Venice<\/a> and beyond. \u00a0 And now, having been, I have to ask myself why on earth we haven’t visited before – this area should be a destination in its own right!<\/p>\n

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“Roof Steps” – Walther Platz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We loved exploring Bolzano’s medieval city centre and beautiful surroundings (it sits in a valley encircled by mountains so it has a film worthy back drop!), and given its history and location there’s obviously a strange mash of Austrian and Italian influences. \u00a0You can spot it in the architecture, the food, and at times the language (although Bolzano is mostly Italian speaking, its surroundings are typically a mix of German, Italian, and Ladin – a language only found in the Dolomite region…).<\/p>\n

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Our first meeting of the day was with someone very special. \u00a0Someone who, on being relocated to his new home (at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology<\/a>) was protected by an armed convoy (with all major roads closed off!) just in case. \u00a0 \u00a0Oh, and he is at least 5,300 years old. \u00a0If numbers aren’t really your thing (they aren’t mine!) this might not blow your mind. \u00a0But, if I was to tell you that this guy was roaming the earth around 500 years before the ancient Egyptians thought about building massive pointy triangle things, then that just might? \u00a0 \u00a0Yes, our first stop in Beautiful Bolzano was to meet \u00d6tzi, the oldest preserved person ever discovered (so far!). \u00a0He’s not technically a caveman by the way (the small people just called him that) – he’s officially an Ice Man, as he lay for centuries under glacial ice high in the mountains – \u00a0until he was discovered by a German couple out for a hike. \u00a0They thought they had stumbled across the victim of a mountaineering accident, but as \u00d6tzi\u00a0was gradually prised from the ice (revealing the many secrets – tools, clothes, seeds etc. he had kept with him across the millennia), those who recovered him began to suspect that he was far, far older than someone who might have taken a relatively recent (and rather unfortunate) mountain tumble…<\/p>\n

The entire three floors of this Museum (from what I could see with a squirming, wriggling baby in my arms!) are dedicated to \u00d6tzi\u00a0(although it does include special exhibitions from time to time), who he might have been, what his life was like, what he did, what he ate, who might have murdered him (because yes, he was actually murdered!). There’s also a fabulous reconstruction of what he looked like back then, and of course, in a rather morbid and completely fascinating way, you can gaze upon him in his chilly resting place, and inspect what he looks like now…<\/p>\n

My older two are no stranger to ancient mummies, having previously introduced themselves to Copenhagen’s Viking Egtved girl<\/a>\u00a0 – they find this kind of thing truly fascinating. \u00a0 And this museum has just about everything covered in getting those of us that haven’t met many ancient (non-living) people before truly and utterly absorbed in learning everything about them.<\/p>\n

We will ignore the rather rude welcome we received at the hands of a woman on the ticket desk who took umbrage at the fact that we had asked for a ticket for two adults, and two children and had not included the baby (as is typical, no?). \u00a0 She demanded to know whether the baby was in fact a dog, because if he were he could be locked in a vast box near the cloakroom?! \u00a0Those of you that know me personally might well imagine that this did not go down too well! It turned out however, that she meant she needed to have a tally of all<\/em> persons entering the building! \u00a0Secretly I think she also suffers from delusions of grandeur at the famous company she keeps… Anyway, it could have been worse, she could have called him a monkey I suppose!<\/p>\n

Thankfully the remainder of the staff here were friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and I truly believe this museum would still be worth visiting if it were staffed entirely by grumps. \u00a0Allow at least two or at a stretch three hours to explore (and read everything) properly. \u00a0Do fiddle about with the headsets so that they eventually switch to English (if your Italian isn’t up to much), and do make sure your small people don’t miss the “have a go section” and the “dress like \u00d6tzi\u00a0exhibition” for a decent belly laugh at what they look like in his replica fur hat…<\/p>\n

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Bolzano is home to Loake, the wafer biscuit company. Of course we had to sample some!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And, after our mammoth history lesson, hungry and wanting to take advantage of the fact that the baby was now asleep (typical!), we ventured slightly further than Bolzano’s picturesque Walther Platz, where we found Casa Al Torchio <\/a>for lunch. \u00a0 When I don’t have prior knowledge of a place, the sign of a decent restaurant to me is always how many locals it contains, and whether it’s busy or not. \u00a0This place was both busy and full of locals, and didn’t disappoint. \u00a0We had an excellent lunch of regional pasta dishes and brain jolting espressos (for the grown ups obviously) to set us up for our mountain adventure that same afternoon (more on that later!)…<\/p>\n

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All love locks should be turtle shaped! Spotted in #bolzano #igers #italia<\/a><\/p>\n

A photo posted by Emma (@bavariansojourn) on

And later that evening (and once more while the baby slept!), we found an old documentary on \u00d6tzi\u00a0to help answer a few further questions (mostly arisen from the film clips in the museum that we couldn’t get to switch to English). But, as fascinating as it all was, I couldn’t felt a little sorry for \u00d6tzi\u00a0who we had gawped at (along with thousands of others!) in his high tech iglu. \u00a0I wonder what he would make of where he eventually ended up? I don’t think he was that cross about us intruding though, there were no thunder clouds awaiting as there were after our first visit with the Egtved girl all those years ago in Copenhagen…\u00a0This section from a fabulous piece in the National Geographic just about sums it up –\u00a0“The Iceman might be the most exposed and invaded person who ever walked the planet”.\u00a0“Only the arrowhead remains inside him, as if he’s saying, This is my last secret.”…<\/em> \u00a0Poor old bloke! \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Ps. \u00a0Apologies for the lack of photos of the famous man himself, understandably pictures aren’t allowed.<\/h5>\n

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