{"id":19555,"date":"2019-01-23T22:34:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T22:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=19555"},"modified":"2019-01-28T19:58:03","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T19:58:03","slug":"the-jaufen-pass-four-seasons-in-one-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/the-jaufen-pass-four-seasons-in-one-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jaufen Pass – Four Seasons in One Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

When we finally managed to negotiate our way out of Merano, Mr R suggested that we take the fastest route back to Vipeteno<\/a> (not because we needed to make a fast get away or anything, we had a lovely day in Merano<\/a> in the end), but because the fastest route, also happened to be the most interesting…<\/p>\n

Long term readers will know that we as a family are no strangers to twisting turning, ear popping mountain passes (whether we have ended up on them intentionally or not!!) .\u00a0 The Brenner Pass was a regular haunt of ours,\u00a0 we crossed it many a time on our journeys down through Austria, Italy and beyond (and back again).\u00a0 We also reminisce (although not fondly) about the time we somehow ended up on the very mountain pass we had set out to avoid on the way down to Lake Como – the Splugen Pass<\/a> (which looks a little like this on a GPS system<\/a>).\u00a0 \u00a0It’s now forever known to us as the Spew-gen pass, which I am sure I don’t have to explain much further…<\/p>\n

As there aren’t all that many mountain passes (that high and remote at least!) in the UK (and as this was a planned venture on to one!) I jumped at the chance of crossing this, the Jaufen Pass.\u00a0 In all honesty it was probably the real highlight of our Merano trip (for me at least – as the photographer of the family!) with 31 km of stunning alpine scenery to enjoy, and four seasons in one day just about covered…<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

As we left sunny and warm Merano behind us, we started our winding ascent upwards, surrounded by blue skies and fluffy clouds, passing the geranium covered houses with their colours fading gently in to Autumn…<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

It soon became clear why this particular mountain pass makes a lot of “top ten drives in the World” lists, when the GPS started to look a little like this!\u00a0 I might have shouted “keep looking out of the window” quite a few times in to the back of the car just in case, especially on a few of the needle thin hair pin bends, but thankfully all was well, as we can no longer take this kind of backdrop for granted, everyone actually did what they were told (for once!)…<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

There’s something special about this kind of scenery to me anyway, but to think that you are crossing ancient trade routes from country to country that have been used for thousands of years is quite mind-blowing, especially given the wilderness feel to it all, you don’t actually see all that many people (although you might meet a cow or two!).<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

Of course, there are a few places to stop along the way…\u00a0 \u00a0At each I shouted “can we stop here” a little too late, hoping to take a stack of pictures whilst not driving (what a surprise!), especially as the cloud was starting to get thicker the higher we climbed (this section of mountains reaches almost 3,000 metres!)…<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

Finally, I asked Mr R to stop at the next<\/em> tiny gasthaus so I could record the by now decreasing view…\u00a0 \u00a0But whilst the views were sadly becoming more enshrouded by cloud by the second now, we did witness a snow flake or two as if to make up for it…<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

And then around an hour later, with having only seen around four other cars and a couple of motorbikes for the entire duration of our journey, we made our way downwards back through the cloud, and in to the start of Autumn in Vipiteno…<\/p>\n

\"Jaufen<\/p>\n

At this time of year, unsurprisingly the Jaufen Pass (the Passo Giovo in Italian) can be closed, so do plan your journey ahead and double-check.\u00a0 It’s also closed in the Winter Months between 6pm and 8am to avoid you driving off the side of a mountain and\/or getting stuck in a snow drift (which I wouldn’t worry too much about given the fact that it’s against the law to drive without snow tyres in the Winter months in this part of the world…)…\u00a0 But, if you happen to be here in favourable conditions, this is one of the few places I would tell you to go ahead and take the fastest route, it really has the best views…<\/p>\n

\"CulturedKids\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Fifi<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Dais<\/a><\/div>\n

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