A perfect day cannot be perfect unless you eat pastries for breakfast and lucky for me we did. We crossed over into Italy from Austria after spending the night at The Spa. Actually it was “Spar” the Supermarket because we left our run for the border a little late in the day and as the streets got narrower and narrower it was hard to find anything more suitable for our Motorhome.
Finding parking that’s free within walking distance of a main town is almost unheard of but find it we did and within ten minutes we were wandering the cobbles towards the heart of Bressanone.
Bressanone or Brixen as it is otherwise known is a historical town in Northern Italy and a gateway to the mighty Dolomites which are a large range of mineral mountains much like limestone.
People inhabited this town 10,000 years ago making it the oldest town in The Tyrol region.
The backyards were full of apple trees and grape vines with chickens wandering around and I felt like I was in a little Italian village like I had imagined in my mind. Yes I have watched too many movies like Eat Love Pray and Under The Tuscan Sun because in my minds eye I’m expecting Olive Trees, drinking red wine under the grape vines in a beautiful dress while elegantly tucking into a plateful of pasta loaded with Parmesan. In the background locals roar around on Vespas and expensive looking Fiat’s with the top pulled down. Yep too many American movies.
Anyway back to the moment – it’s still quiet in the streets being early morning so here we are just wandering around when I happened to see this enormous door that led to a courtyard. Being the inquisitive type, some would say nosey, I ventured inside. The courtyard belonged to the Cathedral and was square in formation with a garden in the middle. It was the most amazing find because decorating the corridors of the courtyard were these beautiful but crumbling medieval frescos.
It was fascinating to see how the illustrations became more primative the earlier the period of time, even down to the structure of the human face.
Obviously the courtyard led to The Bressanone Church which was grandiose in its baroque style both inside and outside and as we entered a choir began to sing so it was a very special moment.
Outside in the sunshine a sidewalk cafe filled with Italians drinking espresso in front of a water fountain beckoned and here we sat basking in the sun drinking Latte Machiatos – we haven’t quite found the love for black coffee just yet – and watched in awe at the beautifully dressed locals going about their business. There was this one old lady, perfectly manicured and immaculately dressed, hat perched slightly askew on her head and a smear of bright red lipstick across her face. She stood on crutches surveying everybody, stooped to feed a dog some tidbits from her coat pocket and then headed off where we found her in another cafe eating icecream for breakfast.
When in Italy, you should buy olive oil and cheese and speck all of which we did before wandering the back streets to admire the perfectly manicured houses on the cobbled streets. It’s one of my favorite things to do.
However it wouldn’t be Italy unless we ate pasta and drunk red wine from a carafe in the sun on the street so that’s exactly what we did. Lazing the afternoon away like only the Italians know how to do before heading back through the Piazza to our home on wheels for a much needed siesta.
It was the perfect day.
Downunder Wanderings 