Approach to Passo Palade
15 July 2011
Breakfast at the farmhouse was like eating in someone's (immaculately clean) kitchen, which it was, I suppose. We were the only guests, as far as I could tell.
We climbed up to Passo Palade, which is a fairly low pass (it's forested even at the pass).
The descent offered stunning views of verdant green fields, and of the valley below, which is just covered in a patchwork of orchards of various kinds.
We headed down to Merano, at the bottom of the valley. The last part was on a bike path that wound through residential neighborhoods and between farms.
We had lunch at a huge (two-story) Interspar supermarket in Merano. I picked up lunch for the two of us: fruit, a large container of juice, a loaf of bread, and an entire chicken for just €5.66 (about $8)!
The afternoon took us up to St. Leonhard. We started on the main road but caught the bike path about halfway in.
We consulted the tourist information office in St. Leonhard and decided to continue up to Moos. The last climb, of about 200m or so, was quite warm.
Moos seems like a punny place. We saw a WWII "Mooseum", and the supermarket was called "KonsooMOOS". The town has some WWII history because the Italians built a bunker here in order to protect themselves in the event of an invasion over the Timmelsjoch by their German "allies".
We checked into a hotel in town. During the time I was in the shower, the weather turned from sunny to thunderstorming— and back to sunny again by dinnertime.