21-Jun-2018:: Drive from Bassano Del Grappa to St. Veit an der Glan (Austria)
Early start this morning, as we had a long drive from Bassano Del Grappa to Sankt Veit An Der Glen in Austria. Today marks our last day in Italy, at least for a couple of weeks, as we now move into touring Austria and Switzerland.
The drive through the Veneto region of northern Italy did not disappoint, as we traveled through stunning mountainous districts and Alpine villages. From a personal point of view, I grew up listening to my parents and relatives talking about some of the places and how wonderful they were, so it was a pleasure for me to drive through them at least, even though we could not stop there and visit, because of time constraints.
Our first and only stop was Cortina D’Ampezzo, an alpine village nestled high up in the Dolomites. It was over two hours drive from Bassano Del Grappa but was well worth the effort to get there. The village is tourist Mecca both in summer and winter, in winter for the obvious skiing, snow boarding etc, and in summer for its hiking, mountain biking and providing for general tourists like us. Whilst we were there this morning, there were a number of groups that looked like they were seriously into biking and hiking. The place has a magical feel about it, with the lodged, the hotels, the chalets and the magnificent Dolomites protruding upwards in every direction.
We would have truely loved to explore other such locations in this area, of which there are a number, but yet again, time constraints were in play. Had I known what I know now, I would have arranged it so that we could have had a greater length of time in this area to explore.
The drive into Austria was long but uneventful. Once we moved out of the Italian mountains, the roads on the Austrian side opened up to motorways allowing us to cover long distance relatively quickly. We definitely noticed a different pattern of behaviour amongst drivers once over the border – the Austrians tend to stick to the rules more rigidly and appear to be less erratic, although those driving the more high powered vehicles still tend to plant it to the floor and go for it, and are easily annoyed at anyone who maybe in their way.
We reached a city called Klagenfurt at approximately 2:00pm so we opted to stop for some lunch. It was immediately noticeable to us just how much a bit of knowledge of the local language can make, as when we went to order lunch, we had no clue about what the menu offered so requiring assistance from the waitress who had a little English to order.
We eventually made it to Sankt Veit An Der Glen at approximately 3:30 and checked into our hotel. We had chosen this one for its rather quirky nature and decor, but it was clean and comfortable nonetheless.
Sankt Veit An Der Glen is only a small Austrian town which doesn’t really cater for tourists in any major way, so there wasn’t much to see and do there, apart from an early dinner and a quiet night.