We are heading to Finale Ligure tomorrow, I am so excited because all those bike videos and photos I’ve seen on Facebook and other media made it clear to me that I have to explore this bike region soon.
Meran
Today we decided to use the Vinschgau card that are given to tourists here for a free train ride to Meran, mainly to wander around, get some “souvenirs” (this region is famous for its bacon, cheese and apples – a unbelivable amount of 950,000 tons of apples is harvested every year in this area) and catch some mediterranean atmosphere before moving on.
The train from Schlanders to Meran runs every half hour and takes around 50 – 60 minutes. In the train, I read some facts about Meran and about apples 🙂 on Wikipedia.
Meran has quite some history from the time of the Romans throughout World War II.
The old town is very picturesque, twisted alleyways, old buildings and a lot of green.
There are also some museums you may visit, while it is still very hot, we were not in the mood for too much culture today.
Overall rated, the Vinschgau is my most favorite place on earth up to now, I cannot imagine a more beautiful place to live – hence my plan is to move here once retired!
My heart bleeds every time when I have to leave. The beauty of nature here overwhelms me every time and the people are in general very friendly. This region has surpassing many sunny days over the year, I guess this is what they carry in their hearts.
Camping Vogelsang
I do not intend to give anyone advises on the campsites we are visiting. Up to now all of them were as good or even better than expected. I found Camping Vogelsang while looking on campsites in that area on the internet.
Now here is what I like about this spot: it is pretty new, so the facilities are modern, the campsite is not too large and the owner has shown a good taste (in my opinion) regarding the design of the facilities itself.
So now this is also where I have ambivalent feelings on – the website connotes a hip place for hip people. I would say it is not – it is a campsite with people from all over Europe, with all their facets, in all age ranges, with different interests for their stay at the Vinschgau region. It is definitively not a hipster-only place.
The bar is nice, espresso tastes well, but this is not a spot where people staying at the site come together. Something is missing – I cannot find the words yet – the spark did not flash – up to now.
Another thing is definitively the bad internet connection – our space is directly next to the main building, the connection itself is good, but the connection is sooooooo slow – sorry this is not hip at all.
If you have no offer for a WiFi to connect to, you simply live with it – but if this is advertised, I also expect it to work – otherwise it annoys me – sorry for that.
However, the worst thing for me was the cleanness of the public lavatory. See, everything is still so new – why not keep it in good shape. I was wondering when they cleaned that the last time, as the same dirt spots kept being there every day. So not nice.
Probably I am just picky, but somehow I combine a rundown site more with not so super clean than a brand new lavatory.
Also the plants here still need to grow to give the places more sight protection.
And to note, if your space is directly next to a fresh water and power supply people will – guess what – walk over your camp space to get fresh water or power supply, so you will need to like that ;-).
So if you are not looking for a campsite but an apartment or hotel in this area, these are the two spots I highly recommend:
jelisu 