E5 Days 111-113

Wednesday, June 26

A thunderstorm on top of the mountain

• Over breakfast, we have a chat with the guy who works at the hut and is absolutely thrilled by our hiking adventure: he tells us that he’s already walked the E5 from St Gallen to here himself.

• Before we leave, he even gives us a wooden pendant with a bear on it. 🙂
• At breakfast, a German hiker tells us: “You should try Italian Nutella – it doesn’t contain any palm oil!” – I look at the packet: palm oil is listed as the second ingredient.

• First of all, today we’re facing a gruelling climb up to the Bocchetta dei Fondi, which follows stony paths that are partly secured and partly over rocky slopes – definitely the most difficult route we’ve encountered so far on our hike.

• Unfortunately, as Google had predicted, a thunderstorm rolls in very early and catches us just as we reach the top of the saddle – we’re moving faster than ever before and it’s a slightly eerie situation.

• We make a brisk descent to the Rifugio Scalorbi, where we seek shelter and order something to eat and drink.

• When the sky clears up again, we set off and end up lingering for a while in the meadow in front of the rifugio, where marmots are running about everywhere – one of them is really close!

• We carry on down small mountain paths, and before we know it, it starts to rain.

• The path is still absolutely lovely and becomes increasingly green and enchanting – with waterfalls, trees and a stream running alongside it.
• Just before Giazza, we’re caught in the second thunderstorm of the day, but luckily we find shelter in a cave that just happens to be on the way – very handy.

• In Giazza – or rather, just above it – we’re greeted by our host for tonight, Lisa, who’s absolutely lovely, along with her son Pietro.
• They’ve even left a bottle of wine out for us as a welcome gift – really nice!

• Cooking, eating (a brief disappointment as the internet isn’t working and we can’t watch climbing), cheering to our hike with a glass of delicious wine, sleeping.

Thursday, June 27

Lovely weather, a fox and Ponte di Veja

• The sun is shining once again today, and we set off under a brilliant blue sky.

• First of all, as you head up the slope, the paths are absolutely lovely, winding through woods and over green hills, across lush green meadows and, in places, almost through the bushes.

• It’s hot and the climbs not so easy.
• Still, for some reason, we don’t stop at an albergo by the roadside in Maregga, as we think, “Ah, we’ll be fine!”

• We come to regret this when, a little later, we pass the Albergo Croce, which is ‘temporarily closed’ because it has no current owner, as far as we can make out from the Italian sign – oh no!

• It’s a bit of a ‘Mayday’ situation, but on the other hand, a solution is quickly found: we stop for a break by the side of the path to have some snacks.
• That’s just as well, because the path continues through a stream bed (?!?) and plenty of undergrowth before leading – as our guide aptly puts it – ‘astonishingly steeply’ uphill into the little town of Erbezzo.

• There, we chill out in a café on the main square and have a rest, treating ourselves to a refreshing lemonade – yum.

• On the way, we bump into the other E5 group and have a quick chat with Katharina, the mountain guide, who is slightly concerned that we want to carry on hiking as far as Fane at 5 pm – we (or at least I) aren’t quite so worried; the days are long at the moment.
• It turns out that the group aren’t actually going all the way to Verona after all; instead, their destination for tomorrow’s stage is the Ponte di Veja, which lies just before Fane, and from where they’ll take a taxi to Verona.

• So we carry on hiking along paths with stunning views and a brilliant climb past a waterfall to the aforementioned Ponte di Veja, a huge stone arch that looks truly impressive.

• From here, it’s about an hour’s hike to Fane along narrow country lanes with stunning views, which are particularly beautiful in the light of the setting sun.

• On the way there, we pass through a small village with a supermarket – an opportunity we jump at straight away to do some shopping – for dinner and, of course, snacks for the next stages of our journey.

• We spot a fox darting across the path in front of us, and lots and lots of sheep.
• Passing a marble quarry, we reach the little village where we’re staying in a flat.
• It’s not easy to find – the village is so small that the addresses aren’t much use – but luckily a helpful neighbour spots us wandering around looking a bit lost and shows us the way – thank you!

• Aubergine and onion pasta is on the menu for dinner tonight; we cook it together before we collapse into bed, exhausted, and fall asleep straight away.

Friday, June 28

The Rainforest Valley near Verona

• Breakfast in the flat (where our hosts prepared something for us <3), before we set off into the woods and along narrow tracks and paths through hilly countryside, with some fantastic views towards Montecchio.

• Apparently there are places to stop for refreshments here (my number one priority), but the café we can see looks more like it’s ‘temporarily closed’.

• So we head down into the rainforest valley, Valo Borago, which is signposted as being ‘for experienced walkers’.
• And rightly so: steep descents, exposed sections, and narrow paths made slippery by the rain await us – beautiful, but definitely not easy.

• The name ‘Rainforest Valley’ describes it very well; it’s green as far as the eye can see and everything is just growing wild – the only thing is, the heat builds up down here and the stream, which can only be guessed at from its dried-up bed, does nothing to help cool things down.

• In places, the routes feature via ferrata-style rope safety systems, long ladders and, here and there, a climbing section where you need to use both your hands and feet.

• The path winds its way through the valley seemingly endlessly, and the effort required to tackle it shows no sign of letting up.

• So we’re quite pleased when we tumble out of the valley onto a wide track, lined with peaceful-looking orchards.

• The joy doesn’t last long, because unlike in the valley, there’s no shelter here from the blazing sun.
• We reach Avesa, where – although sources differ on this – the E5 officially ends, and from where there’s “super public transport” to Verona.
• We, on the other hand, carry on along the cycle path towards the town, where we treat ourselves to a break on a little bench in the shade.

• Walking along the banks of the Adige (which is actually quite full of water), we reach the city walls and make our way into the city centre, where our hotel, “Verona enjoy”, is located.

• We’re already really looking forward to it, because we’re going to meet up with our parents here – all four of them have travelled to Verona to round off our E5 adventure in style and watch the open-air opera with us – brilliant!
• At first, I can’t find the doorbell at the hotel, so I ring Dad: “How did you get in?!” – “Just ring the bell.” – Oh right, that works, doesn’t it.
• Check in, relax – Matthäus’s parents are already here too; a happy reunion.
• We head off together to Osteria Marconi, where we treat ourselves first to a coffee and then, straight afterwards, to dinner, which my parents – who’ve already been on a sightseeing marathon – join us for.
• A lovely meal, chatting, laughing – very cosy, absolutely brilliant.
• And so our weekend together in Verona gets off to a great start!

Saturday, June 29

The Departure of the Harps

• We sleep in and then head to the breakfast spot, where we treat ourselves to a hearty breakfast – Bieber-style.
• Then we head into town – or rather, to the city walls.

• We walk along this street for a bit and pop into a beautiful monastery church, the Church of San Bernardino.
• We carry on to the Church of San Zeno, one of the four famous major churches in Verona for which a combined ticket is available – everyone buys one (or rather, Mum and Dad already have one, of course), except me – I decide to have a look inside this church and then head back towards the hotel to have a rest.
• It’s well worth it – the church is beautiful, and the cloister in particular is brilliant!

• Crossing a bridge, we reach the other bank of the Adige, where we stroll through the Arsenale site, which, however, seems to hover somewhere between a building site, a semi-derelict building and a renovation project – it’smore of a treat for our architects.

• Here we split up: Fritz, Christine and Matthäus walk over to the other three churches, whilst we Biebers stroll across the Ponte di Castelvecchio, a very beautiful old bridge where you can climb up towers – which Dad isn’t entirely comfortable with, whilst Mum and I have already scrambled up one.

• We treat ourselves to an ice cream together before Mum and Dad head further into town and I go back to the hotel.
• Later in the afternoon, Matthäus comes to fetch me from my hotel room (where I’ve mainly been reading, writing and sleeping) with the tempting prospect that his parents have brought some sparkling wine for a toast.
• We enjoy this on the hotel terrace before heading out for dinner, for which Fritz has booked a table at a good restaurant near the arena.
• Then it’s off to the arena (a well-preserved Roman amphitheatre, where the open-air opera is taking place) to see Turandot.

• The performance begins at dusk (around 9 pm) and doesn’t go entirely smoothly: It keeps drizzling (and thunder rumbles in the distance), whereupon all the string players jump up and rush out of the arena (as the stage isn’t covered), and an announcement over the loudspeaker tells us we just need to be a little patient and understand that the valuable string instruments mustn’t get wet; the performance will continue shortly.

• The words “we’ll be back in a moment” are announced by the evening’s favourite performer, who enters the stage carrying a huge gong and strikes it (to thunderous applause), making it ring out loud and clear.
• The string section then returns with their instruments and resumes the performance exactly where they left off.
• So we don’t quite follow the plot as well as we might (but in which opera does the plot really matter anyway?) and we don’t quite get into the tragic mood the piece calls for, especially as a football match is on at the same time, with Germany playing, and which is of great interest to most of the opera-goers – the vast majority of whom are German – so that at every interruption, smartphones are immediately pulled out to continue watching the live stream.
• There really is something for everyone this evening, so even Dad manages to stay awake until almost the end of the performance.
• When it starts raining so heavily that the harps are wheeled out, we think, “Oh dear, that’s it,” but the performers, undeterred, carry on with the show after the shower and finally bring it to a close at around 2 o’clock in the morning.
• Who would have thought that, of all the evenings over the last four months, the one on which we’ve stayed up the latest would be the opera night with our parents?!
• In any case, it’s a trip to the opera that we’ll remember for a long time, and a wonderful, if rather long, day in Verona. 🙂