Hike in Innsbruck: Hafelekarhaus to Pfeishütte

Left: Hike route from Hafelekarhaus to Pfeishütte topo map. Pfeishütte is in the lower left corner of the image. Right: Part of the Goetheweg trail - surprises around every corner.


Hike Notes

Length: 12.2 km (7.6 miles) round-trip
Duration: 2.5 hours up and 2 hours down (4.5 hours total walking time excluding time for lunch)
Elevation: 1.139 m (3,737 ft) gain, Hafelekarhaus @ 2.256 m (7,400 ft), Pfeishütte @ 1.922 m (6,306 ft)
Location: Austria, Tirol State, Innsbruck.

Overview

Today we hiked the spectacular mountains that are the backdrop of Innsbruck, the Karwendel range of the Northern Limestone Alps. It wasn’t a long hike, but it was quite spectacular and a bit of a challenge for folks like me that don’t like heights. There were cable guides for some of the trickier parts of the trail. The cables are described as only useful in the winter; I made good use of them today as did a number of other hikers we encountered. 

To get to the start of the hike:

• We took the chic Nordkette from Innsbruck center @ 574 m (1,883 ft) up to Hungerburg @ 860m (2,820 ft).
• From Hungerburg, we took the cable car to Seegrube @ 1.905 m (6,250 ft).
• Finally, we took the cable car to Hafelekar @ 2.256 (7,400 ft).

We paid about 32 euros per person for round-trip passage. It’s all described on the Nordkette site, if not a little obscured.

Here is a good overview of the hiking you can do from the Hafelekarspitze peak. Specifically, we followed the Goetheweg Trail 219 from Hafelekar station (Hafelekarhaus) to Pfeishütte mountain hut. At Pfeishütte, we ate a great lunch listening to the cacophony of cowbells. Another good overview of the trail is on tyrol.com.


Left: A shepherd along the trail. Right: Later in the day, a sheep cools itself on the trail. Innsbruck valley in the upper left of photo.


Examples of the Goetheweg Trail. Left: Cables to grab on to.


The fabulous futuristic funicular stations designed by Zaha Hadid. Left: Congress statioin. Right: Hungerburg station (topmost station).


Left: Pfeishütte mountain hut lunch. Center: Nordkette Geo Trail. Right: Signage along the Goetheweg Trail. Innsbruck in the valley.


Different views of the Goetheweg Trail.


Left: View north of Innsbruck Town Square (Maria Theresien-Straße) with Seegrube and Hafelekar in the background. Center: View south back down to Innsbruck from the mountain. Right: View from cable car at Hafelekar.

Plants

Left: Saxifraga. Center: Saxifraga and Alchemilla. Right: Hieracium.

Left: Linaria alpina. Center: Unknown. Right: Adenostyles.

Left: Unknown. Center: Silene vulgaris. Right: Dryas octopetala seed head.


Left and center: Scabiosa. Right: Phyteuma.


Left and center: Campanula. Right: Carlina.


Left and center: Rhododendron. Right: Pedicularis.

Hike: Carona to Rifugio Laghi Gemelli

Left: Hike Route from Carona to Laghi Gemelli. Right: View north from the trail while descending, view of Lago Marcio.


Hike Notes

Length: 12.4 km (roundtrip)
Duration: 2.5 hours up and 2 hours down
Elevation: 900 m (2,953 ft) gain, Laghi Gemelli @ 1961 m (,6434 ft)
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Province of Bergamo, Alta Valle Brembana

Overview

Sentiero 211 (CAI Bergamo site) is a well-marked and popular trail that reaches the popular Rifugio Laghi Gemelli from the north. In June, we approached from the south starting near Roncobello (see A Hike from Baite di Mezzeno to Rifugio Laghi Gemelli). This time around, the weather was better and the Rifugio was hopping. We still could easily find space for a nice lunch there. (Try the Polenta Pasticciata.)

Left: Carlina. Right: Centaurea uniflora.


Left and center: Sanguisorba dodecandra Moretti near Lago Marcio. Right: Trail markers painted on a rock for Carona and Laghi Gemelli.


Left: South end of Lago Marcio at eye level, spillway. Right: Start of hike in Carona.


Left: View north through trees to Foppolo. Right: The start of the trail is through woods and is steep in some sections.

Cuneo – Street Sign Language Lesson VIII

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For this episode of street sign language lessons, we draw from a trip we took to Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) several weeks ago. We feature four food-related word investigations – what else would you expect in Piemonte, two Cuneo market observations, a house of mutilation(!?), a grey heron, and doors that close themselves. Doesn’t that just pique your interest?

Left: Gran fritto misto alle piemontese at Ristorante Montecarlo. Right: Menu from the restaurant.

Gran fritto misto alle piemontese – traditional platter fried delicacies
On our way from Bergamo to Cuneo we stopped for lunch outside of Tortona at Ristorante Montecarlo, a sort of welcome to Piemonte (Tortona is close to the border between Lombardia and Piemonte). Fritto misto alle piemontese is a typical dish of Piedmont that here features various lightly fried meats and seasonal vegetables, as well as pieces of sweets. Of meat, there was liver, brains, lamb chop, pork, and a few other goodies. Of sweets, there was lemon, chocolate and almond infused semolina pieces. What goes into the dish changes based on where you are in Piemonte.

Menu at Rifugio Valasco, Piemonte

Tomino alla piastra – Grilled tomino
Tomino is a cow's milk cheese typical of Piedmont. Alla piastra means "grilled". This menu was in the Rifugio Valascao (see Hiking from Terme di Valdieri to Rifugio Questa).


Left: Open Baladin in Cuneo, Galuperie. Right: Page from the book Vocabolario Piemontese Sacociabil Italiano-Piemontese, Piemontese-Italiano featuring galup.

Le nostre galuperie – Our good things
This photo was taken in the new Open Baladin Birreria location in Cuneo. The word galuperie derives from the Piemontese dialect. Galup in dialect means tempting or appetizing, while galuparìa is something desirable, a temptation.

Grom gelato commitement at the Grom location in Cuneo

GROM – Il gelato di Grom e le materie prime che utilizziamo non contengono aromi, coloranti, conservanti ed emulsionanti. Non li abbiamo mai utilizzati. Non li utlizzeremo mai. – Grom’s gelato and the raw ingredients that we use do not contain flavorings, dyes, preservatives and emulsifiers. We have never used them. We will never use them.
What’s interesting here is the different uses of the verb utilizzare. utilizziamo – present, indicative, utilizzeremo – future simple, indicative, and utilizzati – past participle. GROM was founded in 2003 and is a place we frequently seek out for gelato. It was purchased by the multinational Unilever in 2015, which we are afraid may not bode well for the quality of the product. So far so good.

Shopping for underwear at the Cuneo market

Slip uomo – Men’s underwear
I grew up with the word slip meaning something a woman wears. Here at the Cuneo market - one of our favorite markets - it’s hard to shut off that image shopping for underwear. When I see slip uomo, I picture an athletic, shaved man’s body wearing a slip. I realize for some that might be an interesting and desirable image, but for me it’s a disconnect.

Left: Knife Grinder at the Cuneo market


Arrotino – Knife grinder
At the edge of the Cuneo market, the knife grinder throws open his van’s doors and becomes a mobile knife grinding workshop and key copier (duplicazione chiavi).

Casa del Mutilato in Cuneo

Casa del Mutilato – House of War Wounded
Mutilato has as one sense the meaning amputee, but it also means, collectively, those wounded as a result of war. We walked by this building in Cuneo on our way to the train station one evening, and besides the imagery the title conjures, the building seemed a bit sad. According to the thesis Cuneo 1919-1940, it belongs to the Rationalism architectural current (Razionalismo Italiano).

Left: Hunting blind at Riserva naturale Crava Morozzo (LIPU) - no smoking sign. Center: Photo of a grey heron at the riserva. Right: View over wetlands from a hunting blind.


E’ assolutamente vietato fumare nei capanni – It is absolutely forbidden to smoke in the hunting blind
We were spending the afternoon at the Riserva naturale Crava Morozzo, just a few minutes outside of Cuneo. We were with family and some bird experts. We spent some of our time in hunting blinds (little wooden huts) spying on wildlife. We saw several birds with the naked eye, but you really need proper bird watching gear. The photo of the Grey Heron, Adrea cinerea, was taken through a monocular belonging to one of the experts.

Left: Doors of the Duomo di San Donato in Mondoví Alta. Right: Inside San Donato in Mondoví Alta.

Si chiude da sè – It closes by itself
In other words, you don’t need to pull these doors shut. These doors are part of the Duomo di San Donato in Mondoví Alta.

Puglia – Street Sign Language Lesson VII

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For this episode of street sign language lessons, we head to Puglia (Apulia in English, but I think it sounds bad so I avoid it). We were in Puglia for 10 days and couldn’t help but snap shots a few street signs and other words on the street that give a peak into Pugliese culture and our time there.

Images showing the creation of "iamo" verbs in Italian.

Focacciamo, Sandialiamo, Musichiamo, Pugliamo – Let’s do focaccia, sandals, music, and Puglia
Back in Street Sign Language Lesson V, we talked about creating first person plural verbs (“we”) out of a word that typically isn’t used as a verb. In Lesson V, it was snackiamo (“let’s snack”) and turistiamo (“let’s be tourists”). While in Puglia we captured a few more. I guess it’s just too darn cute to resist doing. Perhaps most clever is pugliamo, which you could think of as coming from “Puglia + amo” -> “I love Puglia” and "Let's do Puglia". Focacciamo and sandaliamo were seen in Polignano a Mare; musichiamo in Locorotondo. Pugliamo was sent to us by a friend who saw it in Ostuni.

Left: Pizza dough made from hemp seed. Right: Six-petaled flower of the Knights Templar at Museo Faggiano.

Impasto alla farina di canapa – Dough from hemp wheat
We saw this sign in Lecce promoting pizza made with hemp dough, but didn’t stop to try it. I’ve been confused for a while trying to distinguish between the iconography of the hemp leaf, Lega Nord, and the fiore della vita. Lega Nord’s symbol derives from the fiore della vita and has 6 leaves, arranged uniformly in a circle. The fiore della vita was also a symbol used by the Knights Templar. We saw this use of the fiore in the quirky Museo Faggiano in Lecce. The fiore della vita is formed by six overlapping circles. The hemp leaf is palmately compound or digitate with 3-9 leaflets of various sizes. Market opportunity: impasto alla farina delle fiore della vita.

Lido La Barchetta, Castellaneta Marina Italy.

Spiaggia in concessione – Beach for rent
When we visited Puglia for the first time in fall 2010 (see Alberobello, Grotte di Castellana, Torre Gauceto), the coast (Torre Guaceto), it was deserted. Zilch, zero for people. This time, on our second visit to Puglia it being peak beach season, we were in for a different experience: lots more people. Over 10 days, we swam four times in the Adriatic and twice in the Ionian. Lido La Barchetta in Castellaneta Marina, west of Taranto (pictured here) was our first lido experience. You pay to buy a position (umbrella, chair/recliner, WiFi access, music, entertainment) on the beach. On this day, we paid 5 euros a spot. This beach in the photos above looks empty because we went late in the afternoon after everyone had left for the day, and it was a weekday. We prefer public locations (non-lido) that are in located in more interesting places such as rocky shores or little bays or coves (cale), such as Torre Incina or Torre Uluzzo, locations we went swimming at as well.

Left Two Images: Piazza in Massafra, Italy where you won't find Pokémon. Right Two Images: Street art in Massafra.

Piazza depokemonizzata – No Pokémon here
We saw the depokemonizzata sign in Massafra, a curious town we spent part of a day visiting. The piazza was near Falsopepe, a nice restaurant where we enjoyed a beautiful dinner on their rooftop terrace. Clearly, not everyone is embracing the latest Pokémon rage sweeping the world. I admit, it took me several moments to decode the sign as I didn't expect to find this cultural reference here. Nearby the piazza, there was some interesting street art. Massa-where you are wondering? It’s here.

Sign for a restaurant in Martina Franca

Lo Scacciapensieri – Forget your troubles
Scacciapensieri is a mouth harp, but it can also mean a pastime or diversion. It’s in the latter sense that I translate the name of this trattoria in Martina Franca. Scaccia comes from scacciare, drive away or shoo. Pensieri are thoughts. A pastime helps drive away thoughts. Maybe playing the mouth harp does the same thing?

Parking Ticket Issued by a Noci Parking Enforcement Officer

Ausiliari della sosta – Parking enforcement officer
If you see someone with this written on their jacket, check that your car is parked correctly. This parking ticket issued to us in Noci (BA), reads – by piecing together the phrases  – noi sottoscritti ausiliari della sosta G. Miccolis abbiamo accertato che il autovettura sostava in area pagamento senza esporre il tagliando di pagamento. In other words, we didn’t pay to park and we should have. That’s bad enough, but I swear there was a bit of collusion between a group of old men who watched us park and the rapid enforcement by Officer Miccolis. There were plenty of illegally parked cars nearby, most without payment, but the officer zeroed in on us with the help of one particular old man who gleefully stood by smiling as the officer finished writing the ticket and handed it to me just as I returned to the car. We paid the fine within a day (at the lower rate) in the Post Office.

Images from the Museo Provinciale Sigismondo Castromediano in Lecce Italy. Left Two Images: A 5th century BC vase depicting Silenus. Center Right Image: Looking down on the Salento peninsula. Far Right Image: Endless display cases of artifacts. 

Silene barbato itifallico nell’atto di saltare su una cerva con rython in mano – Bearded Silenus with an erection in the act of jumping on a deer with a rhyton in hand
In Lecce, the museum Museo Provinciale Sigismondo Castromediano (a mouthful) is a stop for you if you are interested in the history of the province from prehistoric, through Messapian culture and up to Roman times. It's free to enter and is just outside the city wall to the south, an easy walk. This museum is a counterpoint to the Museo Faggiano. An interesting word from the description of this vase, created around 500 BC, is itifallico, which means a phallus (il fallo) in an erect state.

Castello di Gallipoli. Left and Center: Warning signs to visitors. Right: Part of exhibition - Il Terzo Paradiso by Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Attenti alla testa - watch your head
Parapetto basso – low wall
We saw these two signs at the Castello di Gallipoli. (Yeah, I know, I should be looking at the castle, not at the signs.) One sign translates attenti alla testa to the ominuous “beware of the head”, whereas "watch your head" is closer to what it means. Parapetto does have one sense as “bulwark”, but most English speakers in the castle seeing the sign will experience this as a wall without quibbling as to the exact type of wall. WThe castle was hosting an interesting exhibition Heroes – Eroi tra Arte e Design.

Left: Pizzi in a store window in Lecce. Right: Advertisement for pucce.

Pizzo: pane tipico con cipolla, olive con nocciolo, poco peperoncino, pomodoro - Pizzo: traditional bread with unpitted olives, a little chili pepper, tomato
Pucce e insalate - Typical Pugliese bread and salad.
Pizzi (singular pizzo) are a traditional bread you see on the streets or in bread baskets in restaurants. Be careful, the olives still have their pits in them. Pucce (singular puccia) are made from the same dough as pizza, and as shown in the image above, are typically used as a sandwich. Another common bread we saw in Salento (southern Puglia) were friselle (singular frisella), which are twice-cooked, hard and dry, and require a brief soak in water to eat them unless you want to break a tooth on first bite. Friselle can be conserved for a long time, and are excellent with olive oil, fresh tomato and basil.