Merano

My wife, Jayne, and I recently visited South Tyrol, Northern Italy. The attraction there was the Italian Alps called the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This next series of blog entries will be devoted to this “Sound of Music” – like area! Our “hub of the wheel” was our timeshare hotel in Tisens/Tesimo, located near the South Tyrol capital city of Bolzano. And this was autumn in the Dolomites!

Merano1

As we typically do during our trips, we employ the “spokes of the wheel” approach toward touring. We flew into Innsbruck, Austria, since this was the closest airport, almost two hours drive.

During our first full day, we toured the city of Merano. As is typical of most of the traveling throughout South Tyrol, most of the cities were found in the valleys between the mountains.

Merano2

Because of its temperate, year-round climate, in the years after 1850 wealthy patrons along with artists and writers came from all over Europe to recuperate in Merano and its surrounding valleys, including Franz Kafka, Franz Liszt and Stefan Zweig, as well as the Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary. Today, The native language breakdown in South Tyrol is as follows: 70% German, 25% Italian and 5% Ladin. In fact, town signs are required to list the town name in these three languages.

On stop we made was the botanical gardens located on the grounds of Trauttmansdorff Castle. Colorful plants from all around the world thrive and bloom in Trauttmansdorff’s more than eighty terraced garden landscapes.

Merano3

One of the fun terraced gardens was the Garden Of Love.

Merano4

The garden is dedicated to love. Works of art, literary quotations and spatial installations that are said to evoke memories in conjunction with sensory plants such as roses and star jasmine.

Merano5

Merano6

Merano7

Merano8

Merano9

Click here for a brief panoramic video.

Enjoy life!