Italy: Val Gardena
Val Gardena was the 8th stop in #FLeuro2016, my backpacking trip across Europe, and it was one that I didn’t choose. I had no idea it existed.
Fatima’s old friend, Stefanie, is from and now lives in Val Gardena, which is in northern Italy close to Bolzano. She invited us to visit and stay with her, which is very kind and generous.
The train ride from Venice to Bolzano was wonderful. I was tired but couldn’t fall asleep because the scenery we were passing by was so beautiful – rolling green hills, vineyards that seemed to never end and lush mountains in the background.
Stefanie picked us up from the Bolzano train station. Little did I know that when we arrived, her family runs a 3-star hotel in Val Gardena. Italy must have a higher standard for hotels and star ratings because Stefanie’s hotel, La Pineta, was newly renovated and beautiful and I would give it 4-stars easily.
And Val Gardena? Lovely. More than lovely. A sight to see. Think of Whistler but bigger and Italian with nicer hotels. Val Gardena sits in a valley in-between two mountains and it’s a hyper-tourism city. Almost everyone who lives in Val Gardena works in hospitality. In the winter, the slopes are open for skiiers and snowboarders and in the summer, it’s a peaceful retreat for rich older folks.
The minute we stepped outside to explore, Fatima and I felt so peaceful. For so long we’ve missed the view of mountains, a view that is quite common in BC. The mountains and the fresh air made us feel rejuvenated again after so many days of traveling. We were happy to relax inside the hotel and stroll through quiet streets where pots of flowers hung from windows. It almost reminded us of the Netherlands.
The next day, Stefanie took us on a hike to see Col Raiser, which is Val Gardena’s prime mountain point. You can also take a gondola ride up instead, which is what we ended up doing because Stefanie was recovering from a leg injury and it had rained earlier that morning.
Col Raiser was splended, just magnificent. I felt like we were living in the storybook world of Heidi. There were even cows and farms at the top (the cows were so cute!).
While Fatima and I got excited about cows, there was a small Italian child who got excited at the sight of us. He tugged on his mother and pointed at us. Stefanie told us it was probably his first time to see people of Asian descent.
More crazy. Here we are oohing over cows and this kid has never seen an Asian person before.
It was at that moment that Fatima and I realized that we’ve been the only Asians in awhile, probably ever since Greece or maybe even before that in Germany. We remembered how our airbnb host in Venice described our appearances by pulling her eyes up into lines (chinky eyes – we were not offended. Body language is all we can do).
We were not used to being the minority. In Vancouver, I’d say we’re the majority. And I think even more strange for Europeans was that when they ask us where we are from, we say “Canada”. They have to pry us with a second question, “But where are your parents from?” until they get the answer they want – which is that we are Chinese.
Our stay in Val Gardena was brief and I was sad to leave, especially after the warm welcome and hospitality Stefanie and her family showed us. I definitely want to return to Val Gardena in the future, perhaps in the winter to check out their snowboarding scene.
Sincerely, Loewe