Ralph and Angelika picked us up, and we met up with Jürgen and Verone. Petra and Lorent have returned home to München; we might meet up with them in four days or so.
But today the plan is to drive south along the River Drau, crossing the border into the Sud Tirol of Italy. It is only 45 minutes (55km) to Sesto (Sexton), which is the big destination in this area.
The idea is to walk 13 kilometers to Moso (Moos) and the Fishleinboden Hütte, and back.
In this part of Italy all the signs are in Italian and German. Even the towns have two names. This is because the border has shifted many times throughout the years, and rather than fight it, the people are just bi-lingual.
We have been close to this area before, back in 2010, when we were in Castelrotto (Kastelruth).
Our first stop is at the cheese shop in Sesto. It is a very busy place, with a line out the door. That is a sure sign of quality. We have to pick up cheese for tonight’s dinner.
Once that is safely in the cooler, we park at the edge of town and start walking a paved path, shared with bikes, heading along the Sesto/Sexton River. It is a pretty walk, but a cold, cloudy day. I am wearing my fleece for the first time in Austria, mostly because this level trail is easy so I cannot keep warm through exerting myself on the hike.
We are walking through fields of Queen Ann’s Lace flowers. There are barns with small herds of horses and cows (“Herds” is a new word to Ralph and Jürgen. Prior, they had both referred to “flocks” of animals. So we are all teaching each other.) There are open hay ricks, like the ones used in Slovenia which are UNESCO protected heritage things.
The river is clear, grey except where it turns a light blue at pools by rapids and waterfalls. The sky slowly starts clearing, and as we turn off the paved river trail and head up into the woods to the hut, we shed our coats.
It takes a while to walk to the Fishleinboden Hütte, and when we arrive I am surprised by how large it is. Gift shops, a big hotel, nice restaurant: this would be mountain living at it’s most comfortable. Just past the complex it opens to a grassy meadow, where we can stand and observe the big peaks just up valley.
I spend a while looking at them. We are not climbing today, but this would be a great area to come back to sometime.
We turn and head back on a different trail. We are going to get pizza for lunch at Pizzeria Hans, which it right at the intersection of three roads. This turns out to be an excellent choice; the pizza is just that perfect mix of Italian cooking and Austrian/German beer.
Gail and I agree: it is the best pizza we have had on the trip so far.
Gail had a Pizza Buffala (like pizza margherita but with Buffalo Mozzarella and fresh tomatoes and basil) and I had the Funghi and Proscuitto (mushroom and ham).
With a Weissbier, it was perfect in the warm Italian mountain sun, sitting at the base of the mountains.
Everyone dug into their pizzas, and we didn’t waste too much time talking once we got started.
We took another little side trip up to Brunico (Bruneck) where we spent a couple hours walking the old town, under the castle (Reinhold Messner, the famous climber, has a museum in it), and then we headed back to Lienz.
Our last dinner together was simple but great: the six cheeses that we bought in Sesto, bread, tomatoes and basil, and a couple bottles of wine Gail and I picked up in the Sud Tirol. It was topped off by a fantastic cheese cake with almond-poppyseed crust, which was made by Verone.
We urged Verone and Jürgen to come visit us in California, then all too soon we had to say our goodbyes.
With hugs and kisses all around we headed back to our room in Amlach for one last, very quiet night.