Bollards in South Tyrol

This blog post was inspired by Bollards of London, just like my post Bollards of Stetten am kalten Markt on my Dull Village Life blog.

South Tyrol is, as the name says, the southern part of Tyrol. It belongs to Italy since 1919, while the northern part of Tyrol belongs to Austria (as the entire region had before). The people in South Tyrol suffered a lot since their region became an official part of Italy after World War I and it got worse when the Italian “Duce” Mussolini and the German “Führer” Hitler agreed to “share” South Tyrol – Mussolini wanted the country to italianize it and Hitler wanted the (ethnic German) people to settle them in his own occupied territories mainly in Poland and of course send the young men to war. The Italianization continued after World War II even under the democratic governments in Italy. It was only in the early seventies after some violence and endless political negotiations that South Tyrol finally became an “autonomous province” and the population got extensive minority rights. However, there are still attempts of the government in Rome to undermine the autonomy.

So much for the region’s history. The bollards don’t have anything to do with it, though – I suppose ;) These are just some of them which I came across when visiting places during our holiday.

Brixen (a very beautiful town):

Neustift Monastery:

Trens (the village we stayed in):

Wiesen (another village):

40 Years Later

As I had mentioned before Hermann and I traveled to South Tyrol over Easter. For me it was a journey to my past as I had been there with my family for several vacations about 40 years ago. Hermann and I now stayed in the same village in the same hotel. Of course many things have changed, the village has grown much bigger and the hotel had been modernized. Not everything had changed completely, though, as you can see below :)

The place where I’m sitting on the photo was the one where my grandfather used to sit surrounded by the family during breakfast when he was a guest in the hotel; this table had always been reserved for him. The former breakfast room is now an adjoining room of the inn.


This is little me on my 5th birthday in 1971 sitting on the outside of the bay where my grandfather used to sit inside.


The same place 40 years later. Everything is looking more beautiful now, of course, but I was a little sad that the old letter box was gone which had been a relict from the times when the house used to be a coaching inn long ago.


Helene, the young woman on this photo of 1971, was the hotel keepers’ daughter; she and her younger brother were like friends for my brother and me when we were there.


Helene is now herself the hotel keeper and she was the one who modernized the hotel very beautifully; she has placed lots of flowers and decoration everywhere which makes the place cozy; the photo shows the two of us in the lovely new breakfast room which is designed like a winter garden.

I think it does not happen very often that the favourite places of one’s childhood are still attractive when one has grown up, especially after such a long absence. This was the case here, however. I have changed and the place has changed as well, but we are still fitting together ;) As Hermann liked it very much, too, we are planning to travel there soon again, maybe next year.

Nostalgia Tour

I suppose it’s a sign of getting old when people start visiting the places of their childhood. I’m going do that in April of this year. Hermann and I will be travelling to Trens, a tiny village in South Tyrol where I spent several holidays with my family when I was a child. We will stay in the same hotel which is still a family business, now run by the daughter of the previous owners. She still remembered me when we wrote to her. She and her brothers were already young adults at that time. It always felt like home when we were there, everyone was kind and patient with us children. Of course I’m aware that this feeling will most likely not return when I visit again, because so much has changed. The old half-farm-half-hotel has turned into a modern place during the past years – it had to, I guess. Nonetheless I’m looking forward to seeing it all again. Here are some photos:

1970 at a festival parade; I (aged 4) sit on my father's shoulders, my younger brother (aged 2) on my mother's (so I believe); on the right is my father's mother

1970: I wasn't afraid of the cows ;) The cows wore bells round their necks which I loved; still like to hear cow bells and I guess it is because of these childhood memories

1970: with my mother and brother

1971: on my 5th birthday in front of the hotel (wonder whether the bench and table are still there or not)

1971: at a festival parade with the hotel owner's daughter (the current hotel owner)

In Our New Home

The moving part is now over, thank GOD! However, some rooms in our apartment are still building sites and cannot be used properly. Also we do not have a telephone / internet connection yet, so it is just mobile phone and (slow) mobile internet for the weeks to come.

Anyway, I like living in this little town (which is not even officially a town, but just a village). I have got more infrastructure than in the previous place (which was officially a town), a greater variety of shops and three supermarkets. I know that doesn’t sound much, but in Mühlheim we just had one little supermarket and a small grocery shop within walking distance. For the pharmacy and the post office I had to climb a steep hill. For everything except every day items I had to go to another town. Now I have got most shops (plus pharmacy and post office) within easy walking distance which is very convenient as I don’t have a car.

On Friday we officially gave the keys of the old house to the new owners, a very kind Italian couple who have been living and working in Germany for about 30 years and now wanted a house with a garden. After all it was Hermann’s childhood home and his parents had built it, so we were happy to get such friendly new owners who really appreciate it, especially the garden which had been my mother-in-law’s favorite hobby. The woman looked as if she could hardly wait to take gardening tools into her hands ;)

Today I take a break from unpacking boxes – start again tomorrow!