Saturday, January 10, 2009

Merano - Spa daze for birthdays


We went to Merano, Italy for my birthday and stayed at the Steigenberger Hotel. It's a luxury hotel--especially luxurious for a European hotel. The best part about the place (aside from the personal pillow ordering system) was the underground tunnel which connects you directly to one of the biggest and best spas in Italy. Merano Terme has radioactive water, but it didn't stop us from spending hours in it. A bathing suit is required in the pools, but the separate sauna area has its own rules: no suit, no shoes, no towel. If you're old enough, you can enjoy the saunas from 9am to 10pm, 365 days of the year.
I wasn't surprised by the no suit rule. I was expecting it. But, I wasn't at all prepared for the no towel rule. Oh my! After you get past the em-bare-ass-ment of sitting across from a sweaty naked man cross-legged, the whole experience is really quite enjoyable. There are steam rooms, saunas of varying temperatures, a snow room, outdoor jacuzzi, ice pools: the works. There is also a bar in the nude zone. Beer, teas, or fresh ginger juices are easily charged to your wrist band for minimum hassle.
The water and salt scrubs had me and Mateo marveling at how soft our skin became.

Merano is a beautiful little town. The homes and hotels are mostly Gothic or decorated with Art Nouveau details, which look especially dramatic when the trees have lost their leaves. The Forst brewery was closed for "ferie" (holiday), but we were still able to sample their dark brews unavailable in bottle at the Gato Nero restaurant. The night that we ventured out for dinner in the centre of Merano, we shared a table with a couple and legroom with a small dog. The food was great, the wine medicore but cheap, and the atmosphere great.

The last day we were there, we ventured over to the Merano 2000 snow/sport area at the top of the mountain (accessible by cable car). The ride was a little scary, but the views were incredible. Once at the sporting area, we ventured about, took a short hike, sat and enjoyed teh view, then decided to catch a ride on the Bobsled. Going up to 44 km.hr in a bobsled is great! After our last ride we saw someone literally jump off the side of the mountain (at a steep slope point) and paraglide into the valley below. 95 euro and you can do the same. Guys, there is a 10% discount if we can find a third person to join us!
On the ski/board website I saw that there were sledding trails "for the advanced sledder." I didn't know what the hell that meant until I saw the trail. I don't think I could traverse the loop without a helmet and some lessons first. Germans take their snow sporting SERIOUSLY. Even sledding is a "sport."
I say Germans because although Merano is in the sudtirol area of Italy, there is a distinct difference in the mannerisms, culture, and language of these people in the area. It seems as if 95% of them speak German, or another dialect/language that neither Mateo nor I could wrap our heads around. According to the 2001 census, 51.50 % of the resident population speaks German as mother language, 48.01% Italian, and 0.49% Ladin.
Perhaps I should call them Austrians instead of Germans, as they all speak the same language and Austria is closer. Anyhow, traveling just 2-2.5 hours away from our town felt like living in a completely different world.
As a side note: Ladin (Ladino in Italian, Ladin in Ladin, Ladinisch in German) is a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in the Dolomite mountains in Italy between the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto. It is closely related to the Swiss Romansh, Surselvan, and Friulian.

The Ladin alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. It contains 27 letters:

A B C D E Ese F G

H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You can visit the following news website to get an idea about how the language looks: http://www.noeles.net/



Here are some pictures from our trip. Unfortunately no pictures of the spa. Sorry. No towels. No camera. No cell phones. Nada.


I don't know, yet, what the significance of the locks are (in the picture below). However, along the river, chained to the railing, there are these metals signs with lots of locks. I am figuring they are a wartime custom.
The last picture is of Mateo in an Austrian hat of which we are now the proud owners.

PICTURES HERE:









1 comment:

appvn said...

nice post. It's the best time to make some plans for the long run and it is time to be happy.