We got an earlier start than usual this morning as the check-out time from our pension was 9 a.m. Our route at first followed little roads high above the city of Merano with a vista looking toward Bolzano, our destination for the day.
Bolzano is known as “La citta della bicicletta” (the city of bicycles). As we entered the outskirts of Bolzano there was this official welcome sign.
Bolzano has a 50-kilometer network of bike paths that seem to connect to every part of the city. We’ve never seen so many people using bikes for every day transportation and nowhere else have we seen so many bikes parked along the streets. Bolzano is a city of nearly 108,000 people and 30% of journeys are made by bicycle.
After arriving in Bolzano and finding our hotel we looked for a place to eat and stumbled upon a criterium bicycle race for junior riders in progress on the city streets.