Trip to Italy

Luisita and me in 1966 My Australian admirer Luisita myself and a nice couple

Trip to Italy 1966

The bus left from Victoria with forty other people of all ages, mostly passengers were in their forties except for one Australian who was 26 years old. We were the attraction of the coach. We had never been anywhere apart from our remote villages in Spain, going on a coach and finding out the large world out there was very educational and exciting. We travelled for a few hours before we reached Dover to cross the English Channel. The bus actually went into the boat with all of us inside. This was a real treat, we were so excited. We run around this floating house, it reminded me of my first journey to England, only now I was actually going on holiday, it seemed unbelievable that my life could change so fast in a matter of months. We took the steps to the deck and looked around realising our dream, going somewhere by boat,water all around, no houses to be seen, only water and the sky...

Next stop was in the motorway in Germany. We were well pleased to be stopped in the middle of no where, half a sleep, to help our selves to self-service catering from vending machines. There was no staff at all. Machines were available fully replenished with all sorts of foods, hot or cold. We just had to find lots of coins in order to have some food. I suppose it was a taste of the new world to come.

We arrived at three o'clock in the morning at this hotel near Innsbruck.We slept for a few hours before we were awaken again to continue our journey via Austria and by the autostrada, into Italy.

In the 1930s the Fascist government built over 800 miles of motorways connecting all of the major cities of Southern and most of northern Italy. Construction ceased in 1941 due to World War II and the magnificent highway network fell into ruin until 1956 when plans to rebuilt the major links began. During the 1960's and 1970's most of the Autostrada was rebuilt and today is the fifth largest motorway network in the world.

From Austria across The Tyrol to Innsbruck I wanted so much to take in the impressionable mountains, the Alps, the magnificent green fields, lakes, trees, miles and miles of never ending natural beauty. The various colours of green, the river bends, the different terrain, the mountain vacation huts, hotels, the expensive chalets for the better off, the cows and sheep enjoying the rich pastures, the lorries that were travelling in the opposite direction. This beauty was enhanced by the smoothness that the autostrada provided while travelling by coach. A poor road would not have allowed one's senses to be transported into wonder and bewilderment.

The size of natural beauty was overwhelming. I was allowed to put my head out of the window and capture not only the view, but the taste and smell too. Some fields had been harvested, it was June, the hay was flat in rows of perfect size, drying under the wind and the sun. The smell of all these unspoiled rich valleys suffocated my senses to the point of breaking into screams from time to time. I arrived in Italy with a natural suntan due to the sun and wind of the unspoiled country side of the Tyrol experience.

The construction of this impressive motorway had recently been finished and we were told about its beauty, its splendid short cuts through great mountain passes and impressive tunnels, its advantages for future travel and the achievements of adventurous engineers that foresaw the possibilities in their drawings before executing the project to reality. Conditions during its construction were far from ideal. Dangerous and hazardous situations were tackled with little concern for safety, and workers suffered great loss of life.

The Europabrücke (Bridge Europe), located just outside of Innsbruck and a few kilometres north of the Brenner Pass, is a large concrete bridge carrying the six-lane autobahn over the valley of the Sill River. At a height of 180 meters and a length of 820 meters, it was celebrated as a masterpiece of engineering upon its completion in 1963. The Autostrada is the Italian National system of motorways. The total length of the system is about 6,400 km, in North and Central Italy mainly as tollways, the biggest portion owned by the Autostrade Group which operates some 3,408 km of highways, although some are also under the control of other operators, such as Autovie Venete in the north-east. Italy was the first country in the world to start building motorways. Italy's Autostrada has one of the highest speed limits in Europe.

Brenner Pass (Passo del Brennero) is a mountain pass through the Alps along the border between Italy and Austria, and is one of the principal passes of the Alps. It is the lowest (4495 ft./1370 m.) and easiest of the Alpine passes, and one of the few in the Tyrol region. For that reason possession of the pass has long been coveted.

Below the pass, high Alpine pastures have been used by dairy cattle for summer grazing, making space available at lower altitudes for cultivating and harvesting hay for winter fodder. Many of the high pastures are at altitudes over 1000 meters.In order to ease the road traffic,there are plans to upgrade the railroad from Verona to Innsbruck with a series of tunnel under the Brenner Pass.Work started in 2006. I am fortunate to have lived this far and through “goggle earth” venture into this episode of my life with the aid of a simple mouse.

We arrived at Padua. The waiters at the hotel were all over us and we spoiled their interest by requesting peace and quiet as we were exhausted. The next day we would regret having being tired as we realised how handsome and ready to please they were.