Groupon 1: Bolzano

So now that I have horrified you with my transportation nightmares, let me share how beautiful by trip Saturday was.

Bolzano is set in the Dolomites, a UNESCO Site (the town is technically in the mountains, but I did not go hiking). The purpose of the Groupon was for the traditional Christmas markets, which were very nice and beautiful but crawling with people, but I really went for the Archeology Museum. There is specifically one man I wanted to see: Ötzi. If he only knew the trouble I went through to see him!

Ötzi is a natural mummy they found in the Alps not far from Bolzano on the Swiss-Austrian-Italian border. He is a few thousand years old and if the older example they have of murder and tattooing. That’s a lot of firsts for one guy! I learned about him in my anthropology classes and since I really enjoy learning about mummification and like dead things I was dying to go (Ha! Dying to go…funny)

He was on display in a sophisticated temperature-controlled chamber but you could look right at him. And the museum did a great job of teaching you about what life was life for him, they had studied the contents of his stomach and could tell you his last meal, his weapons and articles of clothing on display, and great diagrams of how he died (they found the tip of an arrow in his shoulder blade). I loved it.

The museum wasn’t large, so I was left with plenty of time to wander the Christmas markets, eat strudel and drink warm apple cider. I walked around the Christmas market but didn’t real feel up to fighting crowds to buy anything. But they were so charming!

Blog post from Becoming Italian Word by Word on Christmas Markets, read HERE!