Day 4 --> An Indian in European Alps + KTM 990 SMT [Year 2009]

Thanks for the fantastic response to Day 1, 2 and 3 fellas. Here are the links:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

DAY 4 : Corvara – Grodner pass / Passo Gardena – Passo Sella – Passo Costalunga – Bozen / Bolzano – Passo Mendola – Cles – Passo di Tonale – Passo di Gavia – Bormio – Passo Foscagno – Passo Eira - Livigno

Here is a link on GOOGLE MAPS - Corvara BZ, Italy to Livigno SO, Italy - Google Maps

After a good night’s sleep, I was all fresh for another day ahead, a day of sorts. The first thing I did was fill up the bike, from a pump just a few meters from the hotel. Two Harley riders had just filled up before me, gearing up for their ride ahead. It is places like these where the full potential of bikes like the Harley lies.
The SMT 990 took in 14.92litres of petrol for 20 Euros and carried on for the first pass of the day, Grodner or Gardena, just nine kilometers away.

The place where I stayed - La Baita

The ‘Bikers welcome’ sign outside my hotel

Gardena pass - I always made sure I parked on the other side of the white line - safety first.

The pass had nothing to offer so I continued ahead for Sella pass. Suddenly I was in the sun shadow area and it became quite chilly. I loved riding on the narrow road with a huge mountain on the left and a drop on the right.

The final few kilometers to Sella saw me riding in a lot of traffic.

After taking snaps of the board, I parked my bike on the right. Two more bikers joined and as usual talks started about the SMT and me riding in this part of the world - not common for them to see an Indian in this part of the world. Alone. The views from where we were standing were awesome, however with lot of traffic I decided to ride ahead.

Costalunga came and went with nothing much to offer.

I was now riding downhill to the big town of Bozen or Bolzano. Temperatures started rising and once in the city, in slow moving traffic, I was almost sweating inside. Add to it that it took me a while finding the right road to Mendola pass meant I started getting irritated. I had to ride a lot inside the city in start stop traffic and trust me, it was quite warm. However once on the right road to Mendola, I started ripping. The good thing in these areas is that there are hardly any cops around for a check on speeding. What you have instead are big digital signs which show what speeds you are doing. The guilt within makes you slow down. Perfect.
I was thirsty but didn’t want to stop until I was back in the hills. And once there, I stopped for these views

A little pass, Mendola, at 1363 came but was in the middle of a small city. I decided to take the pic from a distance and carried on.

Finally bypassing little sleepy towns, I was in the middle of fruit farms like these

Tonale pass at 1884 was much better with good views

However it was the Gavia that I was looking forward to ride to. Traffic became as I was nearing the pass – good for me!

Remember this car from Day3?

This was the reason why there were far less bikers and cars on the road today.

The road to Gavia is quite narrow with numerous hair pin bends, blind curves etc. Europeans aren’t really used to such roads and many a times, I had bikers coming my way, riding almost in my lane for fear of going off in to the deep valley on the other side!
However, being used to such roads in India meant I was cool with riding here. Plus as the altitude went up, the hills around, with less vegetation started reminding me of the Himalayas! Infact, this was also the only stretch I came across with less than perfect roads – little potholes in abundance.

Stopping off the road for some views

A few kilometers before Gavia pass, I saw this lake on the left side, down in the valley. It involved riding off the road for a km. Now, how could I resist this. Off I went, riding on the pegs. Once there, I saw a KTM off-roader parked on the side, next to a huge stone. And then I saw them – a couple lay there, in each other’s arms! Great! I acted as if I didn’t see them, parked my bike next to the lake, took a few shots and carried on back to the road.

Enroute Gavia, there were numerous old styled tunnels with no lights. Infact, these were pretty cold and gave an indication of the high altitude.

Gavia pass at 2652 meters was well worth it.

While riding to Gavia, I had overtaken these two beauties, which were driven all the way from Britain. Thumps up!

A small lake, meters from the Gavia pass.

From here, I rode non-stop to just before Foscagno for these views.

The pass, two km from the previous stop

Another little pass

Finally I was at my destination – Livigno. This city, on the border of Italy and Switzerland is known for its zero taxes. Yes, that means fuel is cheaper, so are items like chocolates / perfumes / Booze! I filled up 16.65 litres of fuel for just 15 Euros - thats 0.90 Euros cents per litre as against 1.34 I payed in the morning! The place seemed very cute and it took me just ten minutes to find a decent place for the night for 40 Euros. Another reason why I choose this hotel was the owner’s bike

Later in the evening I went around shopping, getting gifts for people back home and ofcourse myself. One the best perfume I have used till date – Issey Miyake for men - used it for the first time on this trip and still use if often today (new bottles though). Infact there was some kind of scheme running wherein shopping for 150 Euros entitled you to a free ten Euro coupon. Damn, these credit cards really tempt u – it did happen!
Dinner was a big Pizza I got packed from the market for 6.5 Euros.

Spotted this during my evening walk