2024-02-09 07:53:45
At first glance, it’s a holiday accommodation like any other: In Haus Himmelfahrt every detail is thought of so that even people with disabilities can spend a holiday without restrictions. Image: Various photographers
A model project for barrier-free holidays has been created on the Ritten near Bozen: The Toggenburg family’s holiday apartments are tailor-made for people with disabilities without giving the impression of a care facility.
South Tyrol is an ideal place for a carefree holiday. Endless paths run through an idyllic landscape, hills and mountains want to be climbed, lakes invite you to swim, breakneck descents await daring mountain bikers. Everything is possible – if you can do it. But what if just a few steps are too steep, the stairs represent an insurmountable obstacle and a bumpy hiking trail becomes a torture route in a wheelchair? For disabled holidaymakers, the trip ends before it really begins. Hotels and guesthouses are focused on hikers, cyclists and mountaineers. Only a few are even remotely equipped for people with disabilities. This makes the concept of Haus Himmelfahrt am Ritten all the more impressive, a true lighthouse project in European tourism.
High plateau instead of heat and hectic
The cable car took us from busy Bolzano to the sunny high plateau of Ritten in twelve minutes, and we immediately find ourselves in a different world. To the left of the terminus is the hamlet of Maria Himmelfahrt. It’s really called that, and you actually feel like you’ve been transported to a paradisiacal area when you stroll through the flower meadows, past the bizarre and fantastic earth pyramids that grow high out of the earth like magic mushrooms, while taking in the wide view enjoys the Dolomites on the horizon. It is said that holidays were invented here, or at least a very special form of holiday fun: the culture of summer vacation has been cultivated in this idyllic place for more than 400 years. Every year from June 29th, Peter and Paul Day, the wealthy citizens of Bolzano retreated to the sunny but cool high plateau for 72 days to escape the heat and hustle and bustle of their city and to enjoy target shooting and other activities to relax with amusements.
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