Organic Bruneck/Brunico

On a long-distance bike tour like the one from Munich to Venice the challenge is not to know when you will arrive where. So upfront research on the net isn't an option unless you really have lots of time to spend on preparing the tour. So when we arrived in Bruneck at lunch time my backlist contained only one item, a small organic supermarket which not only was closed for the traditional Italian lunch break, but had closed for good a few monthes ago, in June 2022.

Luckily we found a branch of the South-Tyrolean delicatessen Pur Südtirol selling regional produce, a majority of certified organic quality. Everything is presented in style, there's an organic bakery till and one for cheese and (not organic) cold cuts. A few gravity bins allow customers to refill dry food (not organic as far as I could see); the fresh fruits and greens were all organic.

There's a nice self-serviced cafe corner offering a daily changing seasonal vegetarian main course. Since we wanted to have our bikes within eye-sight outdoor seating was the only option. Unfortunately all these tables were taken, so we decided to proceed our tour through the Puster valley and take with us rolls, which the friendly service staff filled with cheese and some greens while I was waiting.

Across the main street, Graben, a health-food shop, the Reformhaus Egger can help to complete supplies.

• Pur Südtirol, Herzog-Sigmund-Str./Via Duca Sigismondo 4/a, Mon–Fri(Sat) 7:30–19:15(14)
• Reformhaus Egger, Am Graben/Via Bastioni 26, Mon–Sat 8:45–12:30,Mon–Fri(Sat) 15–19(18)

More to try

• EMbio, Althingstr./Via Althing 41/a, Mon–Fri(Sat) 9–12:30(12),Mon–Fri 15–18

Closed

• Bio-Logisch, St. Lorenzner Str. 6/b

Organic Sterzing/Vipiteno

The nice little town of Sterzing is not only a train stop on the reliable European train route from Munich over the Alpes to the Veneto, operated by Austrian ÖBB; it's also a destination on the bike route München–Venezia. Unfortunately we arrived there on a Sunday when shops are closed. We did not find a place to have an organic lunch (locals, please help!), so this post is based on up-front research on the net, window shopping on destination and more research on the net afterwards.

On a weekday I would have loved to have a glass of milk at the milk shops of the local organic dairy Milchhof Sterzing. There's one on the premises of the dairy and a second one in the new town of Sterzing, the Neustadt.

A few steps further down the pedestrian street there's a wonderfully looking delicatessen shop, Gut&Gerne, offering a good deal organic products from the region. The shop is a venture of the family-run Hotel Lilie nearby and you can buy convenience food from the hotel kitchen and bakery. The hotel itself does not advertise organic breakfast, but they have dairy products of the Milchhof Sterzing, and given the Gut&Gerne shop window you will likely find more organically or at least more sustainably produced agricultural products from the region. To which extend the hotel restaurant and cafe use organic products I cannot say.

• Milchhof Sterzing factory outlet, Jaufenstr. 108, Mon–Fri(Sat) 8–18(12)
• Milchhof Sterzing dairy shop, Neustadt 18, Mon–Sat 8–12:30,Mon–Wed,Fri,Sat 15:30–18
• Gut&Gerne, Neustadt 32 A, Mon–Sat 9–17
• Hotel Lilie, Neustadt 49, hotel restaurant daily 11–21:30

Germany: Bremen, Worpswede and Lilienthal

The hanseatic city of Bremen is one of Germany's most bicycle-friendly cities and a destination of several short and long distance well-kept bicycle routes, among others the Weser bicycle route. Given the shortage of bicycle space in rapid long distance Deutsche Bahn trains it may however be challenging to get here by train with bikes, especially on short notice and during high traffic periods on summer weekends or school and public holidays.

The city has been climate- and environmentally (as well as socially) conscious for a much longer time than most other major German cities, and so you'll find probably many more interesting places than I am able to list here.

• Coffee and tea houses in Bremen and Worpswede
• Restaurants and fast food eateries
• (American) bars
• Ice-cream
• Package-free and zero-waste shopping in Bremen and adjacent Lilienthal
• Convenience stores open on Sun- and holidays

Public transport and bike rental

Bremen has a generally well working tram and bus system for which tickets are easily available from ticket machines inside the vehicles. As these ticket machines accept cash you can travel without additional carbon dioxide emissions generated by data tracking apps.

People in Bremen use the bike a lot: With many bicycle lanes, bicycle-first streets paved in red and virtually no hills it's convenient to ride a bike even with a Dutch bike and when it's raining. Compared with other major (German) cities most car drivers are used to bike trafffic and behave respectfully.

To rent a bike there are several app-based schemes. I prefer the friendly service of local bike shops which not only spares the climate for extra carbon dioxide emissions by privacy-invading data tracking, but allows for chats with interesting local people.

Unfortunately, the most convenient of them, the ADFC-Radstation at the main train station closed in 2021 in consequence of the covid-19 pandemics. So you have to invest half an hour or so to find one of the reliable bike shops with rental service during their opening hours. You may prefer to ring in upfront to make sure a bike is waiting for you (especially for the weekend). Prices in 2022/23 were about 12 EUR per day for a 3 to 6 gears city bike.

Most of the shops I am aware of are in the bicycle-friendly neighbourhood of Neustadt: The Fahrradstation Neustadt (which I have not used yet) and Fahrrad Witt a few steps from the tram stop "Pappelstraße" are both located south-west of the river Weser. The Witt bike shop is very convenient as you can return the bike out of their opening hours: Lock it to a chain in front of the shop, put the key into the letter box and send a text to the shop. The number also works as a help line in case the bike is broken, even outside the opening hours.

While the Witt bike only has three gears, the third Neustadt-based bicycle rental, 1-2-3 Rad at Buntentorsteinweg, rents out six-gear bikes with a hub dynamo at the same price plus a 30 EUR deposit which you'll get back when you return the bike. They also offer bikes for kids and youth (as well as tandems) and run a rikshaw service.

From the main train station tram no. 6 to Arsten will take you there. A little German is helpful in order to communicate with the friendly (but nerdy) mechanics. Do not hesitate to return with the bike when you find it misbehaving after the first few hundred meters. As long as you stay polite they will see whether they immediately can fix the problem or hand you a new bike. I also love the place for their hand-written (and stamped) receipts.

Renting bicycles for kids isn't easy, but with the Bartels bike shop in Oberneuland there's a second bike shop which is happy to help you if you let them know in advance. They also rent out child carriages (your kid should be able to sit, though). The downside is that this shop is quite a way from the city.

• Witt, Langemarckstr. 232, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 15–18 (summer-closed until Sep 4th, 2023)
• Fahrradstation Neustadt, Lahnstr. 33, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 14:30–18
• 1-2-3 Rad, Buntentorsteinweg 270, Mon,Tue,Thu,Fri(Wed,Sat) 10–18(13)
• Bartels, Oberneulander Landstr. 39, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 15–18

Closed

• ADFC-Radstation, Bahnhofspl. 14a

Organic Innsbruck: Eat and sleep

Innsbruck was a Saturday-to-Sunday overnight stop on the München-Venezia bike route, so this guide is far from complete! The only thing I can say for sure is that finding a (partially) organic place open on Sundays isn't easy.

My first impulse for an organic Sunday morning coffee was Cafe Crema in Welsergasse, a few steps from Landhausplatz, but the place turned out to be closed on Sundays. They promise to use a good deal organic produce from Tyrolean farmers. The coffee is only fairly traded, not organic. You may expect home-made cakes and a small range of savoury snacks for lunch or breakfast.

With option number two I was luckier: Although the Moustache looked like a decent (American-style) bar for an evening out and quite closed from its street address in the morning it turned out that the proper entrance was from Domsplatz, with pleasant outdoor seating. On Sunday mornings they do not serve the usual falafel and hummus sandwiches, but offer a generous brunch buffet, including very palatable hummus, pancakes and cake. About 90 percent of the food, so the promise goes, should be organic. Unfortunately I was too busy to try all the good stuff on the buffet that I completely forgot to scrutinise the bottles in the adjacent main room. But since the bar looked very well assorted I am sure the bartender will offer an organic gin or more if you ask.

More to try

I love food markets, and had I been in Innsbruck on a week- or Saturday I would have loved to have breakfast or lunch at the Klein und fein cafe in the Markthalle. Their lunch menu sports a mixture of international classics and Austrian dishes, predominantly vegetarian and made with local, often organic ingredients. They also offer ice-cream made from organic milk. Unfortunately the place is going to close mid of September, 2022. Whether their home-base shop is open to the public I cannot say, but it's certainly not a public restaurant.

As the original plan was to eat out late on Saturday night, I had the sister restaurant to the Salzburg burger grill Ludwig on my list. On Sundays the place is closed.

Next time I'll come to Innsbruck I hope to visit Oscar kocht, the vegetarian restaurant of a chef with Mexican roots promising to cook with predominantly organic ingredients. In summer 2022 Oscar wasn't here, and the female duo of Sloe was serving vegetarian/vegan dinner in this location, though not on Sundays.

When I checked for bicycle-friendly hotels on the München-Venezia bike route I found a hotel that I already had on my shortlist of overnight options offering at least partially organic breakfast: the Hotel Schwarzer Adler. Unfortunately our budget wasn't prepared for the price tag they called for that night (more than 300 EUR for the double room), and so the place remains unreviewed here. (The night was spent in a hostel offering organic tea and plant-based drink – not enough to qualify for this post.)

• Moustache, Herzog-Otto-Str. 8, Tue–Sat(Mon) 10(16)–2
• Crema, Maria-Theresien-Str. 49a, Tue–Sat 9–15
• Klein und fein inside Markthalle, Herzog-Siegmund-Ufer 1-3, breakfast/brunch: Mon–Fri(Sat) 9–11:30(13), shop/catering service: Maria-Theresien-Str. 42a, likely Mon–Fri 10–17
• Ludwig, Museumsstr. 3, Mon–Sat 11–22
• Oskar kocht/Sloe, Defreggerstr. 21, Tue–Sat 19–22
• Schwarzer Adler, Kaiserjägerstr. 2

Verona: Organic cafes, restaurants and eateries

Meat-lovers, be brave in Verona: All the places I found serving organic food are vegetarian or even vegan.

Piu Gusto Bio offers organic breakfast, health food for lunch as well as coffee and cake. They have outdoor seating on the main street, so unless the corona virus forces you to avoid closed rooms it's nicer to sit inside in the pleasantly decorated air-conditioned cafe. For lunch there are tasty sandwiches and daily changing plates with wholefood preparations inspired by the suggestions of the Havard School of Public Health for a healthy eating plate. Around 2pm choice was limited, but the broiled zucchini and fennel, the aubergine-bean mixture and the falafel-style bean balls were very nice and not as bland as health food often uses to be. All food is vegetarian, most of it vegan. While the coffee was nice (well, it's Italy after all), the chocolate cake was dry and crumbly.

More to try

Satisfied there was no need to proceed to the Ziga bar north of the Adige river, in the neighbourhood of Borgo Trento which promises a little more elaborated vegetarian, though only partially organic lunch and dinner, natural wines and organic beer.

For vegan sweets, coffee, a soup or savoury snack I have Dulcamara bakery cum self-service day cafe on my list, but my time between two trains did not allow for more than one lunch and an ice-cream.

For vegan organic pizza and pasta try La Laterna. Their signature dish is bigoli (thick "spaghetti-like" pasta) alla carbonara, and I'm curious how they interpret this rather un-vegan recipe in a vegan style.

• Piu Gusto Bio, Stradone Porta Palio, 36, Mon–Fri(Sat) 7:30(9)–15 until end of September, Sat closed in August
• Ziga, Via IV Novembre, 1/B, daily 11–15:30, 19–22:30
• Dulcamara, Via Francesco Berni 7, Tue–Sat 9–15
• La Lanterna, Piazzetta Portichetti 6, daily 12:30–15, 19–23

Probably closed

Some years ago I found the following pizzeria in Borgo Trento on the web, but all references to opening hours have been gone, so I suppose that the place shut down:

• Pizza al Tòcco, Via Giuseppe Cesare Abba, 13, formerly Tue–Sat 11–14, Tue–Sun 18–22