Bar Mocha Tarvisio

When I was thinking, what should I describe in this entry, the thought of my recent trip to Nassfeld has crossed my mind. And I also thought about Tarvisio (or Trbiž in Slovenian), which is a village, through which you pass on the way to Nassfeld. And since I have also stopped there for a coffee, I decided to share my experience about a bar where I had a drink, called Mocha Tarvisio. Why? Simply because it was nice, and I have been there before.

Where is Mocha Tarvisio situated?

Tarvisio is a small village, but do not be fooled, it is not that easy to navigate around once you are there. It has a lot of narrow streets, which all look the same, and if you get lost there, your best bet is to ask one of the people you will meet there. If you will try to find the way back by yourself, you will get even more lost. This happened to me once before, and I thought I will never find my car again. But people there seem to be very friendly and more than willing to help – the guy that I asked for directions, went with me all the way back to the parking space.

But I will still tell you the directions, and who knows, maybe you will get there without getting lost.

There is only one official parking space in Tarvisio, and you can park there for free.

For easier orientation, in front of it, there is a bush, trimmed in the letters 'Tarvisio'. Impossible to miss. Now, you have to look towards those letters. On the right side, there is a path, that leads up to another road, reserved only for cyclists and pedestrians.

Once you reach it, you have to cross it. On this side of the street, there are four narrow streets. You have to go to the second one from the left. In about fifty meters, the street divides into three even more narrow streets. This time, you have to go to the one on the right.

Now, at the end of the street, there is a staircase, which will take you up to the street, situated next to the square where you can find Bar Mocha Tarvisio. Now, if you think that the ost difficult part is behind you, you are wrong. Because the most difficult part is finding an entrance to the square.

I still have not figured the right way. The first time I went there, I found the place on the first try (maybe because I did not plan to go there). Then, the second time, I was sure that I am going the right way, and I ended up on the other side of the village.

So, you have to walk around the square and find the right street where you will enter it. Last time, on the way back, I tried to count and I figured out that, going in the counterclockwise direction, the right street that will take you to the square, is the fifth one.

Once you have reached the square, you just have to look for the watchtower. The Mocha Tarvisio is situated on its left side.

A little bit about Tarvisio

Tarvisio is a very interesting village, and you can find several sights here. Unfortunately, they are not interesting enough, at least not for me, to write a separate entry about each one of them, so I have decided to just mention them shortly in this entry. After all, you will pass by all of them on the way to Mocha Tarvisio. And after you have seen them all, you can finally have a drink there.

First of all, do not mix up Tarvisio with Treviso, because those are two separate towns. All they have in common is, that they are both situated in Italy, only a few hours apart from each other. But that is all. I have been to both, and I must say that I definitely prefer Tarvisio. The mountains that are surrounding it, make the scenery there just perfect.

So, I have two favourite places in Tarvisio (besides Mocha Tarvisio, of course), which are the main shopping street, and an open – air market.

The Tarvisio shopping street is not exactly what you might probably expect. Shopping streets are usually, at least from my experience, streets where you can buy souvenirs and cheap clothes and accessories. But the shopping street in Tarvisio is much different. Here, you will mostly find shops with designer clothes. What I like when I walk by, is how the clothes are exhibited – most of them are very futuristic. But what else could you expect from a famous brand? Besides shops that sell designer clothes, you will also find some stores with sports equipment in Tarvisio. There are a lot of ski slopes nearby, and those shops are somehow obvious to be where they are.

The second place is the famous open – air market. And believe me when I say that this place is like heaven. It stretches almost through the whole village, and here, you can find everything you want. From cheap clothes, handbags and other accessories, kitchen stuff, spices and even some fruits. It is almost like one of those markets in Arabic countries. And, the best for the end – the sellers are not pushy. Well, although they mostly do not speak any English, you can perfectly communicate with your hands. Or, since everybody owns a smartphone nowadays, you can use google translate or some other app.

So, that would be it about Tarvisio in general. Now, it is time to move to the more interesting topic and the main reason for writing this entry – the bar Mocha Tarvisio.

When is it open?

The bar Mocha Tarvisio has a very interesting timetable. The schedule is different almost every day, and I have no idea why they have chosen such a weird opening times. It seems like there is a time for siesta in between opening times of Mocha Tarvisio – see it for yourself:

• Monday: I think that we all hate Mondays, when the working (or studying) week starts again. And obviously, they also hate Mondays in Mocha Tarvisio, because the bar opens on Mondays at eleven o'clock only. But the happiness does not last long, because Mocha Tarvisio closes again at two o'clock in the afternoon, and it does not open again on that day.
• Tuesday: On Tuesdays, the bar opens at eight o'clock in the morning. There is a lunch break from twelve o'clock to one o'clock, and after that, the bar is open until ten o'clock.
• Wednesday: The bar opens only after lunch on Wednesdays – at two o'clock, and the opening time lasts until six o'clock in the evening.
• Thursday: Unfortunately bar Mocha Tarvisio is closed on Thursdays.
• Friday: On the happiest day of the week, Mocha Travisio opens at seven o'clock in the morning already, and it is open all day until ten o'clock in the evening.
• Saturday: on this day, the opening times are the most reasonable, and you can enjoy a drink there almost all day. On Saturdays, Mocha Tarvisio opens  at seven o'clock in the morning, and it closes for a mid – day break from noon to one o'clock. Then, it is open again until nine in the evening. Although I somehow expected that the bar will be open late on Saturday, I was obviously wrong.
• Sunday: Same as on Saturdays, Mocha Tarvisio opens at seven o'clock on Sundays. Then, it closes at eleven o'clock and reopens at three o'clock again. It almost seems like the staff is running some other business somewhere, right?

How does the bar Mocha Tarvisio look like?

First of all, Mocha Tarvisio could not possibly be situated in a better place than it is. As I have already mentioned, you will find it on a medieval – looking square. So, if you decide to sit outside, you will be rewarded with great views of it.

Same as basically every other bar, Mocha Tarvisio is also divided into two separated spaces. The first part is outside, and the second part is inside the bar.

The part outside is almost entirely covered with big umbrellas for shade, so you almost have the feeling that you are sitting inside. The only thing that bothered me when I was sitting outside, is that the tables are very close together and you have no privacy. I mean, you can not really have any privacy at the bar, but what I mean is, that you can hear what your neighbours are talking about.

But other than that disatvantage, I prefer to sit outside at this bar – after all, this is more than a great spot for people watching. Every piece of decoration at the bar is matching – orange, yellow and red. As you can see here, the table cloths and the chair pillows are all in orange colour. On each table, you will even find these flowers:

The interior part has an interesting decoration – you will find bottles of alcoholic drinks everywhere, both the famous and the less famous ones. But the dominating one is the Aperol Spritz. This bar is the place where I have tried this drink for the first time, and I really liked it.

What do they offer?

This is a bar, and nothing else. In some of the bars, you can also find some snacks, but sadly not here. In Mocha Tarvisio, all you can order are the drinks. But the choice really is enormous. On the menu, there are a lot of drinks I have never heard of before. They also offer several kinds of cocktails. Unfortunately, I did not try any because I was driving on that day, but next time I go there with friends, I will try some of them and let you know whether they are good or not.

They also have a good selection of teas. My favourites there were the following two:

1. Green tea with watermelon: I could describe this flavour as a bitter – sweet symphony. The green tea is always a bit bitter, and here, the watermelon adds some sweet taste for the perfect mix of flavours.
2. Fruit tea with mango and pumpkin: This tea is naturally sweet enough, so you do not have to add any sugar. I know that you should drink the real tea without adding any sugar, but sometimes, I just have to sweet t up a bit. But with this tea, I did not have to. The combination of the mango and the pumpkin might seem a bit unusual, but honestly, I only tasted the mango.

If you think that these two tastes sound a bit strange, let me tell you that in Mocha Tarvisio, you can find even more strange ones, such as white tea with chocolate (I am not sure that this one is any good) and mate tea with vanilla and spicy apple infusion (this one might be worth trying).

One portion of tea costs one Euro and a half, and if you keep in mind the enormous portion that you get, this price is more than low. The water kettle holds 400 ml (almost 0,5 l) and you can fill the cup three to four times.

The staff and the prices

I would describe both, the staff of this bar and the prices, with one simple word – friendly. I know I say that for almost every bar I go to, but in reality, I am a very demanding person, and the staff has to be of a very high standard to satisfy me.

The first thing that I liked, is the staff that speaks English. I do speak Italian, but when I was trying to order the coffee my way (I like a special kind of latte macchiato), and tried to say in Italian, the girl said that she speaks English and I can order in English if that's easier for me. So I did. And the coffee I got, was exactly as I have described I want it.

Keeping in mind the fact that this is possibly the best bar in the village, the prices there are not high at all, but they are still a little bit higher than in other bars that I know.

The surroundings

I know I have not put this category when describing other places, in any other entry, but here, with Mocha Tarvisio, I simply had to. The bar is situated on a square that looks very medieval, it is surrounded by stairs on one side, which reminds me of an amphiteatre.

There is also a tall wall, which was used as one of those city walls, to defend the place from enemies in the past. On this square, you will also find a church, and a watchtower, which served a similar purpose as the wall – to prevent the city against the enemies.

Nowadays, there is an art gallery at the ground floor of this watchtower, and the entry is free of charge. However, the prices of the pieces of art, exhibited inside, are very high. The art there is very beautiful, but sadly, I just cannot afford to buy such an expensive piece of art just to hang it on the wall in my living room.

For the end…

As I have already mentioned several times in this entry, Tarvisio is a small village, so I quite did not expect such a great bar there. Despite the confusing timetable, this is a great place to grab a coffee or a beer, and watch time go by. It might take you some time to find it, but it is totally worth the effort.