Europe Trip Part 2 - Italy: Lake Como and the Dolomites

Europe Trip Part 2:

Lake Como and the Dolomites!

Wednesday, 9.5.18, continued....

Domodossola

We emerged from the tunnel into Italy! The first village we came to (which was also a stop) was Domodossola. It was set in green rolling hills with cloud covered mountains in the distance. Lots of red tiled roofs!

Is it a castle? 

We then traveled down and along Lake Maggiore, noting islands and what looked like old castle buildings set on the cliffs or on their own island. It seemed to be one long village after another along the lake.

Lake Maggiore vistas

Into Milano Centrale train station. What a zoo of chaos! So many trains arriving and leaving and swarms of people rushing here and there. We had to get our Italy Rail Tickets authenticated and stamped. With a few questions, we discovered that meant a trip down two levels to the ticket office. Then wait in line to get a number to wait even longer in line at one of two windows for

For all the chaos...Milan Central was impressive!

customer service. Obviously the people in front of us had much more complicated problems because they took forever! We missed our first connection to Varenna standing in that line. Oh well, another train in an hour! When we finally got to the front of the line, Rick commented that the gal was probably relieved to have such a simple procedure: look at our passports and tickets, write down a few numbers, apply a big stamp, smile, and hand them back! This is the only time we will have to do this while in Italy. The rest of the time, just fill out the date on the ticket and get on the train!

Along Lake Como north of Lecco. 

On the 1:20 to Varenna. We had about a 45 min wait, watching the people race aroung the station. It was just 8 minutes before the train was to leave that the track number finally showed up on the big screen! We got to the track, almost got on the wrong car, but eventually found our seats 34 and 37 on Car 5. This was one of three train connections we make that are reserved seating.

Leaving Varenna by ferry.  

Enjoying the ferry ride. 

Only two stops enroute up to Varenna, the second half of the hour long trip right along the east side of Lake Como’s right ‘leg’. We arrive around 2:23 and follow the blue pedestrian path down to the ferry terminal! (Only we cheated where it went down steps and took the road – hauling the big suitcase on stairs is much harder on Rick than rolling it!) We are able to catch a ferry within 10 minutes, the only catch being Rick bought 2 tickets, but she only gave him one! Quick return to booth to get the second!

Rick on ferry. 

The 15 minute ferry ride across the lake felt wonderfully cool with breezes after a relatively warm day. Thankfully the last train was air conditioned!

View back of Varenna and its tower from ferry

First view of Bellagio.  

We check in to the Hotel du Lac, an old multi story building about 100 yards from the ferry landing (of course, nearly ALL the hotels are about that far away or closer – the lake is lined with them!) There are LOTS of people milling about! We are escorted to our third floor room with a tiny balcony overlooking the 10’ wide alley below (actually the usual width of the streets in most of Bellagio!) I can see the water from our flower vined landing! The balcony window lets in considerable noise from the lower levels, but when we closed it up at night it silenced everything! And we have AC, so we were comfortable with windows closed. The bathroom seemed quite modern with walk-in shower, huge showerhead up high, terrific pressure, a bidet as well as john, and raised round sink bowl. We have an ‘old-world’ key like in Zermatt, but it also has a second key that turns on the electricity in the room when we enter (and also seems to turn on the TV each time!) When we leave a soft glow valance light comes on when you take out the electric key. Interesting concept!

Our hotel is just to the right of this. 

I loved the little wooden boat here!

We venture out for a walk around Bellagio. What a charming, Old World quality, with lots of tourist traffic during this beautiful day. Most of the old town streets are less than 10’ across and paved with round cobblestones. It is NOT a town for walking in high heels! Some of the streets are closed to auto traffic during day hours, but we saw cars driving down at all times. People just had to get out of the way, standing along the shop walls.

This is the cobblestone 'street' under our balcony.  We are the top balcony
on the left hand side.  

Yes, this is a street with a name even!  

First stop was the Gelato shop for an ice cream! Then we poked around several other buildings, just scouting things out. We walked down to an old church that is now an artist studio. Back to a street food vendor to pick up two square pizzas (4 pieces each) and a rice/meat/sauce/cheese ball entre that looked somewhat like a squashed egg. It was very tasty and only E4! Dinner totalled E13 – a real bargain, especially since I couldn’t eat all my pizza!

A former church, now studio.  

Inside a little chapel at the town center. 

Waterfront dining and gardens - line the lake everywhere

Another, much cooler, cobblestone path.

View of lake from our balcony. 

I spent the rest of the evening up on the roof garden terrace downloading and editing pictures – good internet here! Later, Rick walked back up to the terrace with me before we turned in for the night – beautiful to see all the lights of the lake from up on high.

Layers of mountains frame the lake looking down the Como side. 

The ferries run well past dark.

Thursday, September 6

EXPLORING BELLAGIO

Rick enjoys a moment
on the balcony

Wow! What a marvelous night’s sleep! We both crashed hard and sound – the room was cool and quiet, the bedding not as heavy as in Switzerland, hence we didn’t get so hot during the night. Refreshed!

The forecast for today was rain, but for now the sun is shining and it is

Our breakfast table overlooking the lake

beautiful (and WARM) outside. We spend a relaxing morning and don’t head down to the breakfast room on level 1 until 9:30am. What a spread! Eggs, bacon, fruit including kiwi, melons, pineapple, bananas, juices. Sweet rolls, crouissants, breads, coffeecakes. We fill our plates and find a seat out on the little balcony terrace overlooking the lake. (Is this how the wealthy of the world live all the time?) Unbelievable.

Rick took this picture of one of the lizards. 

Archway along the
path to La Punta

We don’t really have high aspirations for today other than to relax and wander. Our wanderings take us out to the Punta Restaurant at the tip of Bellagio. (If you look at a map of Lake Como – it appears to be a body and two legs. The foot on the west is the town of Como, on the east is Lecco. Bellagio is located in the ‘crotch’ of the body, on the point where the two legs meet. We sat and just gazed at the hill towns from the point, watching tiny little lizards scurry around. I walked down to the waterline and put my feet into the waters of Lake Como. It was relatively warm!

Varenna is framed in the crossbars of this fishing boat advertising the restaurant. 

Overlooking Lake Como from El Punta - the point on the tip! 

Lake Como - Menaggio

I walked down to this rocky beach and stuck my feet into the warm waters of Lake Como! 

One of the furry palm trees. 

Old set of stairs heading
up from the path. 

Flowers by the restaurant La Punta

Inside Chiesa San Giacomo

Back up the walkway from the point which is walled with century old rock which conceal large estates. Tiny gated entries for cars. Palm trees with fuzzy bark. Lots of flowers. Back to the church square where we enter Chiesa San Giacomo – the local Catholic Cathedral. Wow. Beautiful inside. Ornate, but old basaltic stone walls. Murals and a central altar of gold.

Altar area of church

Outside the church in the courtyard a street musician was playing – the same song we heard from the balcony Zermatt: “Blowin’ in the Wind”! We wandered back up the narrow path and found the olive wood shop where I had spied a little nativity to purchase (affordable and packable!) Then it’s time for our Gelato break! (Otherwise known as lunchtime!)

Mural above altar.

From the church courtyard.

An example of how narrow the cobbled streets are - and this
is a small Fiat size car!  

Our search for a bathroom and a post office led us back to the hotel where we take a mid afternoon break before venturing out again!  I found myself again on the rooftop terrace (in the shade) writing this blog.  

Terrace picture toward the church.

Around 4:30 we headed downstairs to the hotel restaurant...we have a 10% discount there, so figure we might as well use it! I told Rick I wanted to actually eat a nice meal out tonight! Enough eating in the room when there are so many beautiful terrace dining places available. We order wine and Rick has a fettucini dish with balls of mozarella cheese, tomato sauce, and arugula lettuce. I ordered a roast beef baquette, which came with melted cheese and tomato. Both were good!! Fun people watching – both in the restaurants and as folks came off the boats.

Oh...we stopped at the ‘Tobacco Shop’ before dinner to purchase stamps. I had read that it only cost 80E to mail a letter to the US. So much for that! I paid 2.50E for each stamp. Guess everyone will only get one letter from us!! Ouch!

Roof garden terrace, mountains, and lake. 

Arancinos!

From there we found another tiny alley, much less crowded or busy than the one under our balcony, and hike up to the Street Diner Shop again. We get some ‘lunch’ for the road tomorrow. I wanted to try the Rustica, a spinach and cheese strudle shaped treat, and Rick wanted another of the rice dish, which I can now accurately call an Arancino!

With our meal safely tucked in hand, we head down through a beautiful garden area with towering trees and bushes, plus benches with hedge outlines, to the promenade along the lake. The promenade is lined with oleanders, impatients, roses, and a couple other flowers I couldn’t identify. Rumbles of thunders could be heard, but other than a few drops of rain that fell while we were in the restaurant, the forecast heavy rain for today never materialized (or hasn’t yet!)

The hedge encased benches in the garden area.

An old estate in renovation along the promenade. 

Impatiens lined the promenade - Bellagio in background. 

In the middle of the promenade

Our Hotel du Lac  

Back to the hotel to rest, write, edit, and pack up for an early departure tomorrow….we are bound for the Dolomites and the chance to actually stay in one place for 6 whole days!!! 

Addendum....we went up to the roof terrace for about a half hour to watch the lightning storm off to the east.  More sheet lightning than bolts, and we never could HEAR much of the thunder.  But the east wind was picking up.  Still negligible rainfall!  

Addendum No. 2....

For those of you trying to read this online, I don't know what is happening with the text font color.  I have tried to edit it multiple times back to the white lettering, but it is bouncing all around now between fonts and colors!  Argh!!  Be patient! 

Friday, September 7

ULTIMATE Day of Travel

Bellagio to Corvara

Leaving Bellagio - Our Hotel du Lac is to the right of the
bell tower.  

What a long day of travel….by every means but bus or plane! We left Bellagio, catching the 7:45 ferry instead of the 8:05, which meant we took an ‘additional cruise’ over to Menaggio, the little village on the west side of the ‘crotch’. A light rain was misting, but the boat was NOT crowded! We got to Veranna just a few minutes ahead of the direct ferry and immediately highballed it up the hill to the train station! Not too bad a walk, although I was breathing hard when we got there….with 10 minutes to spare!

A stop in Menaggio cause we took the earlier ferry!  It has
a road that links over to Lugano in Switzerland.

We caught the 8:37 train headed down to Milan Central – it was putting us in Milan a little sooner than we wanted, but worried that the 10:27 would push our reserved connection for Verona. (And the 9:08 train wasn’t running!) Smooth ride down and we are back in the pandemonium of Milan Central. Not any better in the morning

A crowded and busy MacDonalds in Milan!

hours. Rick tried in two places to switch our tickets to an earlier train out of Milan, but no luck, so we parked ourselves on a seat in the McDonald’s, ordered a couple of drinks, and watched the people for an hour!

This was my iced coffee!

It took 15 minutes just to get the order of a coffee milkshake and what was to be an iced coffee. Well, my iced coffee came in a little glass vial and was ¾ foam! Very strong! Eventually we just combined the two and much better!! People of every nationality, race, dress, proportion, came through the doors (we were sitting right next to the entry) We watched kids play with their Happy Meal toys and stressed moms. Young folks and travelers much older than us! Some dressed in raggy jeans, others in the height of Italian fashion. But the McDonalds seemed to be one of the few places for folks to sit down and wait!

Main central area of Milan Train station

Just keep your eyes peeled on the bottom one, EO37 to Verona!

After an hour we went upstairs and watched the big reader board as our train to Verona gradually moved up the list. Again, however, it wasn’t until less than 10 minutes to departure that the Rail Line number finally posted and everyone waiting rushed to that platform! Long wait as the full train had to debark first and then everyone pushes to get on and find their seats with masses of luggage. I can’t believe how big some of the suitcases are that folks are lugging around!

It is very warm on the train – condusive to a brief afternoon nap – especially since the views leaving are of a rather dirty, very old, not at all beautiful side of the city. I don’t think Milan has left us with any great desire to visit.

Between Milan and Verona we passed olive groves and vineyards! At Brescia I looked up and saw huge chunks of hillsides carved out of the mountains north. It got me to thinking that I had heard of Brescia marble, and sure enough, a little Google search, and I discover the town (of nearly 200,000!) is a major quarry source.

Revereto Station...where we were kicked off the train! 

We arrive in Verona around 1:30, helping a young lady debark who had a huge backpack, a bike, AND a suitcase heavier than the one Rick was toting. We have no idea how in the world she was maneuvering with all that! She also was heading to Bolzano. We were due to find a regional train to Bolzano that leaves at 1:50. Well, we got on one leaving at 1:47 that said Bolzano! Rick was eyeballing at the door to see if the gal needed help. Suddenly he came back, found me, and said, “We have to get off! Wrong train!” Well, by the time I went back to get my suitcase mid-car where I had found a spot to put it, the doors were closing and the train was moving. The conductor said, “Stay here at door. Get off at next station.” Well, the next station was 40 minutes away! This was a high speed, reservation only, train! It moved right along! So we stood and held on!

We debarked at Rivereto – a lonely platform in a beautiful valley! Our regional train would arrive in about 15 minutes!

I did capture a photo of an amazing castle/fortress
on the hill! 

The valley heading up to Bolzano was filled with vineyards and orchards. The lush vegetation crept right up every plantable niche in the hillsides. We saw ancient churches set high above the towns on rocky knolls. It was hard to get pictures.

We wind on up, catching glimpses more and more or massive rock walls, some waterfalls, rivers, and more grapes and apples! We stop at every little town along the way, finally pulling into the main station in Bolzano, near the town square plaza, around 4:30. It takes a bit of wandering to find where we can catch a taxi, but we locate one that will take us to the airport for 15e. We discover the train went right past, but couldn’t stop there!

Several folks in front of us at the Hertz rental spot in the airport (very small airport) so it is a good wait for our turn at the end of the line! But he has our reservation, and after filling out lots of paperwork, we are lined up with a black FIAT SUV (they were out of little cars, but this is still relatively small) I spend the time trying to connect and download a map to take us to Corvara (or more importantly, to get us OUT of Bolzano, which is a much bigger town than I expected at 100,000.) Surprise! Our car is outfitted with GPS unit and we figure out how to program in the Miramonti Hotel address and push start trip! It is wonderful!!! AND she talks in English!

Crazy getting out of town, but eventually we are on the narrow roads that will lead us to Corvara. We pass Castlerotto and wind up SS242 toward the high country, passes, and incredibly winding roads with hairpin turns everywhere! Little villages, towns, green pastures – almost a Bavarian look in places, which makes sense since this was part of Austria and Germany at one point.

Our route takes us over Gardena Pass at 7008’. The rocky spires and walls of the Dolomites surround us, even though we can’t see some of the tops. The views are spectacular to say the least. This is prime ski country, and I later learn the Men’s World Cup Alpine events are held here each year. There are ski lifts everywhere.

We drop down from the pass and into the town of Corvara. It is 7pm and the drive has taken just about the hour and a half they figured for the 55 miles (about 77 km). We find the MiraMonti up on the hill and check in. The young gal at the desk welcomes us by name! She had been waiting for us apparently!

We find our Room 313 – right by the elevator and stairs, but with a balcony overlooking the pass coming down from the south (name). If I walk to the far end of the balcony, we can see the edge of the mountain ridge. The room is definitely a suite (not the 2 bd economy I was

expecting!) It could sleep 6, with two convertible couches in the sitting area, two full baths, and a little kitchenette, in addition to the bedroom. Wow. Not sure I know how to act here. What is proper?

We ask at the desk for directions to a market and are directed down the hill and to the Despar – definitely a small market. But we are able to grab some spaghetti noodles, sauce, and two bottles of wine – his and hers. That will do us for tonight!

Rick makes dinner and we dine at the fashionable European hour of 8:30pm. Time to relax! Internet wifi is not great for uploading pictures, so I will get far behind on my postings, but will keep up with the editing and journaling. Good night!

Saturday, September 8

Exploring Corvara

Laundry and Relaxation!

We check out the breakfast buffet...pretty classy
dining with cloth covered chairs and all! 

We have dedicated t
oday to relaxation, laundry, and cruising the town of Corvara. The weather is forecast for some rain later on, but the morning dawns with big fat puffy clouds and blue skies!

Our first big surprise of the day is the ‘elegance’ of our breakfast room. We travel up a winding wood staircase into a room which tablecloths, chair covers, and an attendant dressed in black and white suit. Escorted to a table and brought our coffee. The food spread was basically the same: cheese and meats, fresh fruits and canned fruits, eggs, bacon, and an abundance of breads and pastries. We were the only ones there for a little while which made me wonder if we were in the right place! Then several other couples came in – all speaking some other language! There seems to be an older group here that was preparing to leave.

Laundry time!

After breakfast we explored the hotel, finding the gym/weight room downstairs, the saunas, etc. There is a huge lounge off the lobby with big comfy striped chairs and cardtables for games.

But...back up to the room, not for games, but LAUNDRY!! I am wearing one of Rick’s shirts cause all my short sleeved ones are dirty! We wash in the kitchenette sink and rinse in the bathroom, hanging everything out to dry in bathrooms, balconies, you name it!

From the balcony of our room, we look south toward Compolongo Pass and Arraba. You can see the cars winding down the hairpin curves toward the top. Ski lifts take off on either side. Corvora itself fills the lower portion of the road.

Our Miramonti Hotel and Sassongher right behind it. 

Around 10 we are off to explore Corvara – population around 1300 full timers. There are lift rising to the heights in every direction. Apparently nearby Cortina was the site of the 1956 Winter Olympics and much of the general area was built up for that. We did see one Hotel on the main square that had Olympic symbols on it.

Gardena Pass

The Sassongher is the pinnacle behind the Miramonti (which means mountain view). While it is very steep and singular on this side, to the north it extends in a wide plateau of rock in what is a National Park and World Heritage site. In fact, all of the Dolomites are World Heritage – there is no where else in the world with mountains of this nature.

As we walk up the main drag, we can see Gardena Pass that we came down yesterday – rock walls on either side with a sea of green in between! The little village of Colfosco sits in a pocket about 1000’ above Corvara. We drove through it yesterday in arriving.

Sassongher

We find the Information Center and pick up a 7E map of hiking trails and topography. AND it is one of the few maps we have found that is actually oriented with N at the top. I didn’t realize how confused I can get when maps are printed WRONG!!!

We found beautiful church towers (that rang 22 times at noon!), flowers everywhere, lots of people, motorcycles coming down the pass, and at one count 7 hang-gliders floating around on the air currents above the valley. We found a street market and Rick bought some socks! (He said less laundry this way!) We scoped out another market in detail, only to find when we went back 10 minutes later that it closed from noon to 3:30. Several shops did the same! Siesta time? Final stop for the day was the Pizzeria across from the Despar Market (which WAS open still). We ordered a 9.50€ pizza to go that was delicioso!

River through town and flowers in park

The Despar is part of a huge old hotel building that appears to have burned in recent years. Either they saved the market end, or it is new.

Rick with the colorful pizza box in front
of Fontello's Pizzeria

Back to the hotel to eat pizza (mushrooms, ham, artichoke!) and relax. I still can’t get any of my pictures to load. No high speed internet here. Alas! Alas!

Around 3:30pm we headed back uptown (still sunshine!) to hit the grocery store. By walking here twice today, I’ll get my steps in! And part of it is uphill! We bought enough for several ‘dinners’ while in town, or snacks, or something like that (plus two more bottles of wine!) I took a bunch of gorgeous photos of Sassonagher in the afternoon light – with NO clouds – but later discovered I had forgotten to put the memory card back into the camera after downloading earlier. I MUST stop doing that, but at least I will have other chances this week to capture the beauty.

Flowers in old cart up by Sassongher Hotel

I walked further up the road past the Miramonti while Rick went to the room and put all the groceries away. Saw some nice juxtaposition of old and new – a beautiful Sassonagher Hotel with a old, wood, window gone structure right in front. More pretty flowers! America should invest in more window boxes! I am getting all sorts of ideas for little flower islands around the property!

Looking past the flowers of our balcony down on the town of Corvara and Campanolongo Pass. 

HIKING TOMORROW!!!

SUNDAY, September 9

HIKE on the ALTA BADIA PLATEAU

Up the Col Alta Lift

Peaks in the early morning clouds. 

Another good sleep in prep for a day on the trail! We grab our breakfast, a little more prepared for what to expect. A group of cyclists was getting prepped by their guide for the day – speaking in English so we could follow along. Interesting. There are SO MANY cyclists here, a fact that was only confirmed more as the day went on!

By 8:30 we are headed down the hill to climb up just past our little grocery store to the Col Alta Lift. It will costs us 11.40€ each to ride the lower lift – which will save us about 1500’ in elevation climb! The Alta Badia plateau is a vast grassland crisscrossed with lifts coming up from all sides, hiking trails everywhere, and views toward Dolomite peaks in every direction. The weather is perfect… sunny with big fat clouds drifting around. Forecast is for a slight possibility of a few drops later in the day, but for now…..gorgeous!

Sassongher

We get off the gondola with the intent to take Trail 2A to the top of another lift and then find the Panorama Trail along the top. But in reality we follow 2A up a ridge and then drop way down until we weren’t sure just where it was taking us. We saw a way to the bottom of the next lift and a known trail to the top. Change of plans – mostly it meant we took a very long round about just to drop down from one lift to the start of the next!

This was actually a reflection in a hut
window with the flowers in front. 

Only we didn’t take that lift – we hiked up a wide trail through the trees to a ridge that climbed up with views in both directions. We can see four main mountain masses: The Sonnagher and Ciampac to the north, the Stella and Piz Boa to the west, the Marmolada (10,965’) to the south, and the Fanes Plateau to the east. The Marmolada is the highest in the Dolomites and also contains the largest glacier which we can easily see.

We encountered more flowers than I expected this late in the season, including clumps of gentians closer in appearance to those we get up in the Elkhorns. Rick was happy! Fireweed, cinquefoil, clover, thistles, and more.

The vast fields of what are probably ski runs in the winter look like a huge golf course in the summer. It appears they actually mow much of it (in fact, we saw somewhat mowing with a small mower on a steep hill). We found starting gates for ski races, chair lifts, gondolas, and more. It is mind boggling – I can only imagine skiers being totally lost in the midst of it all! Fortunately many of the lifts operate in the summer as well for the hiking enthusiasts, as well as mountain bikers. I would guess that 50 cyclists or more passed us during the course of the day.

Rick gazes out over the vast scene. 

We hiked past the top of the Bioch Lift and about halfway to Prolongia to where there was a panoramic view in all directions and display boards identifying everything – including snowy peaks we could see in the far distance way north, perhaps into Austria. Figuring we couldn’t use up all our hiking energy on day 1, we turned around at that point and headed back for the hut/restaurant at Piz Altara. Rick had seen a sign for gelato there and I was getting hungry! Lots of fun sculptures dotted the area around the ‘refugio’, including a giant one of some mountain man? Also a giant apple and apple core, plus the worm. Two enclosures with rabbits and chickens, plus a playground for the kids. I had a scoop of chocolate gelato and Rick tried poppyseed gelato along with a hazelnut torte. A busy place!

Miramonti Glacier

We dropped down another trail, but then cut cross country across a meadow to the ridge trail to return with the short but steep uphill climb to the lift to take us back down. A great day … pictures will have to be worth a thousand words in this case!

From on top of the plateau toward Gardena Pass. 

Selfie from the Panoramic vista point up on top. 

Peak of the Fanes group. 

Descending back down to Corvara. 

Church of St. Catherine in Corvara. 

After getting off the lift, we headed uphill a short distance as I wanted to see the OLD church of St. Catherine. I had seen the steeple from the balcony of the Miramonti! This church dates back to the 1300’s. The cemetery surrounding it was gorgeous with ornate crosses, headstones, and FLOWERS! An abundance of flowers!

Flowers near St. Catherine and Sassongher

Stopped at the ATM outside the bank to pick up a few more € Euros and then back to the Miramonti. Dinner of ricotta and spinach tortellini with sauce and bread. Wine and a piece of chocolate! Showers!! It took me an hour plus to edit my pictures – I had to download over 200 from my camera, not counting what Rick took! I still can’t process pictures from the laptop, but have been able to post a few from the phone.

We spent a little time exploring possibilities for tomorrow. I think we will head north in the car toward Badia and visit Santa Croce church, high above the town at the base of the Fanes. We could see the white dot of the church from the Alta Badia earlier today. The church is a pilgrimage site, dating back to the 1400’s. We can take a lift part way, hike the rest and then do a loop back to the lift. Should be interesting.  

Monday, September 10

SANTA CROCE CHURCH and RIFUGIO HIKE

Badia, Italy

Another beautiful morning in something close to paradise! We breakfast (another new attendant and I ended up with a teeny little coffee expresso (I think) and we learned to order ‘American Coffee – Black’! Also found out why they give us a receipt everyday! No. We aren’t being charged for breakfast, but some folks are because it isn’t included in their reservation!)

St. Leonardo Church where the annual procession to take
the statue of Jesus back up to Santa Croce begins. 

We are taking the car out today!! Drove a whole 10-12 kilometers north out of Corvara toward the villages of La Villa, then Badia, then Pedraces. With a few wrong turns we managed a parking space at the Santa Croce Lift station and purchased our 11.80€ round trip tickets for the longer bottom lift. We plan to hike the top part of the trail up to the church and rifugio.

I like this chair lift – it is open without scratched plastic windows, so you can breathe and you can see to take pictures! We passed over lush green hillsides dotted with farms and houses, barns and hay fields. They seem to hay on a

These Cfields are being hayed by hand! 

small scale, as we saw folks out turning the hay with forks. Wow. We went over the top of a VERY old house with its cracked plaster walls and ancient windows. Next to it was a towering old tree and a little fenced in vegetable garden. Beautiful.

Classic old homestead.

Bear Chainsaw sculpture

The Fanes massive of dolomite rock is in the shadows during the morning, but by the time we arrive at the church it should be showing off its colors of white, orange, and yellow as the sun begins to strike the surface of the stone. The wall of rock behind the church is a sheer cliff, but once on top it is a huge sloping plateau to the east towards Cortina.

At the top of the lift we find ourselves in the Summer Playground! What a great place for families to come and spend the day with their kids. All sorts of activities, petting zoos, disc golf, two restaurants, and fun things for children. The trail we opted to take began with a series of chain saw cut animals, complete with rubber stamps and explanations for kids to log their ‘sightings’. Fun!

The trail was easy to follow. Italy marks its trails with red-white-red paint on trees and rocks, occasionally adding the trail number itself with black. We wound down through the chain saw animals, crossed a creek, and then traversed the hillside, passing a small lake (which we will later visit enroute back!) The forest was covered with thick grass, spruce, larch, and pine trees. The fungi are really starting to emerge, and still a good smattering of wildflowers, altho we didn’t see any fireweed today.

Rick and the donkey

Lush green grass covered the forest floor. 

We came to a local farm house that is also a ‘hut’ offering food and rest – set on a hillside of grass. We could hear the melody of the cow bells, and a couple of donkeys came over to enjoy the grass Rick handed them. What a spectacular setting overlooking the valley and the Sossongher pillar and plateau beyond.

One of the pilgrimmage stops

From the farm it was an uphill climb to the church, but gradual and steady over a mile and a half (about). We had noted on the map that the trail had litte crosses next to its dotted red line. The meaning became obvious when we started passing Stations of the Cross signage attached to trees along the trail. Not extensive or ornate, just the numbers. This is a pilgramage trail of sorts.

Water supply??

At one point we came out of the thick trees to a large drainage or washout (spring time?). We saw what appeared to be a small bridge with a wood door below up the hill from us. Curious, we walked up and discovered a huge wooden door at least 10’ tall! Water was being piped out, so I would guess this was the water supply for either the church/rifugio or somewhere further down the slope.

We could hear the church bells ringing out every 15 minutes, letting us know we were getting closer and closer!

Rick approaches Santa Croce

On a beautiful day, the church was a beehive of activity. Cyclists, hikers, families, elderly, and young. But when you entered the church itself, a sense of calm and respectful quiet reigned. The original stone floor with its massive rocks provided a solid foundation to the restored walls, murals, and intricate ceiling arches. While there was considerable frill and gold, etc. it was much simpler in nature than the Bellagio church. I lit my first ever candle in a Catholic church today in honor of Katy Branston (her music showed up as my Facebook memory today so she was on my mind) Actually it was an electronic candle, but it was beautiful just the same!

Inside Santa Croce  

A new more modern altar in honor of its 500th birthday in 1984. 

A little history on the church from the website:

Based on existing documentation the little church was consecrated on May 18, 1484 by the Bishop Konrad of Bressanone. Later in the mid eighteenth century it was restored and enlarged and the bell tower was built. The adjacent house was built in 1718 and served as a dwelling for the sacristan and as a refuge and resting place for the numerous pilgrims that came from afar.In 1786 under the rule of Emperor Joseph II of Austria, the church was deconsecrated and then closed and eventually used by shepherds as a sheepfold. In the meantime the local people always had at heart the sanctuary and Pietro Paolo Irsara, a farmer from Badia, took on the task of renewing the church and managed to reopen it. In 1839 the decree to reopen the church was finally issued and the following year on June 15, with the local people’s huge participation and enthusiasm, the sacred image of Christ carrying the Cross was brought to the sanctuary from the St. Leonardo church where it had been for 54 years.The tradition still continues today, and every year in early June the statue of Jesus carrying the cross is brought from St. Leonardo to the Santa Croce Sanctuary with a solemn procession, and it stays there until October. During the summer two important religiou celebrations take place: the St. Anna feast on July 26 and the St. Bartholomew feast on Aug. 24.

In 1982/83, the church was once again restored with the help of the local people and the Tavella painters. On the 17th of June 1984 the 500-year jubilee was celebrated.S. Giuseppe Freinademetz di Oies – Badia celebrated the Holy Mass numerous times at the S. Croce Church.During the Holy Year in 2000, the Sanctuary was nominated a Jubilee Church. For several years now, the Church remains open during the winter season for the many tourists and pilgrims.

Kaiserschmarren! 

Leaving the chapel, we just enjoyed sitting up on the hillside bench, drinking in the vistas and the sunshine. Eventually we found our way down to the rifugio restaurant and table 11 next to the barn (and chicken pen). We ordered their signature entree – the Kaiserschmarren – an egg crepe pancake dish served with blueberry jam. A sweet treat which we shared!!

Santa Croce Chapel, Autumn Crocus, and Fanes. 

Flowers above our
table by the chicken coop

I enjoyed admiring the hanging baskets, window boxes, and the abundance of flowers everywhere! I was also thrilled to find a whole display identifying wildflowers in the Alta Badia! It didn’t help with some of what we have seen, but I figured out the crocus like light violet plant growing everywhere! Colchicum Autumnale! Otherwise known as Autumn Crocus! I told Rick it looked like a crocus! Now to figure out the funny straw flowers!

Lee Lake

We decided to head back the way we came rather than just hike straight down the trail running under the lift. A little longer, but much more scenic and quiet. We took the time on the return to visit Lee Lake and it did indeed have an impressive reflection of the Fanes. But such a big reflection it was hard to capture with the camera, even on wide angle!

Ready to head back down the lift

Back up the hill to the lift area and a spectacular ride down overlooking the villages of the valley and across to the Sassongher plateau.

Short drive back to Miramonti. Relaxing evening – enjoyed yogurt and muesli for dinner! (And wine!)

Look what we saw today! 

TUESDAY, September 11

DRIVE through the DOLOMITES

88 km – Compolongo and Falzerego Passes

Today was a day to drive the Dolomites. We have a car, so we need to explore a little more of the area. After another good breakfast, we once again left our key at the desk, and took off in our Fiat SUV. (The European hotel keys have been an education! They are heavy and huge – old fashion kind – so the policy is to leave them at the desk when you leave the hotel. No weight in your pocket, but also a way in which the hotel knows if you are ‘out’ or not. Probably a nice safe guard if out hiking in remote areas!)

Sheep grazing the hillside by the curves.  

We head south of Corvara toward the village of Arabba – up Compolongo Pass, the series of switchbacks we can see from our hotel window winding back and forth up from Corvara. We can’t see the top of the pass, but we sure can see the traffic coming down from it! We pass a huge herd of sheep this morning, who appear to be grazing away at the grass between two switchbacks – one man herding them all.

Looking back at Sassongher and Corvara from Campolongo Pass.

Today is a good test of Rick’s mountain driving skills. He wishes at times he had a little smaller car and more responsive, but relatively speaking, this IS small for an SUV (at least by American standards). Also Rick suspects it is just a 4 cylinder. On the way back he commented to me, “I will never bemoan Dooley Mountain’s switchbacks again!” To make it even more challenging, there is virtually no berm on either side, the road is two lane narrow, and traffic includes tour buses, motorcycles, and tons of cyclists either peddling slowly UP or racing DOWN! You have to get good at darting around the bicycles whenever you get a chance, and you certainly don’t cut a lot of corners because most of them are blind switchbacks!

Arabba

Hillside village as we head to Falzerego Pass. 

But the views! Ah, the views from those high mountain roads are spectacular! From Compalongo Pass we drop down into Arabba, nestled in a hollow of valley between the Stella Mountains (Piz Boe) and Marmolada (the one with the glacier). Then down along the contour of the ridge (somewhat) while the valley dropped steeply below us, tiny villages tucked into the hillside. We went through one town where the buildings towered above the tiny road (it felt like the alleys of Bellagio!)

Then we climbed again to the top of Falzerego Pass at 2105meters (6900’). Wow! Dolomite Peaks surrounded us, with the Marmolada still visible in the distance. We looked around briefly and then continued on SS48 down to the town of Cortina d’Ampezzo, the site of the 1956 Olympics. Our thought was to park and walk around a bit and grab a bite to eat.

Avalanche tunnel near top of pass.

View back at tunnel and tip of Marmolada Glacier

Falzarego Pass and Sas de Stria

While the vistas dropping down into Cortina were awesome, the town itself was filled with traffic, road repairs, and confusing. We wound through, somewhat feeling our way and seeking an info center, but finally both agreed, “Let’s get out of here!” We managed to find our way back out of town (programmed the GPS to return to the hotel!) and drove back up to Falzerego Pass. 

Cortina d' Ampezzo

Arch entry into Cortina

Heading back toward Falzerego Pass

Wood sculptures at
Pass

 Unfortunately, while we were gone, the pass was inundated with tour buses and people everywhere! Not quite as idyllic as earlier! The views were still great, however. We managed to find a parking space and went into the shop seeking a gelato. A bathroom break and a nativity later, we left! We could have stayed for gelato, but decided somewhere else would be more peaceful.

Chaep and Sas de Stria

Took a stroll to the top of a knoll and then over to the small chapel built at the pass before heading down the mountain towards San Cassiano.

Falzarego Pass area

The pass was a surprise! Much broader than expected and covered with loose rocks. The whole area was the site of military action during World War 1 and we passed a museum dedicated to such near the top of the pass. It is supposed to be a very good, yet humbling, reminder of the horrors of war. We found much less traffic on this side of the pass and were enjoying the views too much to consider stopping.

Dolomites

Gelato time!

On in to San Cassiano, which is basically in the valley on the other side of the Alta Badia plateau where we hiked on Sunday. We found a parking spot and walked up a cobbled street to the main pedestrian route through town. Immediately found the parish church dating back to 1782 in its present form. It had onion dome on the tower and an extensive, recently used, cemetery surrounding it on two sides.

San Cassiano Village Parish

We found a little cafe off the city center and ordered our gelato lunch. Rick had chocolate chip and blueberry, while I ordered chocolate and hazelnut. I find I can’t resist the chocolate because it is dark and rich and smooth.

Leaving San Cassiano, we passed through the village that Brenda noted she and Chris had stayed, then down to LaVilla and back over to Corvara. Total drive was about 88 km or about 55 miles. Half of that mileage was over to Cortina from Falzerego Pass and back again!

Quiet afternoon. Rick made up the rest of the spaghetti for dinner and I served up our chocolate piece with wine for dessert at 8. Took a short walk down to the bridge, but it was cold outside (of course, I still had on shorts, sandals, and no jacket!) Did see the setting sun on Fanes, however!

Sunset

Wednesday, September 12

Sassongher Hike

Peak and Pass!

Heading up to Colfosco - hayfields and farms! 

Wow. Just plain wow. This was an amazing day on the trails, beginning with deep blue clear skies. Our destination was trails just behind Corvara, out of the village of Colfosco, just 2 km up the road. We wound through the town (on narrow streets that felt like we were driving through someone’s hay barn!) to the bottom of the Col Pradat lift. We purchased our 10 Euro round trip tickets that would save us 1000’ of uphill and downhill.

Top of lift on left, Stella Mts and Piz Boe in back.  

We are in deep shadow of Sassongher at start of trip -
a half mile slow rise of contours.

As with lifts, we first had to drop down about 100’ to the start of the trail which contoured slowly uphill along the base of the Sassongher. It was in the shade and such comfortable hiking (9am!) About 1 km up the trail Rick and I parted ways, he following the steep uphill grade to the top of the peak, while I intended to hike further up the valley, hoping to find a lake marked on the map.

View across the Stella Alpina Val towards Gardena Pass

Nearing the point where we split up, we found a shrine erected with the photo of a young gal inside....died while hiking up here?

One sign points to Sassongher - Goodbye Rick!  Have a great climb! 

Look hard - there's a red dot in the middle - that's Rick as he heads up the wall of rock toward a saddle below the peak. 

At our parting, Rick was fortunate to stay in the shade, but the rest of my hike was totally in the sun, which was growing in intensity as the day wore on! I ended up climbing clear up to Ciemba Pass at

Italy marks its trails with
paint - very effectively! 

2366m.  Only 300m lower than Rick’s

To one of many little cirque plateaus, a herd of
sheep grazing.  

destination! More uphill than planned, and I never found the lake, although I think I found it’s now grassy basin! Gentians and the straw-like thistles marked the trail, but also in several places you could see the signs of fall with red foliage. Several different flocks of sheep were high up on the hillsides. One group was wearing bells, so I knew they were near! I was the first one up this portion of the trail, although 3 people passed me before I got to the pass.

I got to the top of a rise and THOUGHT I was done, only to find trail and another pass beyond. 

Sheep!  Including the black sheep! 

The views were staggering, plus I kept taking pictures toward the top of Sassongher, hoping maybe I would find Rick’s red shirt in one of them when I downloaded the photos. Just one of him beginning his climb – the higher he got, the more he was around the other side of the peak from me.

So, I think this was my intended lake....no longer present!  

Signs of fall dot the hillsides, but flowers were still blooming in other spots. 

At the top of the pass - looking north into a deep valley of the Sassongher plateau. 

From the pass, trail 2 headed toward a hut in one direction and to the summit of Sas Ciempe in the other. My trail dropped quickly (and steeply!) down into a deep valley surrounded by rocky cliffs and summits. I felt very good at calling the pass my destination!  I figure it was about 2.5km to where I got with 1000' climb. 

My poor attempt at a selfie from the pass! 

Sign on top of pass

The traffic on the trail picked up CONSIDERABLY as I hiked back down. I detoured near the Sassongher junction to visit a waterfall dripping down the rock walls. Below me, a steady stream of hikers and climbers were heading up to the summit. I needn’t have worried that Rick was hiking alone on some more technical spots!

Rick's route to top of Sassongher. 

Traffic heading to top of mountain. 

One of the many streams flowing off the peak

Back down to the top of the lift around 12:15pm. After a brief wander, I sat down in the shade where I could watch the descending trail, eventually spotting a red dot making its way down. Indeed, it was Rick who arrived back shortly after 1pm. He made it to the top! He saw chamoix running down a slope! He was elated! There were fixed lines in places, which were helpful especially for the descent. A metal cross stands at the top of the summit, with a protected book for climbers to sign. Rick’s name is in it. He took photos in every direction. (In fact, this was probably a record photo day for Rick, as he came back with 74 on the camera!) I will include some internet information on the Sassongher climb:

The Sassongher Mountain is the symbol of Corvara. This moderately difficult Alpine tour, some of which is with cables, leads to one of the finest viewpoints in Alta Badia. At 2,665 m, summit terrace on the Sassongher offers a 360° view of the Dolomites.

Starting in Colfosco with the Col Pradat gondola, you reach the Col Pradat. Take trail no. 7 signposted for Puez. The trail crosses a very steep grassy slope and leads you up to the Forcela Sassongher passage. This is where the most difficult part of the climb begins. You keep to the right and cross a steep scree slope to reach the rocks leading up to the summit. Fixed cables help you climb up the smooth rocks, before you reach an uphill section that takes you across scree to the wide area at the very summit (2,665 m).

And now.... some of Rick's pictures!  (Captions to follow....)

We walked over to the restaurant at the lift and found a spot under an umbrella overlooking the whole valley and the Val de Miasma across the way. Gelatos were in order and they were much fancier served here than the last place we got them! We watched more hang gliders drift with the wind and in general just relaxed and enjoyed the views on our last day in the Dolomites.

Back to the Miramonti before a 6pm walk down to Fornella’s Pizzaria for a real dinner ‘out’! Rick ordered penne pasta with mushrooms and sausage and I had tortellini with pesto, Rick a beer and I a prosecco wine. Fun time and good food.

We need to be out of here in the morning by 9am to make the drive back in to Bolzano, drop off the car, and get to the hotel. This has been an awesome week in an amazing place!

Thursday, September 13

Back to Bolzano – Otzi, the Iceman!

We must leave our Dolomite heaven this morning and drive back down to Bolzano. I am armed with the address of the airport so I can program our GPS unit. Not so worried about getting out of Corvara, but more getting through Bolzano to the south of town and the airport!

The forecast is for rain later today and we can see high clouds drifting in this morning. One last breakfast and we are again the first ones in the buffet area. We take a little more chance this morning to talk with our young attendant (who has been here all week and now knows we want two Americano coffees – black!) He is from Bangladesh and studying for his masters in Italy. He has been here for 5 years. Pretty fair English skills – hopes to get a doctorate later, maybe in Sweden. He has an uncle living in Boston. We wished him luck as we left – and Rick gave him the usual, ‘Study hard!’

We clean up our wonderful little suite and pull out of town around 8:45 for the drive back to Bolzano. We will see more of the mountains this morning than we did on a cloudy drive in last Friday!

And it IS a beautiful drive! I take a picture of some of the switchback curves, Rick again saying he has driven more S curves this week than in a lifetime of driving mountain roads! There is nothing like them in the states! And...true to form...construction as well! Last week they had probably quit for the weekend when we came through. Only a few places we had to stop, but in one, the automatic stop lights must not have been working, because in a really narrow spot suddenly we have a tour bus (and a long line of cars behind it) blocking the road. Our side had a long line of cars in our direction. Head to head! Fortunately, just enough room for one car to back out of the way, we pulled over more, and the tour bus bulled its way through. A little hairy!

I found quaint little village churches, towns nestled into every hollow, and eventually we came out of the mountains to parallel the ‘autobahn’ as it wound down the valley on its elevated line. We relied more and more on the GPS as we threaded our way thru town. We hadn’t found a gas station by the time we got to the airport, so we programmed GPS for that and went and filled up the tank. Just 25 Euros for our adventures by car this week! (Not counting the rental costs!)

The airport called a taxi for us (the Chrys never replied to my emails requesting one meet us at the airport) and we were delivered to our hotel by 11:30am. Too early to check in, but we left our luggage there and armed with a small map of Bolzano we began our walk down Via Della Mendola to the river and the Otzi Museum on the other side. It was a little over a mile in distance.

Via Mendola is a narrow little street that winds through vineyards at first on its way into town. Gradually we encountered more cars, (rather than the heavy bicycle traffic!), buildings, and traffic. Without too much trouble, we made our way to the main plaza right on the river where there is a huge arch to the independence of Bolzano and Italy from dictatorship! (Basically a WW1 memorial.)

Our passes for the Otzi museum were from 1 to 2 pm, but the attendant let us in shortly after noon! We stowed our backpacks and spent the next hour and half exploring the discovery, artifacts, forensics, and history of the 1991 discovery of this 5,000 plus year old body frozen in ice. The discovery was made by a husband and wife hiking up in the high country of the Tirol, just 90m south of the Austrian border. (Those 90m established Italy’s right to claim Otzi!)

The science behind all the research is fascinating and mind-boggling. How can we test a 5000 mummy and determine is maternal and paternal ancestry? It’s blood type? What it ate for its last meal! (Ibex and bread!) But the discovery did change some historical facts about the beginning of the Copper Age, as Otzi was found with a fully forged pure copper axe blade.

There is a small viewing window to look into the chamber that currently holds Otzi at a consistent -6 C and at nearly 100% humidity – the conditions which held him in a moist mummy state for milleniums.

Out of the museum at 1:30ish – hungry and hot! We wandered down the pedestrian shopping mall toward town and soon found a little sandwich shop. Purchased two sandwiches AND a chocolate brownie for just 8.5 Euros! Not bad. Back to the greenbelt near the river to eat in the shade.

A warm muggy walk back to the hotel where we check in and spend the afternoon in AC relaxing and getting prepared for our foray back into the world of the trains in the morning! Venice – here we come!

This concludes the Italy Part 1 blog!!