Our long-time San Mateo friends, Marcos and Maxine Eisenberg came to visit us in Trento during their vacation to Italy. We rented a car and drove north-east along windy roads and within an hour or so of Trento, we were "in" the Dolomites.
Preview of what you're going to see a lot of: MOUNTAINS!The Dolomite region is quite large and we only saw a portion of it. The small towns really have a tyrolean feel given their proximity to Austria. The food is a combination of Austrian and Italian, too and quite delicious.
Our first stop was in the small town of Nova Levante to go to the tourist office. I couldn't resist this picture of pretty pasta.
Lotsa pasta
It seemed like everytime we turned a corner, the mountains were right THERE in your face. We were fascinated.
We had to get up-close-and-personal with these giants, so we took a cable car at the Pordoi Pass up to the top to get a different perspective.
This is where we were headed, to that black spot on the top of the rock--it was an extremely steeep ride
View from the top of the cable car. You can barely see the cable car station below.
Our first stop was in the small town of Nova Levante to go to the tourist office. I couldn't resist this picture of pretty pasta.
Lotsa pastaWe next stopped at Carezza al Lago and took a hike around the lake. We were lucky to hit the peak month to see this turquoise-blue beauty. The lake is the fullest in June and in Oct., it shrinks down to a mere pond.
Carezza al Lago
Carezza al Lago
As we drove along, the mountains got taller and sharper. Many looked like great obelisks.
It seemed like everytime we turned a corner, the mountains were right THERE in your face. We were fascinated.
We had to get up-close-and-personal with these giants, so we took a cable car at the Pordoi Pass up to the top to get a different perspective.
This is where we were headed, to that black spot on the top of the rock--it was an extremely steeep ride
View from the top of the cable car. You can barely see the cable car station below.Here are some of the views from the top. We really felt on top of the world and as you can see, lots of snow (about 2200 m./6600 ft.)
This reminded me of a mesa in Arizona
Brrr...
This reminded me of a mesa in Arizona
Brrr...The entire region is dotted with numerous ski resorts. Of course in the summer, the slopes are beautiful green meadows with lots of hiking opportunities. We stayed in a charming ski village called Arabba.
Arabba
Our hotel
Arabba
Our hotelThe next day we took a hike near our hotel into the lower hills which are basically the ski slopes. (You need to be a super rock climber to go above the tree line.)
Avalanche barricades
Top of the ski lift
Summer ski slope--there are many of these little huts on the ski slopes--rest places?
Us, Marcos and Maxine on our hike
Cortina d'Empezzo
Avalanche barricades
Top of the ski lift
Summer ski slope--there are many of these little huts on the ski slopes--rest places?
Us, Marcos and Maxine on our hikeThe same day, we got in the car and drove along a very windy rode (switchbacks) further east to the charming town of Cortina d'Empezzo where the 1956 winter Olympics were held. The setting of this town is so incredible, you have to see it to believe it. It is completely surrounded by mountains which seem to just appear out of nowhere.
Cortina d'Empezzo
(It must be noted that Miles got very jealous to see literally 100s of motorcyclists riding the curvy, windy roads. It is a well-known area for cycles as well as bicycle riders. As some of you know, he loves motor cycles and I know he was day-dreaming about getting on a cycle. I would have love to join him!)
Here are a couple of shots along the road on our way back to Trento.
A view along the road leaving Arabba
Doesn't that look like a fake backdrop?
On our last day, as we drove back towards Trento, we stopped at Alpine Suisa (Swiss Alpine). You take a small gondola up to the top of a mountain and there before you is the highest and largest alpine meadow area in the Dolomites. There were loads of wild flowers. It is a spectacular area to hike around in dozens of directions. We could have easily spent the whole day there, but unfortunately only had a couple of hours.
Alpine Suisa
Llama at the petting zoo in Alpine Suisa
"The hills are alive..."
Castello di Monreale
Here are a couple of shots along the road on our way back to Trento.
A view along the road leaving Arabba
Doesn't that look like a fake backdrop?On our last day, as we drove back towards Trento, we stopped at Alpine Suisa (Swiss Alpine). You take a small gondola up to the top of a mountain and there before you is the highest and largest alpine meadow area in the Dolomites. There were loads of wild flowers. It is a spectacular area to hike around in dozens of directions. We could have easily spent the whole day there, but unfortunately only had a couple of hours.
Alpine Suisa
Llama at the petting zoo in Alpine SuisaThere were many times that I had a "Julie Andrews moment" of her spinning around the top of the mountain in "The Sound of Music". Here's one of those moments.
"The hills are alive..."Regretfully, we had to finally leave this incredible mountain range. We had such a terrific time with Marcos and Max! After dropping them in Bolonzo for their train ride to Innsbruck, we headed south back to Trento and passed a wonderful castle set on a cliff near Salorno. Wow.
Castello di Monreale
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