Another Great Weekend

Our time in Italy is nearly over. We leave on Friday July 16 for a 5-day conference in Paris. Like I said before, it's a tough life.

For our last weekend in Italy, we decided to rent a car and travel north-west of Trento to explore some of the lakes (there are lots and lots) and another range of the Dolomites. And once again, Italy did not disappoint!

On Sat. our first stop was at Lago di Molveno which is surrounded by gentle sloping meadows (and of course the amazing Dolomites are in the background). Numerous families were enjoying the lake and we took a walk around part of it.

Lago di Molveno

Water cascades near Lago di Molveno

On the way west, we passed a beautiful castle:

Castello Belfort

Our next stop was at Lago di Tovel which is a national park and we were able to walk around this pristine, turquoise lake in about 1 1/2 hours.

Lago di Tovel

We reached our destination for the evening, Madonna di Campiglio by dinner time. This is really a pretty resort town set between a low range of mountains and a higher range of spectacular Dolomites. We've visited a few places like this before: up-scale shops, charming restaurants, local tourists and many ski areas near by. We were lucky enough to see a few classic cars that were part of a car show.

Madonna di Campiglio

Vintage car

On Sunday we walked to the local cable car and went up the mountain to do some hiking. Once again, just beautiful sights and we could have stayed all day.

Us at the top of Funivia (Cable car) Spinali


More of those great mountains

Lots of cows grazing up here, all wearing bells

Our next stop was to Val (Valley) Nambrone. This very windy narrow road, a 20-kilometer drive, took us first to a beautiful rushing river and then up the mountain where there were a couple of small lakes.

Beautiful turquoise river at Val Nambrone

Val Nambrone river

At the end of the 20 kilometers, this is the top of the mountain where you can see Lago di Cornisello and Lago di Nero

The sky was starting to cloud up and by the time we got to our next stop, it was raining pretty hard.

We drove into Val Genova along a rushing river and stopped at Cascata (Waterfall) Nardis. Wow! It was really spectacular and maybe the rain we were experiencing made the falls even bigger.

Cascata Nardis along Val Genova

Ciao, bella Italia!!! Next stop: PARIS!