It's ALL about mountains...DOLOMITES!

For those loyal followers of our blog, you might remember how much we love mountains. You saw the volcanoes of Japan, the amazing drama of New Zealand and the magnificent Alps of Switzerland. One might think we've seen enough, but we have now seen yet another incredible mountain region here in Italy: the Dolomites.

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

We 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

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...

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

The 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

The 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

There 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

Bolzano and Riva de Garda

Only an hour train ride north of Trento is the town of Bolzano. Because of its proximity to Austria (it was actually part of the Austrian empire up till 100 years ago), there is a distinct Austrian flavor to the town. Not only is German the preferred language, the buildings/towers have a much more Tyrolean architecture. It actually reminded me a lot of Zurich.

Bolzano folk costumes--they don't look very Italian!

In the old town square we came upon yet another celebration. This one was honoring the 196-year anniversary of the establishment of the carabinieri (Italian police/military). Lots of uniforms and speeches.

Carabinieri

Our first stop was to the Archeological Museum to see Otzi, the Iceman. In 1991, hikers came upon a frozen human corpse in a glacier that was later discovered to have been over 5000 years old. Scientists were able to remove the body and many items of clothing/gear found nearby. Extensive forensics determined lots of facts about Otzi: age (45), weight (130 lbs.), what he had eaten, his traveling lifestyle, etc. Of course some things were still questions: was he a hunter? a shepherd? He was killed by an arrow. Why? You can see the corpse (a skeleton covered in leather-like skin) in a temperature-controlled viewing room and many of the items he wore. They even have his arrows and quiver. Amazing! Sorry, no pictures were allowed.

We then bought a picnic lunch of bread, salami and cheese and took a funicular up to the top of the nearby mountain. At the top of the funicular, there's a small train that travels across the ridge with amazing views of small villages/valleys to a trail that we took to see the Pyramids (mud-like geological formations). The views of the Dolomite mountains were spectacular!

Along the trail--a cute house with garden gnomes

View of the Dolomites

Pyramids

View of charming village on the hills near the Dolomites

The next day we took a 2-hour bus ride to Lago di Garda. We visited the northern shore and I think we were lucky to get there early in the season. There were lots of people, but I'm sure it gets even busier in July and August.

Our first stop was to Torbole which is famous for windsurfing. Evidently, the wind in this area is extra-strong and a real challenge for sailors of all kinds.

Windsurfers

Torbole waterfront

Sunbathers

We then walked to the next "town"--Riva de Garda--about 20 minutes away. This is a pretty resort area with elegant hotels, tour boats and a town square with (what else?) a medieval clock tower. We had to climb to the top and this was the wonderful view:

One direction from the clock tower...

...and the other direction

Riva di Garda

Trento

We arrived in Trento on May 31st and feel quite settled in after only 3 days. The weather is fantastic and warm...FINALLY!

We have a terrific apartment right on the Piazza Duomo (the absolute center of town.) It's behind a restaurant above a courtyard, so it's quiet in spite of being on the busy piazza. Our loft apartment is quite interesting: the bottom floor near the entrance is the bedroom and upstairs is the bathroom, kitchen, living room and dining area. There's even a balcony off the living room that looks over the courtyard at a very old wall. The place is charming, really, and quite comfortable.

Our apt. is in a courtyard behind the tall building

Trento is a small city of about 115,000. The center has a beautiful duomo (cathedral), cobblestone streets, statues, painted buildings, restaurants, cafes and of course, numerous gelato shops.

Duomo--the tents are part of an economics festival

Painted building

Fountain of Neptune in the piazza

Cobblestone street and one of the duomo towers

We had the pleasure of a visit with Mom and Dad who came to Trento for a couple of days before leaving Italy. It was so nice to see them again after our terrific time in Tuscany.

Me, Mom and Dad enjoying a gelato

The setting of Trento is truly beautiful. The town is surrounded by massive hills/mountains. You see them from every part of town and we look forward to hiking in them soon. There is even a beautiful river on the edge of town.

View of mountains from the square

Memorial on top of the mountain

Adige River

On June 2, the town had a gathering in the square to celebrate when Italy voted to become a republic in 1946. A city band played festive music, dignitaries spoke and there were representatives from the military, fire and police departments and hospital/emergency teams.

City band and on-lookers at republic gathering

Military personnel

Miles and I took a walk to his office at the University of Trento which is located waaayyyyy up the hill. Views of mountains everywhere!

Miles on the way up to his office

Along the path to Miles' office

View from his office

And to top off a really perfect day, on the walk home we were spectators at a bike race. What's more Italian than THAT?