OK, one more day in Cortina.
Our final day in Cortina we had a planned hike up to Tre Cime. I was lucky to stumble on a group thread that stressed the importance of buying a parking pass beforehand. I did and what a pleasure passing all the people waiting for a bus as you could not drive up and park at the starting point without your QR code. There was at least 70 people in line for the bus at 8:30 and many more streaming in. I was impressed by those hikers that parked before the checkpoint and walked. That was at least 6.5 km and an ungodly amount of elevation given all the switchbacks we did. We arrived and parked around 8:30. We went the opposite direction as most people and our hike was in general quiet with only a few people along the trail. Initially the mountains had wispy clouds at the top but eventually they were covered in clouds.
By the time we were finishing our loop there were oodles of people on the trail, at the viewpoints, and at the Refugios. Ugh! End of September and still going strong. Hard to imagine what summer is like here.
We decided to add to our hike and walked a mile or so out to Punto Panaramico d’Cassini. People have commented it is a view of Modor. I could agree but in all, fantastic views all around.
We drove back down to our new hotel in Cortina and found a wonderful if not eclectic room at our hotel. We walked about town some. We had our usual Laguinitas and then Aperol Spritz at our favorite hangout. We shopped for T-shirts but not many tourist shops selling their multitude of hats, t-shirts, stickers, and glasses. We decided we were hungry and chose a pizza shop across from our hotel. Good cheap pizza. Across the street from that, some musicians were setting up in a wine bar so we moved over there. Fun to listen to but off to bed by 9 again! We woke up leisurely and after a good breakfast we drove south to Belluno. First things first, we found a self serve laundromat and got 2 load done before noon.
We then drove down to the historic center where we walked about several lovely piazza’s and settled in to a trattoria for a couple of Spritzers. From there we drove back North through Agordo then Alleghe where we had lunch. Alleghe is a beautiful town on of course Lago di Alleghe, with Mount Civetta looming over the town. There is a beautiful lake promenade we walked and we found a wonderful enoteca just before closing for some wine and spinach dumplings. Perfect.
We drove on over the passo Fedaia which passes very close to the base of Marmolada which we have seen from various points along our trip. We stopped in Canazei for some salami, cheese, and wine. The town is a little more touristy than others along this route but gorgeous Dolomite backdrops. We had booked a stay just outside of town earlier in the day and enjoyed the heated pool and sauna there. Good views from the balcony as well.
Just coffee in the am and drove down Val de Fassa then over to Bolzano. We both enjoyed the downtown area with narrow cobblestone streets mixed with a few piazzas. We had cappuccino’s and chocolate croissants on Pizza Walther then walked up and down a number of streets looking in shops. We drove off onto the Weinstrassa down thru South Tyrol’s wine valley. Also a lot of apple orchards. Our first stop was one of the larger wine producers in the area. They had a nice tasting room with many wines you could sample. We tried Pinot Bianco, Sauvignon Blanc, Lagrein, and Cab Sauvignon. We bought a bottle of the Cab and they waived all tasting fees. We drove further south to Manincor winery. ChatGPT had recommended it along with others. Turned out they had some good wines. We ended up with a Chardonnay and a red-blend that just so happened to be named after my new grandson. Cassian! Although it was the Italian version, Cassiano. They recommended a restaurant down the road that they are affiliated with, Panholzer. The restaurant is set in a wonderful old stone building though a little hard to find and it overlooked some vineyards with hills in the background.
The Bruschetta we shared was awesome. Katie loved her deep-fried fish and beans and I was ok with my radicchio risotto. Mine was a little too bitter, but I tried. We drove farther south to Lago di Molveno where our next hotel was. I used Google maps to choose a course using smaller roads and avoiding the Autostrada. Well, I turned right instead of left out of the restaurant parking lot and Google changed the route to the Autostrassa. Of course once one thing goes wrong things tend to snowball. First I chose the wrong fork in the road and ended up on the autostrassa going North instead of South. The next off ramp was 15 km ahead. When we got to the off ramp and the ticket booth, we couldn’t find the ticket right away! Yes a few more curses escaped my inner voice network and made it to the outside world. Once back on the autostrassa going South no problems. Just not very pretty and lots of trucks and racecar drivers. Lake Molveno is gorgeous. Again a lovely balcony with views of the surrounding hills. Some cows in the close by pasrures bothered Katie some but they were singing to me and I slept well. We had a leisurely start on a bright blue sky day and drove down to Riva del Garda a lovely town on the northern shores of Lago de Garda. We walked the narrow cobblestone streets and down to the harbor where small sailboats and windsurfers traveled across the lake. Katie found a nice leather purse but what was fascinating was the Italian shop owner who said his dad up in the mountains made them. Something we would hear in the shops of Mexico all the time. We saw these bags in multiple cites on our journey around Lake Garda. Busy dad!
We drove to Limone sul Garda a tourist town built on the steep cliff sides of the eastern shore. Many bikes on the road out which were difficult to pass as the road was narrow, winding, and full of tunnels. We walked through the cobblestone streets and stopped for an Aperol Spritz but no major purchases. Most items had a lemon theme. Katie and I sat in the piazza, drinking our Spritz’s and counting the number of lemon outfits passing by.
We drove around to the west side of the lake and checked into our final Italian hotel in Malcesine. This is a beautiful town and the hotel was right on the lake.
We shared a nice lunch of Bruschetta and a forgettable pasta.
We walked the narrow streets and eventually stopped for Gelato. We had to. There was a Gelateria every 20 feet. After a great nights sleep listening to the small sailboats rocking in their anchorages and a well stocked breakfast buffet we set off for Milano. We left with an estimate of arriving at our car rental return an hour and forty minutes before our train departure. As usual, getting to the actual car rental return was an adventure. Google maps had a spot picked out right in the middle of the road about a kilometer from the airport. We followed a poorly marked trail to the airport and eventually to the return spot which was only marked right at the entrance not before. We were one of a number of cars trying to return and no workers were around. We stressed abit but got it returned. We went to the Uber pickup spot but after 2 cancellations by drivers our third was 16 minutes out, probably going to cancel us as well. So we cancelled that ride went outside and found a taxi. Turned out cheaper than Uber and got us to the train station with 20 minutes to spare. We scrambled for the right platform but couldn’t find our assigned car. The train had loaded cars at the front that were out of order so we kept walking and walking down the train. We finally got to our assigned seats and the train took off 5 minutes later! I was busy typing a complaint to Uber as they had charged me $12 for cancelling the last Uber when I looked up to find a crying 9 month old and a distraught 1 1/2 year old across the aisle from us. Katie and I moved up to the restaurant car which was very quiet. A lovely trip to Zurich but having been in the Dolomites for 2 weeks the hills were not quite as inspiring. We sat at a street cafe in Zurich for dinner and the main noteable was how expensive everything was. We boarded our Night Jet train to Berlin without problems. 2 bunkbeds, a sink and a tiny table off the wall i slept well with the clicking and clakking of the railcar. We woke to a modest breakfast in our sleeper car then Uberred over to Zac and Maria’s
