Italy: Ortisei, Day 1

The Dolomites was not an easy destination to plan for. Our plans must have changed a million times since January, and continued to evolve daily upon arrival: a) bad weather in Bolzano put us a day behind b) we decided to invest in a 3-day lift pass c) John developed a head cold. In the end we hiked less than we expected, but saw more of the area.

The first day, we had a 9am reservation for the Seceda gondola (~1250m up to ~2500m in 2 sections) for the iconic view of the tops of the Odle Peaks (Geisler Group). There were hundreds of people at the top. The views were every bit as impressive as expected. We walked the Seceda ridge trail, semi-experienced the photo points, then took the gondola down.

Being only midday, we beelined to the gondola on the other side of the valley up to Alpe di Siusi (~1250m up to ~2000m), to the largest alpine meadow in Europe. We started walking on trail 6A, intending to make a counterclockwise loop by way of Saltria, but quickly realized the walk would take us down through the meadow and didn't seem appealing, we make a small clockwise loop by Piz Ridl (2108 m) back to the cable car station and went down.

As there seemed to be sufficient time, although John was fading, we walked straight to the other side of the valley and took the Rasciesa funicular (~1350m up to ~2150m). We'd gone a little crazy. We had a short out and back walk to the Cappella Santa Croce del Resciesa, before catching the penultimate car of the day down. The whole day I felt we had been walking at the top of the world.

In Ortisei we stayed at Villa Luise in a room with a great view.




We bought a 3-day Gardena Lift Pass and at 9:00 am the next morning headed straight to the front of the line (1st below) for the 2-segment Seceda Lift.


Looking back to Ortisea from the viewing platform at the Gondola exit.


The view down to the meadow in the Zannes Valley where we stopped for lunch the day before.


We followed the Seceda Ridge Trail to the photo points, paying a 5-euro "photo toll" each.


The Classic View to the Odle Group from the Seceda Ridge Trail


Pics from various photo points.














View to the alpine pastures below the Seceda Ridge Trail.


We head back down to the floor of the Val Gardena. First below (lower center) is the approaching gondola, and to the far upper left is the Alpe to Suisu Alpine Plateau, our next destination. Second below is the in-the-gondola view.




The mid-afternoon cable car to the Alpe di Siusi Altopiano (High Plateau) was not crowded. The official capacity of this car is 16 persons, we were just 2.


We start our walk.




Then head up the ridge (1st below) to Piz Ridl (2108 m) with a great view down to Val Gardena on our left (2nd below) and across the Plateau to the Sella Group peaks (3rd below ) on our right.






And then we rode the cable car down to the valley and walked straight to the other side of the valley and took the Rasciesa funicular up to about 2150 meters / 7000 feet. It's a modern version of an old fashioned funicular!


First below is the view across the valley to the Alpe di Suisi Plateau. Second is the Cappella Santa Croce del Resciesa.




Bonus local color on the walk home to Villa Luise!

Italy: Val di Funes

On our day of departure from Bolzano, the weather was better, so we went for a planned hike. The idea is to head up Val di Funes by (valley) by bus to the Zannes parking lot. Then walk a part of the Adolf Munkel Weg which is a trail at the southern base of the Odle Group, along the edge of the scree. There are numerous permutations. We opted for one going by the three farmsteads(alms)/mountain huts/refugios.

On the way back to Bolzano, we stopped in Brixen to switch from bus to train. While Brixen shared a similar fortune as Bolzano, Brixen was the seat of the bishopric and has more medieval vestiges than Bolzano, therefore more atmospheric. We could have based ourselves in Brixen.

Beginning the day at the Bolzano Railway Station. We will ride this very red OBB Austrian Railway train north to Brixen, then bus east to Zannes.


In this part of Italy, there are many small, industrial sawmills like this one we spotted from the bus.




And more than several modern commercial apple orchards.


At the Zannes bus stop we see some high jagged stone peaks in the distance. Woohoo!


And in a few minutes the southern face of the Odle Group is right above us.




At Malga Glatsch Mountain Hut we turn left towards the Odle Group.






Fairy tale mushrooms.


The trail along the edge of the scree.






Near the Malga Gschnagenhardt Alpine Hut




Cathedral of Brixen with frescoes and cloister. Look for an ostrich in the one fresco.








And we headed home to Bolzano via the Brexin Railway Station (below).

Bolzano, Italy (Gateway to the Dolomites)

From Dublin we flew to Venice - as luck would have it, in the middle of an Italian train strike - and ended up spending half of a day busing from Venice to Bolzano, managing to reach Bolzano before dark. If I hadn't happened to notice the strike two days before, I don't know where we would have spent the night.

First morning in Bolzano it rained all morning. Our trip is having a rough start. When the rain stopped and the sun came out, everyone was in the streets, as if there was a festival going on. Bolzano seems rather prosperous. Having come through the Adige Valley on the bus, we could see the area has many other commercial and agricultural activities, in addition to tourism. Historically Bolzano was the trade link between the Italian speaking world to the south and the German speaking world to the north. Even though Bolzano is supposed to be more German than Italian, the highlight for me was 100% Italian; that is, St John's Chapel in the Dominican Church, modeled after Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel in Padua which we missed (needed a reservation) when we were there.

The second day in Bolzano = more bad weather. I stumbled upon a short program at the last minute. We took the bus up the Ega/Eggental valley to the beautiful Lago di Carezza with the backdrop of the Latemar Group, and had a short walk. I was so pleased - I finally felt I was in the Dolomites.

Waiting for the 4:30am Bus 24 to take us to the Dublin Airport.






Great view of the Corbassière Glacier as we fly over the Austrian/Italian border on our way to Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE). Plus,just before we land, a view of the canals outside Venice.




Our flight left Dublin 30 minutes late, but lucky for us we made up 15 minutes in the air, jumped to the front of the EU immigration line by mistake (really), spotted our bags on the conveyor belt as we walked up, and got on the Flixbus with one minute to spare. The bus was mostly empty when it left the airport, but after stopping at Venezia Santa Lucia, and then Venezia Mestre, we were full.




The double-decker Flixbus headed west to Verona, and then up the amazing Adige River Valley to Bolzano.




Arriving at Bolzano Sud Railway Station, we took local bus 10B towards our accommodation. See below the view of Bolzano from 10B below.


The next day we strolled around the very busy-with-tourists Bolzano. Below is Piazza Walther and the very German Cathedral.


Next door to the ho-hum Cathedral sits the Dominican Church. Inside is the narrow St John's Chapel with amazing 14th-century Giottesque frescoes; the figures show movement and the faces show realistic emotions. And the stars in the blue sky!








Streets in the city center were busy each time we walked through town.








One day we made a day trip to Lago di Carezza at 5000 feet elevation. The skies started out sunny when we boarded the bus in Bolzano, but soon turned cloudy with drizzle soon after we arrived at the most beautiful lake. We walked the 4km loop trail and then headed back to Bolzano.










Take-out pizza for dinner.