Our Italian Adventure

Our time in Italy was starting to draw closer to the finish line. What a vacation so far, but we still had one of the most picturesque landscape to visit yet.

We started our morning of Friday, June 6th off by remembering the sacrifices of our Allied soldiers who commenced this day with the D-Day invasion in France eighty-one years ago. Our invasion of Ortisei Italy would be peaceful. Our Transfeero driver arrived at our Lazise VRBO and drove us to the Verona train station. Our Trenitalia Frecciarossa train ride gave us the opportunity to enjoy the changing scenery as we started to climb higher. We arrived at the Bolzano train station and met our shuttle driver. The South Tyrol shuttle would take us to Avita Suites in Ortisei Italy. Ortisei is in the Val Gardena valley of the Dolomites. The Dolomites are a range in the Alps. All of this area is referred to being in the South Tyrol region. The three official languages are German, Italian, and Ladin. Ortisei is the Italian name for the town, while the German official name is St Ulrich. The small minority of Ladins call it Urtijei.

Our Avita Suite was roomy and well-appointed with a nice sized kitchen and living area. Our host and her young daughter took the time to make sure we knew all of the amenities being offered by Avita. The three story building was right off the main shopping street in Ortisei.  The location also offered a view of some of the peaks in the Dolomites.  Ortisei is a base camp for many winter skiers. The town is also famous for their wood carvings. Ortisei is pristine with its color-coordinated buildings, countless flowerbeds, and charming atmosphere. One can easily explore the town on foot. One of the fastest streams I’ve ever seen runs through the town.

Ortisei

Ortisei

Amy and Woody

I wouldn’t want to fall into this stream!

With the temps in the upper 60’s, we decided to do one of our two Saturday hikes on this day. I’m usually a person who prepares for everything, but I assumed the hike to the San Giacomo church would be relatively easy. Off we went without water or hiking poles. It turned out this trail is mostly uphill through forest trails which in spots was wet & muddy. It was a beautiful hike, but tough considering we weren’t prepared for it. We reached St Jakob, and discovered the church required another steep climb. We noticed the bus stop, and agreed that we had hiked enough. The free bus was a nice way to return to Ortisei.

Views from our San Giacomo hike

The elusive San Giacomo Church

Unlike in Siena where I wasn’t aware of the escalators to help with the city hills, I knew there were escalators in Ortisei. There are five escalators which leads to the entrance of the Seceda Cable Cars. Since we would be taking these up to the Seceda ridge the following morning, we did a trial run and also purchased our cable car tickets.

We finished up our first day in the Dolomites with only our second bad meal of the entire trip.  I ignored warning signs, so blame me. First warning sign was we asked to be seated inside and were told no. After we sat down, I noticed those who spoke Italian were being seated inside without reservations. Oh well, they have schnitzel on the menu, and I love schnitzel. Veal or pork, they are both delicious. The second warning sign occurred when I ordered the schnitzel.  The waiter asked, “pork or chicken?”. WTF, chicken?! We should have left, but we didn’t. After ordering the food, it took no more than five minutes for our order to be brought to our table. Their microwaves must be working well here.  The schnitzel was dried out and not seasoned. The name of this restaurant is Veal Mulin Ristorante, even though they do not serve veal schnitzels.  At least to the outdoor tourists.   

We woke up to cloudy skies with some fog in the mountains. The forecasters were still calling for clearing skies.  Hoping for the best, we headed for the Seceda cable car station on our last Saturday in Italy. 

Seceda Cablecar

The ride up is broken into two segments. The first segment is in a gondola which takes visitors to the Furnes station. From there, we got into a cable car which took us to the top. During the second segment, we were flying blind as fog completely surrounded us. Suddenly a quick break in the fog, and we all gasped as the side of the mountain was a only a feet away. Then the fog blinded the cable car again. When we reached the Seceda station, the air was cool, and the fog appeared to be moving fast from west to east. As I started to take a picture of Amy, hang gliders suddenly appeared behind her. It was like we had intentionally synchronized this moment. At an elevation of 8200 feet, we felt like this must be heaven!

Lucky, but perfect timing.

The Seceda is one of the most photo famous peaks in the Dolomites. The jaw-dropping mountain scenery with striking sights of the Fermeda Towers of Seceda are amazing. These spectacular peaks erupt from the Seceda ridgeline and roar into the sky like a prehistoric firestorm. Photographs can only capture the basic essence of the Dolomites.

We started our hike as the fog banks drifted by us. It’s clearing, nope, here comes another fog bank. It was almost spooky how you could see your complete surroundings and seconds later, the landscape disappeared. We reached the first landmark (Jesus on a cross). While others continued toward the famous ridges, I looked to the west.  I was able to discern that the fog was slowly disappearing.  Sure enough, after about ten minutes, the skies became clearer, and the fog had left us for good.  On cue, the majestic Dolomites greeted us with its breathtaking sheer beauty and untouched nature. WOW!

We hiked to the Seceda ridges, stopping often to take in the majestic scenes appearing right in front of us. The Fermeda Towers, wildflower fields, and snowcapped peaks made us feel like we were in a different world. It was almost sad when we finally arrived back at the cable car station and began our descent. It was truly a magical day.

Rolling Fog

In the evening, we went to hell! Hotel Hell that is. Our dinner was at Zicoria Brasserie which is located in the hotel by that name. The dinner and service was a thousand percent better than the previous night. We did noticed that restaurant prices in the Dolomites were higher than elsewhere in Italy. I guess you pay for the view.

We finally arrived on our last real day of being a tourist in Italy. We couldn’t think of a better place to end our vacation than in the Dolomites. We repeated our daily use of the La Curta escalators. After exiting, we climbed a few streets to a higher elevation to reach the Resciesa funicular. What we noticed right away is that Resciesa has about one-third of the foot traffic as the Seceda lift. We enjoyed a nice eight minute ride up through meadows and forests. No fog this morning. We talked with a couple from Colorado. They told us that they spend three months in Italy every year. From what we understood, they had purchased property a long time ago and then watched as property values soared. This has allowed them to enjoy long-term international vacations. I asked, but they do not want to adopt any older children.

When we exited the funicular, there were no jaw-dropping scenery which we witnessed at Seceda. It was a pretty forested area with a rocky path. The rocky path wasn’t the best, but it turned into a smooth hard-packed dirt trail after a short distance. We hiked through various meadows and woods for a distance.

The Resciesa Trail

Flag for the Rifugio Resciesa Schultzhutte Raschotz

The trail opened up and majestic views of the surrounding mountain ranges gloriously came into view.  In the distance, we saw a banner flying.  This announced we were approaching the popular Rifugio Resciesa Schultzhutte Racholtz. This restaurant lodge stands alone as a welcoming beacon to this mountaintop.  It happily greets everyone who has made this hike in order to witness sheer beauty at its best. It has a lodge for overnight guests, and the restaurant offers deliciously cooked meals, along with cold beverages. We stopped and enjoyed a beer before heading up to the Santa Croce Chapel. The chapel was built in 1755 and restored in 2012. Another tourist offered to take our picture.

That marked our turnaround spot. As we hiked back toward the lodge, this was our view.

We returned to the funicular and descended to Ortisei. All of our planned activities in Italy were now completed, or skipped. We had another tasty dinner in Ortisei, this time at Mauriz Keller. One cute incident was that we were seated next to a mother and her two young daughters. After a period of time, the older daughter had to use the restroom, while the youngest was crashed out. The mother asked if we would watch her daughter while they went to the restroom. I guess we look like safe grandparents.

We returned back to Avita Suites and prepared for our return trip to the Rome airport. It would be a long day tomorrow.