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Arriverderci Dolomiti

After speaking with Gaby, Carol’s sister, who was awaiting us back in Turin, we would start heading back to Turin today.  We were torn, really wanted to stay longer, but family time was important too and we did have a borrowed car so we decided one final hike and then go.  We chose the Marmolada peak because it had a short walk option that included a chair lift but when we got there the lift was not operating.  We were at the base of the mountain, looking at the snow-filled peaks, figuring that was it, we would simply admire the Dolomites as we drove out.  We made a final stop next to the pretty reservoir and there was a Refugio there so we went inside for breakfast.  There they told us of a trail just across the lake that we can take up to the snowline and our faces lit up – final walk before leaving at the base of the Marmolada!  Once again, ended up being a delightful surprise and in complete solitude.  We even took a turn at cable-assisted climb (Carol hurt her knee here a little unfortunately). 

After our final hike we drove towards Trento; our plan was to take a different route back to Turin, stopping through the city of Verona but we reached Trento and it was already dark and we had a burnt headlight so we found a nice campground just outside the city, right off the highway. 

The following morning we continued south towards Verona and did a quick walk through the center of town.  Again just lovely, and we got a chance to visit the balcony that inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  Verona’s roman coliseum ruins was impressive as well.  We reached Turin late at night, safe and sound. 

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The Pragser Wildsee

I had forgotten something.. we did so well with logistics and early start on the Tre Cime trail that we actually had enough time to exit the park and drive north for a quick visit to the famous crystal-blue Lago Braies.  This was the most touristed site we’ve been to so far but it was still worth the 15 Euro parking spot to have a chance to see lake we’ve seen on postcards and posters and all over the internet.  Many say Tre Cime is the most photographed spot in Dolomiti yet it was here where the pro photographers were lined up to catch that stunning afternoon backdrop.  They’ve got the neat row boats you can rent but it was a bit pricey so we skipped it and instead walked the trail that circumvents the lake and got some nice pictures and nice rest place to contemplate the splendid view and talk about the days to come. 

It was a long, productive day so we rewarded ourselves with a stay at a hotel in Dobbiaco, a nice B&B called Hotel Heidi.  Dobbiaco itself was quite different from Cortina D’Ampezzo, with much more influence from the northern bordering countries of Germany and Austria.  So the following morning we spent time in the village, checking out the main square, market, some gear shops and of course…the pastry shops!!  Yesterday on the trail around Lago di Brais, we had researched our book and found a trail that was in interesting, in our distance/difficulty range and within close proximity so after the Dobbiacco stroll, we drove to the trailhead.  I had read this trail was unique with awesome sunsets and views of Tre Cime up top.  When we reached the toll booth it was full of tourists, and they weren’t allowing anyone in until after 3pm when many morning hikers would come out.  So we had roadside coffee and made our sandwiches while waiting and at 3pm, drove up.  I was surprised everyone was leaving but my little book hadn’t steared us wrong so far so we rigged up and set off.  The trail was a surprising contrast to Tre Cime and Cinqui Torre, with rolling meadows, a neighboring slab formed by a glacier and a postcard panorama of the surrounding ranges (with a castle along the trail that was unreal).  We felt so lucky, in complete solitude, as the sun went down creating these awesome shades of red and orange in the sky ---- my little guide book had recommended entering this trail as late as possible for this reason and it was right!  We exited the trail in the dark (always prepared with everything from headlamps to food to stove, sleeping bags, extra clothes, etc..) and were the last ones down the hill.  Another incredible day in the Dolomites. 

At this point we were thinking our time was up for Dolomites – family was wanting us back in Torino for other plans and we still have many other destinations to visit.  Honestly, we weren’t ready to leave and were enjoying our hikes so much that we decided “one more”.  So we started to drive the same way we came into to Cortina and spent the night again in our car in the same spot we spent our first night.  It was a good decision, the next morning the sunrise was phenomenal. 

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TreCime de Lavaredo

Our first hike (Cinqui Torre) was wonderful, and we got to see many of the other ranges and peaks that surround Cortina D'Ampezzo and further beyond. At the top of Cinque one thing that stood out to me was extensive trail system that exists not only here, but throughout Italy -- we also started to understand the history behind these trails. In the pictures you can see us walking through what was military trenches dating back to WW1.

Next in our trail line-up was the Tre Cime, one of the most touristed trails in all of Dolomites. The trail was also 11K so it was good for us (we were backpack training so walking with 10-20 kilos each) and we're novice at that so we were gonna stick to trails that were 1-2 difficulty level, 10-15K max. Moreover, Tre Cime is one of the prize peaks so it was kind of a must-see. We checked out of Cortina Camping and started driving to the trail head. We stopped at Misurina lake and village for food and picked up a pair of walking poles for Carol (good spot for gear, cheaper than fancy stores in Cortina). We hiked the short 3K trail around the lake, stopping for pictures and reading up more on Tre Cime and planning the next days. After hiking we kept driving to the trailhead but there was a toll entrance that charged 30 euros for parking for 12-hours, so we found a spot just down the road to car-camp for the night. Our plan was to enter the toll gate before sunrise and be the first ones on the trail That's what we did and it was worth it! When we arrived we were the first two or three cars. When we exited the trail there was hundreds of cars and thousands of hikers.

As far as the trail goes, well, I'll let the pictures talk...

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Cinque Torri

Okay, so I had bought my little pocket guide book for Dolomites hiking back home before we arrived in Italy. There was hundreds of books on trails and the various mountain groups within the Dolomites and the information was massive so I narrowed it down by purchasing this book that focused on 50 one- day hikes. From that list we narrowed it down to trails close to Cortina d'Ampezzo and of course, that had a description that was appealing to us (we now know they are ALL appealing in their own way) and we chose Cinqui Torri as our first hike. It was a 10K walk of medium difficulty. You could just do half the hike and use the gondola lift (that's what most tourists do) but we came to hike and practice walking with a full size backpack so we took on the challenge of the full ascent and descent.

It had been raining for past few days so land was pretty damp, almost reminding me of walking in Costa Rica -- lots of mud, you had to be super careful but then the trail started to climb. The sun came out finally. We felt soooo lucky because so many people had cancelled their Dolomite visit due to weather. They even tried to talk us out of it but we were stubborn and followed through with our plan

The views of the adjacent Tofane mountain started to peak through the trees and eventually, the 5 towers (hence the name of the trail) started to come into view as well as 360 degrees of just amazing mountainous terrain. Lots of people ride the lift to this vantage point and then walk the trails up top only, or they walk to one of the Rifugios (mountain lodges) for a meal; some people choose to walk back down but most just ride the Gondola back down Later we realized that's kinda how it works in many of these trails. We wanted to test our backpacking skills and endurance, and save money, so we decided not to use lifts this time.

Here are some pics from that first hike in the Dolomites

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La Autoestrada

I'm anxious to write about the different trails we hiked in the Dolomites and the photos we took to remember but before I forget, I wanted to write about driving in Italy. We're back in Turin now after spending the last week visiting Rome, the Vatican City and the ever-romantic region of Tuscanny. More on that a little later.

Our original plan for Dolomites was to backpack, self-contained, using buses and trains and tent camping when possible. Instead, we ended up driving there using a diesel Ford Focus 5-speed stick shift. We took advantage of the vehicle to do what I personally enjoy most about road travel, which is to stop for rest, food, shopping, interacting with locals and generally just "smelling the roses" as they say. Seems everyone is always so concerned about my ETA and have a hard time understanding why I like to take so long to reach a destination. I always repeat the same thing: "I have no agenda and have no rush" and I intentionally like to set myself up this way prior to taking road trips or vacations for that matter.

We also took advantage of the car to skip using a tent and instead we car camped. We left Turin on a Monday and returned from the Dolomites the following Wednesday for a total of 9 nights away from Gaby's house -- of those 9 nights, we slept 8 in the car. Some of those nights were within established campgrouunds but some nights, for logistical reasons we slept in roadside public spots to be closer the hike trail starting point the following morning.

The drives were fantastic and we talked and took pictures; we stopped for food and had our trivial moments like learning how gas stations work and how to pay the toll to get on the Autoestradas; we also listened to Italian radio and we even practiced singing some of the popular songs playing. One pop song in particular has stood out throughout our Italian vacation so I included a video of us singing it while driving through the countryside...

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Cortina D’Ampezzo

Our adventure now continued to the main event, one of the primary reasons we came to Italy together with visiting Carol's sister: Backpacking in the Dolomites (click on name for details about what Dolomites is).

I mean the mountains you see at Lago di Garda are kinda the beginning of the Dolomites per say. The area is massive, but thousands of trails, chair lifts, gondolas, trail huts, hotels, towns, lakes, etc... There is books and websites and forums and chat groups dedicated to help people decide where to go, what trails to explore, etc etc etc. The amount of info is daunting We chose to go straight to Cortina D'Ampezzo and I think it was the right decision. Here are some pics of our approach to Cortina and the town itself, which will be hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics!!

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Lago de Gardi was somewhat of a Serendipity for us — it was meant to be a pit-stop on our way to the Dolomites, recommended to us by Gaby, Carol’s sister. Riva de Garda is tourist enclave there in a small bay with a gorgeous backdrop of vertical cliffs and lush mountains. The shoreline is calm in the morning but I guess the lake in general is known as a major windsurf destination. We stayed at a campground (glampground more like) in the neighboring town but we wanted to experience Riva proper so we explored on bike; we rode through towns, along the river, next to the lake and we even braved the notorious rotondas (round a bouts), swerving clear of that aggressive driving that prevails here.

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So I brought 4 pair of reading glasses to Italy and I'm down to zero. Frikin ridiculous. I only buy cheap ones for the same reason but here I can't find a pair for less than $20. Being the thrift man that I am I refuse to pay the $20-- where's a dollar tree when you need one?

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I'm back in Turin and have a stable WiFi connection and lots of rain -- good moment to get caught up although today we'll be on the move again.

Back tracking to Valsesia, where we spent time our first week in Italy, I had mentioned we did a quick visit to this place, Sacro Monti de Varalo. It's basically the story of the Bible (life of Jesus part anyway) told in sculptured scenes set inside various buildings that you walk through -- like an interactive tour.

The funny part is the day we went, for some reason, there was nobody around -- like literally nobody, we were all alone. Almost felt like place was closed and we snuck in. I would chuckle to myself because at times, I felt like I was Tom Hanks in the Da Vinci Code...

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Please stay with us — Tumblr is kinda crap, all sorts of problems unless high speed internet but I will catch up soon. Stay tuned…

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Italy road trip to hike Dolomites via Riva di Gardi

Our original plan was to take public transport to reach the Dolomites but Carol's sister offered us to take a spare vehicle she wasn't using so we did. A week ago today we hit the road but we took an alternative "scenic" route passing through Riva di Gard. It wasn’t in our plans but the place was so nice we stayed a few nights and explored.

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My Italian hasn’t improved much so I’m watching tv shows to help. Found this one this morning 😂😂😂

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After our time spent in Valsesia we drove back down the mountains to Volpiano, located 15 minutes outside of the city of Turin. We spent the weekend with Gaby (Carol’s sis), her husband and their son Luca and their rafting and kayak operation on the Dora River. They also form part of the Saluggia Canoe Club whom sponsors both their kids Luca and Guilia in rafting competitions.

Both Carol and I ended running shuttles, we helped with river trash clean up and I actually kayaked that little section which was fantastic.

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Saturday night we went for a quick walking tour of downtown Turin and to to try awesome pizza. I sum it up this way: Turin requires AT THE MINIMUM one full day of your vacay time — it is a city of cities worldwide and well, we’ll have to come back to truly appreciate but we had some fun and personally I was left speechless at times contemplating the grandeur and historical value of what my eyes were looking at…

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yo yo sorry for lag on Italy Travel blog — I think my free 5 gigs of internet is up so they slowed my speeds down to where Tumblr won’t work properly. Anyway I’m leeching WiFi at the house we’re staying at so..

Few days back before we left the Valsesia region we drove up to the Mera Ski Lift Resort (they call it Alpe de Mera) and walked for a 8 hours. We were shooting for “Ometto Peak” but stopped a little short to play it safe with time and daylight remaining. Instead we picked a lesser peak and found a nice spot to take a break and eat some food — ended up taking a 40 minute nap (this nap was deep, full of wild dreams — the deepest, most restful sleep I’ve had in weeks!!)

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Google review of Cervo Bistrot by Alejandro Fernandez

★★★★★ "i’m a tourist visiting area, doing some hiking on nearby trails, staying a few nights in Balmuccia; came down from Alpe Mera late, lo

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https://www.instagram.com/stories/carolvargas2000/3471289942813235055?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

Posted by Carol, my Italian speaking “moglie” posted this yesterday in the higher elevations of the Alps, near the border with Switzerland.