The Dolomites and Venice revisited - early winter

Israel came to visit last week. There were two "projects" on the agenda (aside from having fun together which is always on the agenda...): checking out ski resorts in the Dolomites and visiting Venice. A mini project was to see the leaves turning colors on the trees. It's just the right time and we were lucky to get a spectacular view of the trees - some green, some yellow and some bright orange. The mountains were already sprinkled with snow which looked like powdered sugar. The weather was great (if a bit on the cool side) in the mountains. It rained heavily in Venice the first day but stopped finally in the next.

We set out from Milan towards midday which was a bit of a late start. We stopped briefly in Trento on the way for a late lunch and continued on to Val Gardena. It was pitch black by the time we got there (around seven in the evening) only to discover that the beginning of Nov. is very much off-season over there and practically everything (!) is closed, including hotels and restaurants. We drove the length of the valley - Ortisei, St. Cristina and Selva - nothing. We were turning back, thinking to drive to Bolzano when Israel spotted a place that looked open. It was, they had room for us and we were very happy about it (especially me...). For dinner we had a pizza in the Pizzeria Tennis which was nice.The breakfast they served at the hotel was nice, especially the doughnuts which were superb (and got us thinking about the origin of sufganiot and how this European treat turned into something to commemorate the victory of the Maccabim over the Greek...).

We woke up to a glorious day. Clear, sunny and cold. The mountains already had a sprinkling of snow on them and the trees were busy changing colors and shedding their leaves. Israel was busy taking pictures of the outdoor system they have there and in other places in the area for ordering hotel rooms. They display all the hotels on a kind of board with a map beside and a telephone to call the place of your choice. The telephone actually works (we tried a similar system in Cortina D'Ampezzo later on in the day) and there's paper if you want to print out the name of the hotel. Israel said that in Israel a system like this wouldn't last very long without being vandalized and there wouldn't actually be paper inside for people to use.

We drove through the mountains from the villages of Val Gardena to Arabba and from there through a pretty mountain pass - Pocol, stopping there for a short hike and lunch, and then continuing on to Cortina D'Ampezzo. I think I'll just let the pictures talk for themselves so you can see some of the beauty of these gorgeous mountains, which were recently proclaimed World Heritage mountains (to be more precise the whole area was proclaimed a World Heritage Site):

Notice how the dolomitic limestone juts out from the more gentle hills below or in the words of UNESCO in their explanation of their choice of this site: "The quantity and concentration of extremely varied limestone formations is extraordinary in a global context, including peaks, towers, pinnacles and some of the highest vertical rock walls in the world". Notice also the blue skies...

This is Pocol, where we went for a short hike to stretch our legs, check out the ski slopes and have some nice minestrone soup. So you believe me that we actually got out of the car and walked here are two pictures of us over there:

In the ski department project Israel was convinced that the place would offer some very good skiing with magnificent views. What we did not find was a "ski in ski out" kind of place. It seems that one needs to travel or walk relatively long distances to get to where the skiing slopes start and that they are quite dispersed. If you know otherwise - please enlighten me.

What about the trees that I mentioned? Well, here they are in all their fall/autumn glory:

Notice how some of the trees remain green whereas others that seem like evergreens turn colors.

At some point as we driving out of Cortina D'ampezzo the next day we stopped dead in our tracks when we saw this tree:

Israel liked the effect created by the tree and the church in the background:

We spent the night in Cortina D'Ampezzo which I understand is every upscale ski resort. We stayed at the Hotel Meuble Oasi. Very cosy and comfortable with a nice breakfast, enough light in the room (I always remember my father trying to read with 20Watt bulbs in Swiss hotels and wondering what would happen if he would replace the 20Watt bulb with a stronger one - would the whole electricity system collapse??) and a decent shower (i.e. good water force). We had dinner in a nice bar that Israel chose (which seemed to be the hangout for Cortina men).

The next day we drove to Venice. It started to rain as we were driving along the highway. It was more or less pouring by the time we got to the city. I've never been to Venice in the rain. There is a certain beauty to the city also when it rains. Because of the rain we had a chance to see it when the "acqua alta" (literally "high water") set in:

Israel took some nice pictures of the gondolas - with and without people and also a picture of a workshop for the building of Gondolas:

We stayed in the Locanda Casa Petrarca. A very basic room (like a dorm room) but clean with a big bed. The breakfast they served was really bad - cold, bitter coffee, croissants wrapped in cellophane and tasteless toast. It's better not to take their breakfast, if possible, and to go Instead to a caffe nearby. We went to the Caffe del Doge and had a lovely breakfast there. This is the view from the window of our room:

Mostly, we wandered around the city. Here are some pictures of Piazza San Marco (notice the seagull preparing to "land" in the square), canals, the mountains away in the distance (covered with snow which fell at night) and a windowsill:




and some pictures of us in Venice (the one in the bottom left side is me freezing and getting wet in the porch of the Guggenheim museum):



A cute intercom in Venice:

and to end the post some ducks (and a goose...), this time from a small pond in a park in Trento:

Val Gardena

As promised here is an account of the family's vacation in Val Gardena.

Val Gardena is a famous ski resort in the north of Italy in a part known as Alto Adige or Sud Tirol, about one hour away from Bolzano, the region's main city. This region of Italy is autonomous. Three languages are spoken there - German, Italian and a local dialect known as Ladin (not to be confused with the Ladino spoken by Jews of Sefaradi origin). The region was originally part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and annexed to Italy after WWI. It became autonomous after WWII. There's a lot of history to read about regarding this region, but this account will concentrate on our vacation there....

I first heard of this place from one of my workers who is an avid skier. In the winter, it is an extremely popular ski resort in which international ski tournaments are held regularly. The area, which is part of the Dolomites is lovely also in the summer offering beautiful cable car rides and wonderful trails to follow in the mountains. Even though we came during the busiest summer vacation week (the week of Ferragosto) up on the mountains there's enough room for everyone and we were lucky to have good weather practically the whole time.

We rented an apartment in St. Cristina, one of three villages in the valley. The three villages are packed with apartments and hotels. The biggest and most crowded village is Ortisei. St. Cristina and Selva are smaller and pleasanter. Our apartment was a bit off the beaten track and we had to hike up and down every time we wanted to go anywhere (I remember this also from my trip to the Pyrenees - you wonder how the people living in these villages in the mountain survive hiking up and down every day from their houses to the supermarket, etc.). But it was clean, well equipped and very pleasant, right on the mountain side. On the left you can see the view from the window....

My nephews had this little room which they loved and in which they played around until supper was ready. Very cosy little room. See below a picture of them with me just before dinner one evening:

Every day we chose a different mountain to go up - usually by cable car and then we walked around and finally down, back to the villages in the valley.



The walks were beautiful (if a bit strenuous), everything is green, quiet and beautiful. The mountains are magnificent. But then I'm a mountains' freak.... I remember when we were living in the Netherlands (I was 7 at the time) I really missed the mountains in (very) flat Holland. The summer of that year we went for a week in Switzerland and I was thrilled to see mountains again - things haven't changed much since, I always feel a bit disappointed in flat places and really get excited when there are mountains around. Here are some pictures of these lovely mountains (by the way, all the pictures in this post were taken either by my father or my brother):



Up on the mountains there are many pleasant refuges - houses with restaurants and places to sleep so if you're hiking or skiing there you've got a place to rest and have something to eat. Here are two pictures from these places:



The left picture is the riddle of the day - what's this???

So, if you're looking for a lovely place for your next vacation - this place would be a great choice, both in winter (if you ski) and in summer (if you like mountains and hiking).

and now, it's back to everyday life. The Milanese are returning from their vacations and are slowly returning back to the city. I will leave you with two additional pictures of me - on a swing in St. Cristina and the other from today - taken near the Duomo by some friends who came to visit from Rome: