As part of our 30th anniversary, we heading back to Italy for hiking and fun.
Day 1 - We flew into Venice with the usual international travel hassles. After landing, we got on a bus to Cortina. We stayed Ambra Hotel which is very nice and had great pizza for dinner. Cortina is a nice little town. They don't look to be ready for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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| Spritzes at The Roof |
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| Downtown Cortina |
Day 2 - Much of the day was taking the cable car up to the Tofane. The weather was overcast so we didn't get great views. We also walked around the town.
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| Taking the cable car |
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| View from the mountains |
Day 3 - Took a bus up to Lago de Braies. The lake is a pristine alpine lake that is overrun with visitors. Many rent rowboats and it is fun to watch to see how few know how to row. The hotel is a great old school hotel that was a great hiker package. At dinner, some guy was watching soccer on his phone very loudly and another poor older gentleman had a heart attack; all this made for an interesting evening.
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| Lago de Braies |
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| Hotel de Braies |
Day 4 - First day on trail! We packed our suitcase and sent it off to meet us in Venice, then we head out on trail. We had a nice stroll around the to the other side of the lake and then hit a long uphill. As we approached the hit point, we saw some chamois scrambling around on the rocks. As wildlife is quite rare in the Alps, we were excited. We passed on the scramble up to Crodo del Becco and had a nice lunch at Refugio Biella. The rest of the day was a nice stroll and down into Refugio Sennes. Sennes had great views and an old airstrip that was populated by marmots. We had a private room with bunk beds and a shared bathroom.
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| Refugio Sennes |
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| View toward Refuio Bellio |
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| Along the trail |
Day 5 - The next day starting with a gentle downhill into some stunted forest. We got a glimpse of some rare deer. We then hit the most brutal downhill straight down a steep road into Pederu. Jyoti re-injured her knee so we spent some time at the refugio getting ice on it. We then had a long uphill into Refugio Fanes. At Fanes, we walked around the lake and had a great dinner. We had shared bath but a regular bed here.
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| Refugio Fanes |
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| One of many beautiful valleys |
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| A little village and refugio |
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| Forest |
Day 6 - Out of Fanes was a very nice hike through wonderful terrain. We decided to take an alternate route that took us downhill to catch a bus to Passo Folzarego. From the pass, we headed down a nice but muddy trail to the chairlift at Cinque Torre. We starting exploring the WWI fortifactions but as the weather turned bad, we headed up to our next stay at Refugio Averau. We got there just as the storm hit. We had a private room and bath at Averau.
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| Refugio Averau |
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| WWI trenches at Cinque Torri |
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| Endless valleys |
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| Great scenery |
Day 7 - The hike started with a steep traverse down the ski slope road. Then we started encountering crowds up for the weekend as we got to Passo Giao. After coffee and water, we headed up to Forcella Giao. The next few miles were a little up and lots of down. After a break at Refugio Citta di Fiume, we make a long hike into Refugio Staulanza. That night we decided to get off trail and head back to Venice.
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| Refugio Staulanza |
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| Thumb Butt in the Dolomites |
Day 8 - The plan for the day was to head up to Forcello Coldai and then reverse back down to take a chairlift down into a town. However, when we got to the base of the hike up to Coldai, we decided to skip it since the downhill would have really been tough. We then headed down into Palafavera. From there we got a bus into Longerone. We had some time in Lonerone so we had lunch then checked into our hotel. We then walked around town and visited the Vajant Dam museum. I had never heard of this disaster but it wiped out the entire town in 1963. After some delicous pizza, we went to bed.
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| Longerone |
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| Noisy cows |
Day 9 - 12 - The next four where spent in Venice. Some of sites we saw: St. Mark's Basilica and Campanile, San Giorgio Maggiore, Murano, Burano, Torcello, Cichetti tour, Arsenele. We also did a side trip to Verona to see the Roman arena and other sites.
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| Wonderful dinner in the Canneregio |
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| Castelvecchio in Verona |
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| Roman arena in Verona |
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| They still have events in the Verona arena after 2000 years |
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| View towards St. Mark's square |
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| Getting a bit of rain |
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| On the vaporetta |
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| Rain along the canals |
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| St. Mark's Campanile |
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| Just getting into Venice |
