Travel Day to Ortesei / Dolomites
Day 1 – Our porter for the luggage was a godsend. It was raining and he handled those cases like they didn’t weigh 20lbs. Trust me, they weighed a lot more than that. He pushed that cart up and down those stairs like a pro and we were waiting for the water bus right on time!We got to the train station at 9:45. Our train left at 11:35. We had nearly two hours to wait. We don’t have a lot of experience with train stations. This one was really busy – at least to us it was. Very few seats were available and of course they were all taken. We had to wait until about 15 minutes before our train was scheduled to depart to even find out which platform we needed to go to. And we’re standing around all this time.
After we managed to get our luggage on the train and get settled in our seats for our 3 hour trip to Bolzano we ordered drinks and some lunch and settled in for the afternoon. Instead of taking a bus to Ortesei, we booked a driver and it was so much easier than the hassle of trying to figure out the whole bus fiasco.
After we got out of the city, the drive through the country to Stua Catores, our B&B in Ortesei was really beautiful. Stua Catores is a family owned and operated “hotel” and they do an amazing job of taking care of you while you’re there. We unpacked a little, unwound with an adult beverage and had an amazing dinner.
Time for bed. Tomorrow, the Dolomites …
Day 2 – Our B&B put a spread out for breakfast. Bob was in heaven when he saw the yogurt, fruit and granola. There was also oatmeal and eggs, fresh breads and jams and more! It was a wonderful meal and with bellies full we were ready to start our day.
When booking our rooms we all were given free bus passes to use the towns public transportation system. That came in very handy since there was a stop right out front of the establishment.
Our first stop this morning was taking the cable care (called a Funicular) to the top of Resciesa where there is a 360 degree view. So we hopped on the 9:00 bus to downtown and walked the rest of the way to the cable car. As we ascended the mountain we were enveloped in the clouds and really couldn’t see much. Eventually we were high enough that we were above some of them and man those views! When we saw the snow on the trees? Wow! So cool!
The plan was to walk a trail up to the top of the mountain where there is a pretty flat loop where you can see all the views. Unfortunately, the hike to get to the top was pretty rocky, wet and muddy – looked like about an inch or so of snow had fallen last night – and it was absolutely beautiful! Since we were only in this area 2 days out of 20 we didn’t pack hiking boots and all the paraphernalia that goes with it. So we turned around and just enjoyed a drink in the restaurant soaking in the views had at that level. With all the cloud cover those views changed every 15 minutes.
Back in town we explored the shops and grabbed some lunch. We ended up at the Haiti Cafe and I think the highlight was Mike feeding the birds. The food was okay, but nothing to write home about. We probably should’ve explored more shops off the beaten path but by the time we had walked 12K steps I had no more steps to explore. The main strip was home to mostly touristy types of souvenirs that we weren’t interested in. So unless we have more time to explore other places tomorrow (our last day here) we’ll leave with only our photos as souvenirs.
The area itself is gorgeous!! The town is exactly as I imagine a small, quaint German town to be – we are very close to Austria, so not much of the Italy feel here. All the fun colors and decor make it quite magical – it’s so different from our small towns at home.
Dinner – whole trout & pork knuckle. Well that was interesting. Paddy was underwhelmed with her trout and I think the rest of us were underwhelmed with our pork knuckle. Apparently, they are known for their pork knuckles and locals love to come when it’s on their menu.
Day 3 – After breakfast the rest of the crew hopped on the bus up to the local church, St. Jacob’s – oldest church in Val Gardena. It rained last night and the hiking path up to the church was steep, muddy and slippery – which they didn’t know. (Later found out there was a paved path that would’ve taken them 2/3 of the way up to the church but they were already back to the hotel by then.) I had opted to stay back and rest since my energy was seriously lagging this morning. Boy was I glad I did.
Our next adventure for the day was taking the cable car up to the top of Seceda (2500 meters – over 8,000 ft). There are actually two different cable cars you have to take to get up there. Like yesterday, we were enveloped in clouds as we ascended the mountain. They view we could see once we were at the top was incredible, but much of it was not visible. So we went into the restaurant for lunch (amazing pizza!) hoping the clouds would break and the views would be better later. Didn’t happen. Actually, it got worse. Much worse. In fact, it started snowing while we were inside. Paddy and I giggled like little girls enjoying the snow – the guys, not so much. Since we were basically in a white out and there were no views at all, we hopped on the cable car to go to the bottom.
It was spitting rain at the bottom as we hiked the half mile back to the hotel – uphill. Not my finest moment. The hot chocolate at the end did help though.
Cable car to the top and snow!
We enjoyed our last dinner at this amazing place. All the food was fresh for every meal. We always had fresh fruit, breads and juices for breakfast. Each dinner we had access to a fresh salad bar, fresh breads and a home cooked main course that ended with a light dessert to cleanse our palate.
We would highly recommend staying with the family run Stua Catores. It’s located just outside of town so it’s quiet with a beautiful view, but close enough to walk to town. Just a lovely spot!
Tomorrow we head to Florence!
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It's a Wonderful Life! 