Italy 1-9 August 2008

We arrived in Milan on a hot and humid Friday to our exchange house, a beautiful modern large apartment. Because of the heat we decided that rather than stay in Milan we’ll go to our exchanger’s vacation home in the Dolomite Alps where it would be 20 deg cooler. On Saturday we made the four hour drive east through the Po River Valley and then north toward the Brenner Pass through a narrow valley dotted with vineyards and castles high on the side of the mountains. After turning west again we arrived at San Candido in a region called the Sudtirol (South Tirol). The terrain consists of green, green pastures in the valleys surrounded by the sharp peaks of the Dolomites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomites). The apartment is an adorable, cozy little place, freshly remodeled in a traditional chalet style and just outside the door we are looking at a huge green meadow and the impressive cliffs of the Dolomites.
The first day (Sunday) we took a walking tour of the town with its old churches, cafes and shops and then took a drive around the area. Interestingly all the signs and menus are both in Italian and German (including town names) since the area has a majority of German speaking people and was part of Austria until the end of WW I. The architecture of the area has a distinctly Alpine feel and the restaurants have both Italian and German food on the menu (there was one called “Hans Pizza”). On the next day we took a drive to Cortina D’Ampezzo, a beautiful little town located in a deep valley surrounded by steep gorgeous mountains. The town feels very Swiss, with chalet like buildings decorated with loads of flowering hanging baskets. Cortina is a famous ski resort and has nice fashionable shops (and fashionable people) and lots of cafes and restaurants. (According to our guide book, in the winter the ski slopes are groomed wide and smooth so the beautiful people do not get too tired before the après ski).
We had a list of the things not to be missed in San Candido so we started working though the list on Tuesday. The first item was a 45km (27 mile) bike ride to Lienz, Austria along the River Drau (http://www.drauradweg.com/?LAid=2&siid=1). It turns out to be all down hill and on a paved path through pastures with cows with cowbells, forests and a large castle on a hill (Schloss Heinfels). We stopped in a little town in Austria for lunch and had beer, sausages and sauerkraut and then on to Lienz. At the end of the journey we went to the train station and took a train, with special cars for bikes, back to San Candido. It wasn’t that much exercise but it was fun.
On Wednesday, since the weather was uncertain, we decided to take a drive to Bolzano to see Ötzi the Iceman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi_the_Iceman) at the archeological museum. Ötzi’s mummified remains were discovered in 1991 in a thawing glacier along with remains of his tools and clothes and were determined to be over 5,000 years old. He’s being preserved frozen in a display case and the most amazing part was the display of his clothes and weapons.
Thursday was a beautiful morning after a storm and we went for a hike from the nearby town of Sexsten and followed a wonderful trail that took us into through fields and into the forest with lots of wild mushrooms and beautiful scenery. We stopped for lunch at the town of Moos in a wonderful restaurant with shaded outdoor seating and then took a cable car to the top of a nearby mountain with breath taking view and a small reindeer petting zoo. Back in San Candido there was a farmer’s market being held in the town center with all stores being pen till 11PM. We sampled the sausages and the cheese, and ended the day with a glass of Aperol in a café.
We planned a hike starting from the top of a chair lift above Lake Misurina the next morning, but right after starting on the trail it began to rain so we thought better of it. Instead we took a hike around this lovely lake and did lunch. Afterward we drove to a hut at the base of Tre Cime, which had clouds dramatically moving across it; we did a short hike until we heard thunder.
On the day before we left we went to Lake Braies, a beautiful, clear, emerald lake with a dramatic mountain backdrop. The lake has a wonderful trail around it that wanders up and down over cliffs on one side and is flat on the other and takes about two hours to complete. In the afternoon we drove to Lienz to an Austrian folk festival that was interesting with lots of oompa-pa bands, people in local costume beer and sausages.