Hiking Selva Val Gardena ~ Italy Day 7

Today ended up being the best day (weather-wise) for a longer hike in the area, and we decided to simply walk to the little town, take the ski lift to the top, and wander.  We realized that pretty much anywhere one walks/drives/hikes there are amazing views. What this meant also, was that we did not have to set the alarm too early, as there was no reason to get to the trailhead too early as (1) parking was a moot point and (2) when we woke it was 50-degrees, so there was no rush to get out before it got too hot!

We had another great breakfast and ended up at the Ciampinoi Ski Lift at 10am (27€ per person) and chatted with the people in our car on the trip to the top. As always, there were amazing views from the moment we arrived......we could see where we hiked yesterday.

There were some paragliders taking off when we got there....

We did not have any specific route in mind, so we just started hiking along one of the many trails.....

Gotta share the trail......

We kept going for a couple, maybe three, miles in a westerly direction, then decided to head south towards one mountain - for no other reason than it was there. We hiked off-trail a bit, but while there were some established trails, it wasn't necessary to stay on them.

At one point we saw glaciers in the distance.....

Hi Brad!

Eventually we came across a glacier closer to us as well.

Hi Suzanne!

We had some lunch at a rifugio along the way and headed back to the ski lift to head back to town. 

So this is our last day in The Dolomites. Unfortunately we are here during some bad weather - it rained about half the time.  We weren't able to do as many of the longer hikes that we wanted, but we were still able to get out and do some walking - whether it was a crystal-clear blue lake or a ski lift to some amazing views. One thing that surprised us - we may geographically be in Italy, but so far, we've felt as if we are in Austria or Germany - people are speaking German, the houses towns look Germanic, people look more German/Austrian than Italian, signage is in German (and Italian).  As we said before, The Dolomites are very accessible which is both good and bad. They are amazingly awesome - we know we keep saying that, but they are indescribable- photos simply do not do them justice. 

Not surprisingly, we had dinner at our hotel again. We did not like the menu tonight - risotto with prawns and roast beef - so we had a bowl of pasta and the salad bar for 20€ each. Oh, at the salad bar was grilled eggplant with a bit of marinara and parmesean cheese - super yummy! 

This may be the end of The Dolomites, but it is not the end of the trip.........😉

Hiking Alpe di Seceda ~ Italy Day 6

We did not set the alarm today as it started raining yesterday, rained through the night, and was supposed to rain all morning (which it did), so as we weren't going on an early hike today, there was no reason to get up early. Oh, except for one thing......this is a bed & breakfast, so it was time to eat again! 😀 The B&B did not disappoint......

After breakfast and a slow start to the day, we wandered around town a bit. Eventually the rain stopped and we decided to take a quick drive to Alpe di Seceda and take the cable car (actually two) to the top and see the views - not an inexpensive venture at 45€ per person, plus parking.

Cable Car #1....

Cable car #2.....

There were amazing views (no surprise there) when we got to the top, and we walked around a bit, maybe 1 - 1 1/2 miles.

We headed back to the B&B, enjoyed cappuccino on the front porch watching a couple police officers run radar, then finally showered and got ready for dinner. Again, we decided to have dinner in the B&B as they menu looked great and we really enjoy the food. 

Again, it started with the buffet salad bar....

Then creamed zucchini soup with croutons....

Then spinach ravioli....

Finally dessert ~ a carrot torte with pistachio gelato. 😋

We only ordered the four course meal (for 30€) as the main course was veal and we don't eat veal.  We were still quite full from what we ate, so it all worked out. 😃

Our room at the B&B. 

Hiking The Tre Cime de Lavaredo Loop ~ Italy Day 4

It stopped raining! 😀

The Tre Cime de Lavaredo Loop was one of the hikes that we really wanted to do, so today was the day! It was also the day for hundreds of other hikers who have been waiting for the skies to clear......and it was a Saturday.....and it is supposed to rain again tomorrow......so there were lines - lines to park, lines to pay to park, lines to pay for the shuttle, lines to take the shuttle. We arrived to the parking lot at 8:30am and after all the lines and the shuttle to the trailhead, we finally started out hike at 10am. Was it worth the hassle? Hell yeah! 😁

It was sill quite foggy, especially in the morning, and quite cool - we started hiking with two layers of long sleeves and our puffies. When we got off of the shuttle, most of the hikers started to hike counter-clockwise, but we decided to go clockwise and enjoyed some quieter trails for the first hour or so.

See the arrow - that is where we were two days ago!

This is the Tre Cime di Lavaredo.....we circumnavigated it throughout the hike. 

We eventually arrived at the Langram Alpine Hut ~ time for cake and tea! 😋

It was getting a bit warmer by now - think we were down to two layers of shirts, but no puffies -  by now the fog was starting to clear, so blue skies! 

We then arrived at Rifugio Locatelli - and lots of people!

While some people drink beer and smoke cigarettes......on a hike 😶....

....we enjoyed our PB&J sandwiches and water! 

We continued hiking......

...arriving at yet another rifugio ~ Rifugio Lavaredo

It was back on the trail......

...heading back to where we started.....Rifugio Auronzo....

We arrived at 2:45pm ~ so nearly five hours of hiking, taking photos, snacking, waiting in lines to use the bathroom, etc........ As with our hike to Cinque Torri (Italy) and Slemenova Spica (Slovenia), it was impossible to capture all of the amazing views on camera - the photos really do not really capture the awesomeness of it all. 

It was then the shuttle back to our car, an early dinner, and back to our Airbnb to get ready to move on once again - tomorrow we head to another area in The Dolomites.