We made it! Dolomites Day - 5

Driving into the Dolomites was spectacular. I've always wanted to see them, and now after seeing a small part, I want to see the rest. It is a large area of northeastern Italy that is impossible to see in a short stay.

What we found out, was that the night before, in the darkness, we had driven up a steep mountain pass into an alpine community. When we drove down out of it, we saw this expansive fertile valley, part of what they call "Alto Adige," filled with orchards and vineyards. The soil had to be rich. The harvest from this region supplies all of Europe. The apples are unique to the region, and it's big wine country.

This mounded vineyard captured our eye from the car.

We kept seeing rows upon rows of orchards covered with high nets. Finally at a truck stop Aunt Lynnie and I walked over to investigate an orchard. It was full of all kinds of apples - one a very deep red, nearly purple color. I've since learned it's called a Scarlet Spur. I took pictures of the trees, all were a single, tall columnar tree, one right after another. I took pics, but somehow they've been lost, so I did some sleuthing and found these photo examples. One is copyrighted, so don't use it! ;)  You can see they grow them tall and skinny, fastened to a concrete post.  They were all about 7-8 feet tall, and laden with apples.

We drove through the wide valley past Bolzano on the "Strada Dolomites." I'm including a map here so you can get an idea where we went.  The grey areas on up in the mountains, the green are agricultural valleys. We climbed back up into the mountain to Castelrotto, where we actually began our Dolomiti adventure. The lower circle is Castello di Fiemme, the upper left is Castelrotto, and the one on the right is the Sella Pass.

The first glimpse we had after climbing up the mountain again toward Castelrotto...

And we thought this was magnificent. Then we drew closer...

Then we came into the small town itself. The clouds broke a bit, just enough to give a beautiful perspective along with the blue sky. We spent a couple of hours here drinking it in.

Aunt Lynnie and I went exploring while Dad went to get gas and look for a map. :) There was this old church on a hill... we had to sneak past some cows to find the path to the church. Met some geese as well as the cows. Nice people who gave us directions, and a locked church. But it was so work the spectacular view.

     See the church in the distance?

Nice people telling us the secret way past the cows...

 

I've been told their uphill legs are shorter...

The goal...

 

                                           We've decided Lynnie is lots cuter than I am. ♥

The path back to the road led directly through this farm...

        
 I would live here.

We couldn't stay here all day - too much to see. We drove up the Val Gardena, many stops along the way.  There are wood carvers to meet and gelato to eat.

Small towns along the Val Gardena were picturesque ("What a picturesque spot. I wonder where we are?")  Ortisei/Sankt Ulrich, San Giacomo/St. Jacob, Santa Christina/St. Christina. Woodcarvers paradise. Too bad we hit them at the afternoon 2 hour coffee break...

 

This was a wood carver's shop. I'm sure he didn't appreciate that we didn't buy anything...

Lots of serious picture taking... ski hills (Dad said he wanted to bring everyone here to ski...)
And mountains shrouded in clouds. It was GLORIOUS.
 

And we finally see the Sella Pass in the distance.  Too many pics there for this - to be continued tomorrow...

Slovenia Italy Tour 2019 - 4

To the DOLOMITI!

First, our detour stops in Sankt Moritz and Glorenza/Glurns.

The drive from Maloja to St. Moritz followed the incredible turquoise Inn River that would form small lakes along the way. It was hard to capture it because there weren't enough turnouts on the winding mountain road, but the color was astonishing.

 
It was overcast and cold.

 

 St. Moritz is the swanky place of the stars. In season, that is - skiing or summer. We hit it at a lull, and we were glad not to have crowds. We found a lovely little hotel with great bathrooms for Aunt Lynnie, and a full candy dish for me. :)  The lady at the desk was very well-read and had some strong opinions on politics (we found that just about everywhere we went, and it was half and half on ideology... just like anywhere else.) We had a lovely conversation with her while we waited for shops to open again - they take the midday off. We also went to a great little deli and had more ham and cheese, trying out several kinds. You could go nuts!

 This is the posh Hotel des Bains, very similar to the Maloja Palace. I guess they need lots of these for the stars the visit.

 It was a beautiful place. Aunt Lynnie dropped some $$ there on a gorgeous sweater, then we skidaddled. On with the drive to Rick Steves' Glurns (Glorenza in Italian. Everything in this area has a German and an Italian name.).

Through more towns and mountain valleys, giving us just a hint of what was ahead.

Glorenza/Glurns is like Dr. Seuss. The houses and other buildings are slanted and widen at the bottom. Not sure anyone could explain why. It was simply delightful. Not many people, so we could wander at will and peek into nooks and crannies. And there was gelato.

(Disclaimer: I have since confirmed that I didn't gain one pound on this tour. Highly unusual - it must be their calories are different than ours.)

                                           A Plow....

                     Trough and fresh water.

                     Glurns is surrounded by a river.

   This tower is part of the city wall by the river.This is one of the wall's embrasures (look that one up).

I can't pass by an old church without seeing the marvel inside... this one in Glurns was pristine. The detail was amazing...

We drove 'til dark to get to our place in Castello di Fiemme, hosted by Rodolfo. It was THE BEST ever. It was right next to this:

This was the sight from the balcony in the morning!

Our host, Rodolfo, was a beekeeper. He had 38 hives right there. He had renovated this home from the 1700s into several apartments and leaves the one we were in as nightly rental.  He is in the process of renovating another apartment on the second floor, complete with trash flue.

Went out back the next morning to see the beehives and his construction. This wooden gutter was pretty cool... The fresh cut pine scent was intoxicating! They even cut wood in neat piles!

 Aunt Lynnie bidding farewell to this fabulous place.

BTW, if anyone can build a place like this for me close by, I'll love you forever.

Our last look at Castello di Fiemme as we took off to the Dolomites. You can see them in the distance, ever enticing us!