July 31st, 2020
Carefree trips with friends are famous to be the most beautiful, but when I travel with the two of them (Andrea and Giammarco) you never know how it can end. It is 2 pm and we are in Novara ready to leave for the Belluno Dolomites. Our goal is to visit the famous Tre Cime di Lavaredo and the closest place to them is Auronzo di Cadore. But having booked only a few days ago, I was able to find accommodation in Pieve di Cadore, which is a little more distant.
We leave and take the A4 towards Venice and after a couple of hours we stop at the motorway restaurant to take over driving. As I return from the bathroom, something happens that would soon have led to a small upheaval of the journey. Andrea points out to us that he has bought a scratch card, we immediately decide to see if we are lucky and apparently this is the case, we win Euro 50. We continue the route and seeing the indication Venice closer and closer, we call the hotel to inform us that we will be late, thus deciding to take advantage of the small win to make an unexpected detour.
It’s almost 6pm when I find myself doing something I never imagined: driving in Venice. Here the few viable streets lead to the Tronchetto and Piazzale Roma car parks, right in the latter parking lot and we head towards the vaporetto. The vaporetto, is the urban ferry used to move around Venice, practically equivalent to a bus, except that instead of traveling along roads, it travels along the canals on the water. Obviously, the ticket also has a different cost, in fact a ride costs € 7.50.
As we walk along the Grand Canal, I smile at the thought of finding myself here, when it was not in the least budgeted. Suddenly I hear a siren and a boat with flashing lights that read “ambulance” appears, I shouldn’t but it almost makes me laugh. It will perhaps be the tenth time I visit this city, yet each time I am amazed by how special and unique it is. We went down to Rialto and I realize that I have never seen Venice like this, no crowds, no groups of tourists, also several shops sadly closed.
We get lost in the streets until we reach Piazza San Marco, surprisingly almost deserted than usual. When it is now 7:30pm we stop in search of refreshment at a Bacaro, or a typical place where traditional Cicchetti are served. Cicchetti are small portions of food similar to Spanish tapas, which are usually accompanied with spritz or wine. We have dinner first at the characteristic Bacaro al Ravano and then not yet satisfied we move to another place not far away.
We get back to the car just before 10pm, and we first drive along the A4 and then the A27 towards Belluno. We reach Pieve di Cadore around midnight and easily find the Hotel Cavallino, since it is located on the main road. Quick shower and then to the bed, ready to get up early the next day to climb towards the Tre Cime.
August 1st, 2020
It is 6.30 am when the alarm goes off, usually I would struggle to get up, but today I know that I will soon admire a Unesco heritage site. So I gather all my strength and in a short time I am ready to have breakfast. To visit the Tre Cime di Lavaredo you have to reach the Auronzo refuge which is located just beyond Auronzo di Cadore, on a road where the last stretch is tolled and you pay Euro 30 per car. Once you have paid the toll, however, you are sure to have access to the site, as I was advised to go up early to avoid finding the road closed.
We reached the refuge and parked the car. For this adventure I am well equipped with boots, trekking pants, jacket and sweater; all stuff that is not served because despite the over 2000 meters the heat was at times incredible. On the other hand, water, mineral salts and chocolate were fundamental.
Our visit includes the classic route that goes around the Three Peaks. Let’s start by walking along the path 101 classified with difficulty level F + T (or Easy and Tourist, therefore within the reach of anyone). We climb 100 meters in altitude to Forcella Lavaredo where we gradually manage to see the most classic of the images of the north face of the Tre Cime, which until then seemed to “hide”.
Another half hour of walking and we reached the Locatelli refuge, where we refresh ourselves with a splendid view. From here we went down to admire more closely the Laghi dei Piani, two splendid lakes surrounded by the Sesto Dolomites. We continued our journey along the path 105 classified with difficulty level E (Hike), slightly more challenging than the initial one with some rather narrow points and a more or less demanding climb.
It is precisely in this last stretch that I happen to break a boot, however, not preventing me from completing my journey. We finally came back to the Auronzo Refuge after having completed a circular route of over 4 hours of walking around the most famous peaks of the Dolomites. Exhausted, we came back to the hotel for a shower and well-deserved rest.
After having literally regenerated ourselves, we are ready to spend the evening in the nearby Cortina d’Ampezzo. But there’s an unwanted friend with us: the rain. However, the evening passes in a pleasant way. In a few hours we have dinner savoring some of the local delicacies and we are able to take a stroll around Cortina, which actually seems to us a little overrated.
August 2nd, 2020
Fortunately, today the alarm clock rings at 8.00am. We prepare the suitcase, have breakfast and start the day with a short visit to the small town of Pieve. Around 9.30am we set off for Lake Braies instead. It is a place that has now become a fixed stop for visitors to the Dolomites, thanks also to the popularity it has long acquired on Instagram. Braies is a scattered district that means it does not have a single inhabited center but several hamlets, to reach it, I follow the signs for the lake, crossing the border with Trentino Alto Adige.
The final stretch of the road is closed to traffic, you can go as far as Ferrara (a hamlet of Braies) and leave your car in a parking lot. From here it is then possible to take the shuttle to reach the lake at a cost of Euro 6 both ways. Unlike my friends, I actually saw Lake Braies only a few months ago and even walked over it, as it is completely frozen during the winter.
When we get off the bus and find ourselves on its banks, however, the image I find myself in front of is completely different from the one seen previously. Lake Braies is absolutely enchanting, a very clean water with beautiful colors, with the top of Croda del Becco as a splendid setting in the background. I take several photographs, including the now iconic one with the wooden stilt house in the foreground, right from there you can rent a boat for a ride.
Instead, we decide to walk the path that goes all around the lake, taking just over an hour. Not bad considering the fact that only after riding it did I discover that it usually takes a couple of hours to finish. Around noon we come back to the car and head towards Brunico for a typical lunch. Here the flavors are influenced by neighboring Austria, but we do not fail to taste a typical product par excellence of the area, namely Speck from South Tyrol.
After a short tour through the streets of the center of Brunico we continue our way home, improvising our return in stages. Bolzano tempts us but in the end we tend to stop in the less populous Bressanone which is still the third largest city in the province with about 20,000 inhabitants. Bressanone rises on the banks of the Isarco river at 560 meters above sea level. We take a nice tour of the historic center, discovering that it is much bigger than we expected, in any case it is really nice and very well kept.
Let’s get back on the road with the idea of a further stop at aperitif time or at least for dinner. This time, no crazy ideas like on the way out and so we choose to stop in a place where none of the three have ever been yet: Sirmione. Sirmione is certainly one of the most beautiful and touristic places on Lake Garda and its historic center is located along a peninsula. After having parked not far away, we enter the historic center passing through the Scaligero Castle, characteristic for its particular lake fortifications.
After a tour, we decide to have dinner by the lake. We choose a beautiful location such as the Caruso restaurant, where we enjoy a lake view dinner sitting directly on platforms over the water. After dinner we go in search of an ice cream and the search turns out to be easier than expected: I think I have never seen in life so many ice cream parlors concentrated in a few meters, each one comes with numerous flavors and with the most weird size. We greet Sirmione at nightfall with the castle illuminated by the colors of the Italian flag, as if to remind us how these three days have been dedicated to the beauties of our amazing country.
