Somewhere in the pile of library books I read preparing for our trip, I came across information about the Dolomites and made a note we should try to go to there. Described by UNESCO World Heritage as a place "with a series of highly distinctive mountain landscapes that are of exceptional natural beauty.” I thought: Hey! We should go to there and look at that!
The tiny dots on the road are people flying down the pass on their bicycles.
The Cascades have always inspired me. Ryan and I spent a lot of time drinking and looking at the mountains from our apartment in Seattle as we researched and prepared for this trip. It was exciting to return to a view of the mountains again.
Pretty, right?!
Getting to the Dolomites from Weesen required travel by bus to train, to train, to cab, to rental car to arrive at our place in Falcade, Italy for four nights. This was the first time I drove a rental car on our journey. Normally, I prefer to use buses or public transportation to get around however the only option for seeing the Dolomites was to rent a car.
So there we were, in a country with really long words in a smallish font on street signs around traffic circles in a language we do not understand. And, of course, Ryan was my navigator. It only took about an hour for the two of us to learn yelling at each other while driving in a country we haven’t driven in before wasn’t the best approach to get to where we were trying to go before sunset.
We learned something!
The photo road dots are a mix of cars, motorcycles and bicycles all flying down the pass.
Roads in Northern Italy have some pretty tight curves and long windy tunnels that seem to go every direction through the mountains. There are also lots of motorcycles and cyclists out there on the sometimes one lane, blind curves of mountain roads.
The oddest thing we saw on the road was a super fit women cross country skiing on wheels up a mountain. I supposed that’s why she was super fit. Or, as Ryan said, “ripped as hell.”.
It was beautiful to watch the light change the appearance of the mountain landscape.
Besides looking at mountains and spending some time drawing and taking pictures, I really had no plans for this part of the trip. We took a couple walks starting in town, and spent a day pointing out churches on hills. There are MANY churches on hills in Italy. Overall the town was pretty quiet since it was a ski town and summer is the off season.
The view from our place was pretty nice and we spent time sketching the pointy limestone towers from one of our two patios.
A dear friend suggested driving up to Cortina d’Ampezzo and checking out the lake, so off we went on a more calm, mountain road driving adventure. That day we ran into a town with a Ferrari race and also found more scary lakes where Jason could be hiding in the woods.
Another day we attempted to visit a different lake and walk to a military fort used by the Austro-Hungarians in WWI, Forte Dossaccio. The hike was about two hours through the woods and about halfway into the walk the clouds started to build, the sky darkened and thunder rumbled. Since I didn’t want to be stuck in the woods during a thunderstorm at some old military fort that neither one of us was that interested in finding, we decided to go back to the car and avoid the rain. The lake was a failed attempt too because other than where the massive boring machine was parked along side the lake road, there didn’t appear to be any place to stop and look at the lake.
Oh well.
We left that part of town and drove up to Valles Pass. There, we walked around, ate tiramisu, drank espresso and looked at the mountains. We also met a German couple who looked to be in their late 60s, riding their motorcycle together back to Germany, some 10 hours away. They looked bad ass in their matching leather outfits. Motorcycles scare me and the thought of sharing one with Ryan for a 10 hour journey sounds awful but I can appreciate the fun it provides for some couples. The Dolomites seems to be a pretty scenic place to take your bike out for a ride. There’s a lot to admire and appreciate!
We heard and watched a lot of motorcycles wind their way down the valley and through town.
Talking with the woman in the real estate office where our Airbnb keys were located, it sounded like the town of Falcade had seen little snow this past year. She said last ski season started pretty late and there were times when there wasn't enough snow for the ski runs to operate. They were hoping for a better year this winter. Visiting the Dolomites in the summer was very inspiring and I'll bet it's just as beautiful in the winter. Considering we didn't have winter this year, maybe next time we'll stop by to admire how the mountain landscapes are changed by the snow.
Can you find the church on the hill?
Also, we found this in the grocery store in Falcade:
I can't believe Fitness Chocolate cereal is a thing! Look at that ridiculous box cover! I don't think the ripped as hell lady eats this for breakfast.