Monday, July 4, 2016

Best of the Dolomites

We set off from Castelrotto for a morning in the Val de Gardena, We stopped at the three wonderful towns of St Ulrich or Ortisei, St Christina and Selva or Wolkenstein. All were wonderful. We had visited Ortisei earlier and this has a real apres ski feel to it while St Christina was quieter and Selva a good mix,
We took the cable car Mont Seuc back up to the Alpe di Suisi to Piz  a different section from yesterday. We went down into a valley on a chair lift and had a few short walks but nothing like our efforts from yesterday. Wonderful views in every direction.

                                             Back down into the valley and back by chairlift

                                               St Christina was a picturesque village

Wolkenstein or Selva is the bike capital! Everywhere we went we saw lots of bikes and were even passed by a few!. We stopped for lunch

                                                               The view above the town

                                                          And up into the mountains!

We left the Val di Gardena behind and went up to the Passo Gardena. With spectacular views this is one of the best sections of the Dolomites.

                                                                     Wonderful views

Considered swapping the car for a bike but didn't have my leathers! We met the owner who lives in Brisbane!

                                                   The view from the pass. Stunning!

Gail rested in the meadow to recover from the steep climb. The road is very narrow and lots of bends!

Our drive was through the most spectacular passes of the Dolomites, After the Gardena Pass we crossed the Sella  Pass  towards Canazei then the Pordoi Pass back to Arabba then the Campolongo Pass into Corvara. Then it was down the bends to Canazei. One of the best ever trips.
When we reached our hotel we were exhausted!

                                                            Yes this is Corvara  
           
From Corvara to Canazei was very bendy and we were behind a bus that simply could not fit around some of the corners. Some interesting duels!


The road was far too narrow for either of these vehicles! We had trouble passing a pushbike. There were hundreds of them!

Finally in Canazei we relaxed and will stay for a few days.

                 A local dish. Goulash and dumplings. Going to have to give up dumplings!



No comments: