Day Ten-the Dolomites/Italian Alps

These hills were alive! Ummm...not really hills at all. We were 7500 feet up with the snow all around us!
Just gorgeous!

I thought this was a neat little shack.

Auronzo di Cadore....a small village on a gorgeous, milky turquoise blue lake in the valley below the Dolomites.

A dam in one of the small towns where part of the mountain fell into the lake in 1963 causing water to rush over the dam, flooding the valley town below and killing 1000s.

This morning, Andy and I left the relative safety of The Splendour of the Seas and stepped into a world we did not understand. It was raining, which added an additional twist to maneuvering our way to our tour of the Dolomites. We very easily exited the ship since we took our own luggage off and took a taxi to Piazzale Roma where there was a place to store luggage. We were leaving for a tour at 9:00 AM and did not have time to go to our hotel to check in. Once the luggage was stored, we took the vaporetto (water bus-public transportation system) to the stop where our tour was meeting. All this was accomplished by about 7:45…and we had a 9:00 tour! So, we found a little tiny (I mean the size of a box) walk up bar that was open and got sandwiches for breakfast. We sat under a sheltered area, ate our breakfast , watched the pouring rain, listened to the roaring thunder, prayed the lightning would not strike us, and stared at our ship, which was a stone’s throw away from where we were sitting. It seemed a little ironic that we had gone by car taxi, then water bus to get to a spot almost just beneath the window of our room on the Splendour.

Eventually, 9:00 did come and so did Henrico, our tour guide. We were in a group of 7 people. One couple was from Colorado, another lady was from Michigan. And a lady with her son were from England. And so we were off on our day into the Italian Alps. I know I keep saying this, but once again, this was a place too stunning to describe in words and too beautiful for pictures to portray what we saw. We began in the valley below the mountains stopping in several of the small towns. In Longarone we saw a dam where a terrible disaster happened in 1963. Part of the mountain fell into the lake on the opposite side of the dam causing the water to be displaced and splashed out over the dam. It flooded this little town and killed over 1000 people. Next we stopped in Pieve di Cadore. This is a beautiful little town where the painter Titian lived. Next was Auronzo di Cadore (Cadore is the name of the valley all these towns are in). This was just a picture stop at a beautiful turquoise blue lake with the mountains in the background. The lake water is a creamy turquoise blue-ish green from the limestone that the water travels through coming down out of the mountains. Henrico told us this was an area where the wealthy lived and vacationed. Our next stop was Misurina, which is at the base of a National Park of Dolomites. We had lunch here in a nice restaurant overlooking another lake. As the day had gone on, the weather began to look better, so Henrico said we would be able to go into the park, called Rifugio Auronzo. So we began our climbed to 7500 feet above sea level! Here, we were not just looking up at mountains and snow…we were in these mountains and touching the snow! The most stunning mountains I have ever seen. Even Mitch and Vicki who are from Colorado and have lived in near the Grand Tetons in Wyoming said there is nothing like this in our country! From here, we went back down and into the famous ski town of Cortina d’Ampezzo. The 1956 Winter Olympics were held here. It is a place where the rich and famous vacation in the winters. But in the summer, it was just a quaint little town. Andy and I got some fresh blackberries from a fruit and vegetable market and just enjoyed sitting in this little Alpine village. As a matter of fact, all of what we saw today was more Alpine looking than Italian looking. This is due to the strong German influence on this place. It was actually part of Germany until after the first world war.
From Cortina, we made the one and half hour journey back to Venice, where we retrieved our luggage, and Henrico took us to our hotel.

We are staying at a Marriott near the airport, which is a nice hotel, but far from Venice proper. It is actually across the bay in a town called Mestre. There is a public bus stop just across the street from our hotel. It is very cheap to get back into Venice, and only a 20 minute ride. We took the bus back and met Charles and Jackie for dinner. It was a very nice restaurant, and very expensive! The entire menu was in Italian, so it was difficult to order. We managed to muddle through with the help of the waiter who translated for us. Then we made our way back to our hotel and began to prepare for our last day. We will be in Venice tomorrow for a tour and gondola ride. I am looking forward to it, but I must admit I am ready to go home. I miss my kids, my dog, and my bed! Good night and love to all. Cindy :o)