Breakfast is on the deck at the Villa and of such a high standard in quality and not short on variety. Gabriella serves you personally and staff help with the hot eggs you may wish, Gabriella does the coffee and takes time to talk to everyone individually – in a genuine and warm way. I admire her creativity, skill and energy.
After a bit of housekeeping work we packed and headed off for our own “Great Dolomite Drive’. Well perhaps it was not quite our own, I had printed a detailed itinerary from a tour that departed from Bolzano and we thought we would give that a go. Our trip took us along the Ega Valley stopping first at Lake Carezza – one of the most beautiful in the Dolomites. It has a lovely backdrop of mountains but what strikes you most about it is the amazing blues and greens of its shimmering clear water – that almost seems to change as you watch it. They call it the rainbow lake and legend refers to it as a mermaids tail. With the wind gently rippling the surface creating texture like scales, I can well imagine that.
At the lake you park for a mere 1 euro and then walk through a cool tunnel to a viewing platform and track around the lake. You are not allowed to swim or enter the lake shore area, and whilst I was craving to jump in (with Vern right behind me in that view) it was nice that no one was in it, and that humans could not pollute it. Kind of made it more special. It was about at this point that I was totally blown away by the beauty of the Dolomites – as if the incredibly scenic drive to the lake was not enough. So there will be very little more in my blog today – I just got overwhelmed by the grandeur and beauty.
As you drive you feel like you are at a show at a most beautiful grand theatre – natures theatre. As you traverse ridges or valleys or through mountain passes like a curtain opening on a new set you are presented with amazing vistas and new scenes, the effect including a full orchestra entering and exciting all your senses. At each new one I didnt think I could be amazed more, but I was. Almost the higher and further we got, so did the thrills till we got to the highest point and pulled over – shaking our heads and literally marveling at the grandeur. I really don’t have the words and it became almost too much and sensory overload.
Stops on the journey were onward to the Costalunga Pass, the Fassa Valley in Trentino, through the towns of Vigo di Fassa and Canazei and then to the Stella Group and through 27 hair pins up to the Porto Pass at an altitude of 2.239m above sea level. We saw the Marmolada Glacier (3,343m) the Sassolungo (3,181) and the beautiful Gardena Valley. Passing through the valley and the town of Ortisei and back home.
A few too many stops for photos meant we were running out of time to get home for dinner, so unfortunately I have more car seat video of the most spectacular parts at the end, verses photos. Albeit it is hard with photos to really get the impression of how amazing the place is. We have already committed to coming back and enjoying it more fully. We got home 15 minutes late for dinner but it was no problem at all. An amazing dinner of cold smoked tuna wrapped around wafer thin potato chips and tomato with a herb dressing, Mozzarella stuffed courgette flowers fried with two sauces, house made gnocchi with tomato, mixed grill of sausage, lamb and chicken, and a semi frozen house made hazelnut custard ice-cream…. too much – too good!
So I will just let a few photos try and show you how spectacular the Dolomites are, but as said its one of the places if you ever get the opportunity I would heartily recommend it as one of the most beautiful alpine regions of the world.
Travels with Valrock 