mike: After Riva we checked into half-board (breakfast, dinner included) Hotel Uhrerhof-Deur just outside the town of Ortisei in the Val Gardena area of the Dolomite mountain range, Italy's Alps. The town and its residents seem much more German than Italian due to Austria's influence prior to WWI. Both the towns and their street names have Italian and German names, St. Ulrich being the German equivalent to Ortisei. The area has an extensive network of ski lifts for skiing in the winter and hiking/mtbiking in the summer.
Photo from our room looking down into the town of Ortisei, one of our favorite views of the trip.
Another pizza for me, my pants are feeling tighter!
One trippy thing was the windy 20 km/h road on the way to our hotel abruptly turned into a 60 km/h immaculate tunnel for one mile before exiting to the same slow going conditions on the other side.
Our first day hike started out with patches of snow but quickly became ankle deep and to make matters worse, it started to snow so we bee lined it back to the car.
The following day, we started a hike at a lower elevation in order to avoid a repeat yesterday's mishap.
We passed the hillside Church of Saint Giacomoh. No road access, church goers have to walk up.
Inspired by her surroundings, Trin broke out into an entertaining Sound of Music rendition.
We took the scenic route back to Venice driving over several of the Dolomites' highest passes. We were blown away seemingly infinite mountains leading off in every direction.
Along the way, we passed the town of Cortina, site of the 1956 Winter Olympics.
We spent one night in Trieste (northwest Italy) for logistical purposes (though it was pretty nice) since our next stop, Croatia, was easiest to reach via bus from here.
We took just two photos in Trieste, here is one, Castello di S. Giusto (Castle).
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