Almost Heaven: The Dolomites

Saturday, June 18, 2016

The Dolomites

June 18--day 10

Today we left Venice and headed to the mountains. I am learning that Italy is much more diverse in landscape and culture than I thought. We drove to the town of Cortina in plenty of time of lunch, which consisted of two really good sandwiches. Let's go ahead and get this out of the way--we broke our gelato streak. We just were not hungry after the sandwiches and were willing to take the chance that we would probably not get gelato today. But never fear. We got an incredible sweet bite (a really BIG bite). We are staying in the town of Cortina tonight.

Because of it's proximity to Austria and a lot of history I'll never remember, this region of the country has been entangled with Austria for a long time. Battles of World War I were fought in the mountains around the town of Cortina. In fact, there are still trenches high in the mountains where soldiers had dug in. After lunch, we drove further into the mountains and took a lift up to the top of Mt. Lagazuoi. St. Louis folks, I know you don't want to hear this, but it was freezing up there--snowing, in fact!

The Dolomites are a part of the Alps, but are unique in that they consist of the dolomite, a specific type of rock. This town and the surrounding areas are nothing like what we've seen so far. All around us, tucked into valleys between the mountains, are little alpine villages with architecture suited to the meters of snow they get, even into May. If you didn't know where you were (because, oh, I don't know, you've been so many places in over the course of the last eleven days that you've lost track) you might think you were in Austria.

The weather has been all over the place today. We started the day in sunshine while in Venice; it's rained on and off, snowed for a short period in the mountains, been cold and overcast, and cool and clear. We're hoping to get to see the mountains more clearly tomorrow on our way to Milan and Lake Maggiore.