The Dolomites
How nice to have a couple of quiet days after the weather-related chaos of Munich.
We’ve been snuggled down in the Dolomites for the last few days. EDP has had two great days of skiing - no waits for lifts, lots of runs to choose from, and good conditions! I’ve been trucking around Val Gardena, enjoying a long walk on our first day and a lazy day yesterday.
Originally, we were booked in to stay in Selva, the third of the three small towns that make up Val Gardena. But the hotel is under renovations and they weren’t completed so we were moved (and upgraded!) to another hotel in Santa Cristina, the second town. It’s the smallest of the three towns with very little going on. The hotel and the upgrade are nice but this town has very little in the way of restaurants, which makes life a bit difficult because the busses between the towns don’t run very late. So we settled on one of three restaurants open in town L Fudlè where I had such good ravioli and EDP enjoyed a ragu and a pizza. Dessert was also excellent and then it was back up for a good night’s sleep.
In the morning, EDP took off for Selva where he was expecting only a few runs to be open but he was pleasantly surprised with 2 lifts and 7 runs open. The slopes were not full at all so he never had to wait and got lots of time on the hill. Meanwhile, I spent my day an old train line that has been converted to a walking trail. First, I got a hot chocolate and walked over to Selva. Selva’s Christmas market isn’t open yet but much of it was set up so I got a bit of a preview. Then, I walked back past Santa Cristina and into Ortesei. The second leg of the trail wasn’t as nice as the first. Heading into Selva, I was high up above the road and had amazing views. Heading into Ortesei, the trail crisscrossed with the road, sometimes sharing the road. It was noisier and a bit confusing at times but was a great way to log almost 20km, between my there-and-back to Selva plus wandering around Selva plus getting all turned around when part of the trail was closed and needing to find a way around. I got into Ortesei shortly before 3, which worked well since the Christmas market stalls open at 3. The stalls were scattered around the pedestrian street but seemed to mostly just be nearby shops and hotels versus local artisans. I did get a vin brülé to help warm me up before catching the bus back to Santa Cristina to meet EDP for dinner. We had enough time to take a dip in the hot tub before we headed off to find something to eat. Literally nothing was open since the restaurants are all closed on Mondays. We were able to grab sandwiches at a tiny little bar, which worked in a pinch, and then we had some Prosecco and a couple of chocolates I had picked up in Ortesei once we were snuggled back in our room.
Tuesday was a lazier day for me. I lounged all morning before meeting EDP in Ortesei for lunch and then I spent a couple of hours reading in a cafe before finding some apfel strudel to go. EDP was busier with almost all of the lifts and runs open (except for the World Cup run that he was really excited for - so I guess we’re coming back.) He logged over 40km of skiing so another soak in the hot tub before dinner was in order! Happily, a few places were open so we were able to get a proper dinner. We wrapped up our night with apfel strudel and more Prosecco, chilled on the balcony!
Our original plans had us getting out of Val Gardena quite late so that EDP could do a half day of skiing on Wednesday but with the World Cup run still closed (turns out, the World Cup is next week so who knows if it’s opening to the public before that…) and with him getting in so much more than expected on Monday and Tuesday, he skipped going back out and we headed off to Bolzano. We were hoping to change our train tickets to an earlier train but our fare didn’t allow that so instead, we spent a LONG time wandering through Bolzano’s Christmas market (charming but much smaller than Munich!) and enjoying a lengthy afternoon coffee. We did still have about 90 minutes to kill at the train station but happily, our train was on time and we got into Milan only a few minutes later than expected. It was a refreshing walk up to the hotel, with warmer temperatures here than in Munich or Val Gardena but still chilly.
Happily, because Milan doesn’t really get going for dinner until well after 7, getting dinner wasn’t a problem! We were able to get into a pizza place EDP was very excited for, having incredible pizza! It was on the schedule for later in our stay so we’ll probably go for a second dinner. So good!!
Tomorrow starts our Milan adventures. It’ll be warmer here than Munich, so that will be nice but there’s another storm coming through. We may get some freezing rain, which won’t be fun but Munich is going to get walloped again, this time with ice. I’m so happy we were able to get out when we did and that we’re not flying out of Munich to get home!!
