Alta Via 1: Trekking the Dolomites - Arrival In Italy
Cortina d'Ampezzo, ItalyWhat are the Dolomites? A mountain range in northeastern Italy, on the border of Austria (but not part of Austria), mainly composed of dolomite rock (calcium magnesium carbonate) and featuring jagged sharp spires. Yes, this will be on the test.
Thumbs up: our flights from Charlotte to Munich and then to Venice were on time and non-dramatic. Thumbs down: every year the seats shrink and rows squeeze closer together. How many internation flights do I have left in my life? Next time I’ll pay up for the big girl seats.
We landed in Venice early in the morning, quickly passed through customs and settled in for our 2-hour wait for the express bus to Cortina d’ Ampezzo (aka Cortina). Jim noticed an itchy insect bite on the back of his leg (this will become a “thing” later on). During the bus ride, we both nodded off as we passed through the dramatic mountains.
History lesson: Cortina d’ Ampezzo was part of the Austrian Empire known as Tyrol until the end of World War I, when the area was divided into two parts. Italy annexed what is known as South Tyrol and Austria kept North Tyrol. Communities in the northernmost part of the Dolomites are bilingual.
Upon arrival in Cortina, we took a taxi to our hotel because we had two rolling suitcases and weren’t sure what the walk was like. The taxi driver charged us tourists 13 Euro to go one mile! Lesson learned about distances and honest taxis.
Hotel Menardi was built as a private home in 1836 and eventually upgraded to become the hotel. During World War I it served as barracks for Austrian troops, then as living quarters for Italian troops when they occupied the territory. I found the hotel by dumb luck, and it was lovely. We didn’t have time to appreciate all the cozy spaces (a reading room!) Our little room opened onto a balcony bursting with geraniums. If you’re going to Cortina, we recommend Hotel Menardi.
The town center was buzzing with people and every building was postcard-adorable. (Do Europeans think our grocery stores are adorable?)
We stopped at La Cooperativa department store to buy Tabacco topo maps for our hike. They are more detailed than the little guidebook maps. Will we need them? Better safe than sorry if our mobile phone apps fail us. (Hint: We used them every day.)
Tourists are we, so we had a sandwich and adult beverages at the most touristy spot on the most touristy street in Cortina. We soaked in the atmosphere with one eye open: people everywhere, lots of dogs, lots of smokers, lots of super cute, well-behaved small children.
After a wandering walk on a greenway/bike path back to our hotel, Jim and I sorted our gear for the next 9 days. We both carried 24L daypacks to be as lightweight as possible. Each one was stuffed fuller than a tick with the barest of essentials and minimal clothing that we hand washed when we got the chance. The heaviest items were our portable power banks. Packing ultralight was the key to a successful hike.
The rest of our stuff went into our suitcases, to be picked up by a company to store and deliver our hotel in Belluno at the end of our hike nine days from now. Jim was asleep by 8:30 pm, me soon after, but still waking up intermittently to worry and check the time. Pre-hike jitters.
I awoke with a Tylenol PM hangover. Jim had cold symptoms, felt sick enough to go to a pharmacy for COVID tests – negative! As he moved around he felt better, but bought lots of meds for the trek.
We took an afternoon bus to the small village of Dobbacio/Toblach, where we’d spend another night and then catch an even smaller bus to the start of the AV1. Remember the history lesson about bilingual villages? Dobbacio (Italian) and Toblach (German).
Today’s bus ride went higher into the mountains, passing through Parc Natural delle Dolomiti (and others I can’t name). The small roads looked like the NC Smokies or DuPont Forest on a weekend, very crowded, cars parked all along the road’s shoulders to access hiking and biking trails. The first stop in Dobbacio/Toblach happened to be right in front of our home for the night: Casa Alpina, a well-worn ski lodge type place with dorm-like rooms (ours had a double bed, a set of bunkbeds and a private bath.) Not fancy like Cortina, but comfortable for a night.
Priorities: find our bus stop for tomorrow morning and then eat! Dobbacio/Toblach is small but resort-y, in a beautiful valley with low green mountains on the northern side and high Dolomites looming on the southern side. The entire length of the town is just a few blocks.
Chiesa Parrocchiale Dobbiacio/Pfarrkirch Toblach
fifty weeks down below.”
