Journey to the Dolomites
Images of the Italian Dolomites with its distinct jagged edges and peaks have always captured my attention. Since I had already included two of my must-visits (Florence and Meteora) into the Europe trip, I decided to squeeze Cortina D'ampezzo into the itinerary to cover all my MUST-SEE in one trip. <Why not? :)>
We did not manage to book the transport to Cortina from the web. We were relived when we managed to book a Florence Train+Coach to Cortina with ItaliaRail when we arrived in Rome.
The train was delayed and I was getting anxious that we would miss our coach connection. "We only had about 7 minutes to catch the connecting coach in Mestre, so we were ready to make a mad dash from the train station to the bus terminal. <I am always rather paranoid about missing transportation :| >.
We ran to the bus terminal. There were a few buses with the driver checking off the queueing customers. We could not decipher the Italian signboards, and we 'cut' the queue to ask the driver about which one was going to Cortina D'Ampezzo <We probably fitted some image of unruly queue-cutting tourists? Apologies>.
Luckily, we'd found the right bus and the driver 'ticked' our name on his list, and we were on our way to my last 'MUST-VISIT' town of this trip!
After about less than 2 hours of traveling, we arrived at Cortina bus terminal. The town is nestled amongst the Dolomites and the Italian Alps. It was surreal and breathtaking.
We checked into our hotel, proceeded to have lunch and headed to the tourist information office. The staff suggested that we go to the Faloria, as the cable car station was just behind the bus terminal and it was already mid afternoon.
Going to Faloria
We got onto the cable car and ascended to the ski area.
As we stepped off the cable car, and onto the platform, we 'wow'ed at the surrounding landscape. It was simply magnificent; the snow-covered jagged granite/rocky mountains surrounding the town. It also makes one wonder how and why the early settlers chose such a place to build their home.
The ski season has not started so there were only a few skiers enjoying themselves on the slopes. The restaurant was not crowded as well.
We trudged through the snow to take photos from different view points.
We spotted the cable cars that we took earlier, against the rocky mountain side, and marveled at how tiny it looked against the backdrop of the Dolomites. (Photo below).
We had a coffee and toilet break and also a break from the cold in the warm and homely restaurant. I looked out at the skiers with envy. They were doing multiple downhill runs since the ski lifts to go uphill had no queue. (I totally 'banished' the thought of trying:- last beginner try was about 20 years ago, am too heavy (weight)-> too fast(gravitation pull) for my own good - the word 'ENJOY' would be replaced by 'FEAR').
Sitting in the cafe to watch the skiers was the ideal option.
As the sun set, we got ready to leave. The jagged peaks reminded me of Chile's Fitz Roy (That would be a really tough one to get to).
We took the cable car to go back to town.
As the sun set behind the mountain ranges, the sky turned from bluish to a dark blue hue, before night fell. It was indeed beautiful to watch the sky transition in colour against the mountain range, making for an almost motion-picture-like experience.
We had our dinner, walked around the small town square and did some shopping in the supermarket before going back to the hotel.
The weather forecast indicated that it would snow in the early morning.
I looked forward to another day in Cortina before going off to London.
Images of the Italian Dolomites with its distinct jagged edges and peaks have always captured my attention. Since I had already included two of my must-visits (Florence and Meteora) into the Europe trip, I decided to squeeze Cortina D'ampezzo into the itinerary to cover all my MUST-SEE in one trip. <Why not? :)>
We did not manage to book the transport to Cortina from the web. We were relived when we managed to book a Florence Train+Coach to Cortina with ItaliaRail when we arrived in Rome.
The train was delayed and I was getting anxious that we would miss our coach connection. "We only had about 7 minutes to catch the connecting coach in Mestre, so we were ready to make a mad dash from the train station to the bus terminal. <I am always rather paranoid about missing transportation :| >.
We ran to the bus terminal. There were a few buses with the driver checking off the queueing customers. We could not decipher the Italian signboards, and we 'cut' the queue to ask the driver about which one was going to Cortina D'Ampezzo <We probably fitted some image of unruly queue-cutting tourists? Apologies>.
Luckily, we'd found the right bus and the driver 'ticked' our name on his list, and we were on our way to my last 'MUST-VISIT' town of this trip!
After about less than 2 hours of traveling, we arrived at Cortina bus terminal. The town is nestled amongst the Dolomites and the Italian Alps. It was surreal and breathtaking.
We checked into our hotel, proceeded to have lunch and headed to the tourist information office. The staff suggested that we go to the Faloria, as the cable car station was just behind the bus terminal and it was already mid afternoon.
Going to Faloria
We got onto the cable car and ascended to the ski area.
As we stepped off the cable car, and onto the platform, we 'wow'ed at the surrounding landscape. It was simply magnificent; the snow-covered jagged granite/rocky mountains surrounding the town. It also makes one wonder how and why the early settlers chose such a place to build their home.
The ski season has not started so there were only a few skiers enjoying themselves on the slopes. The restaurant was not crowded as well.
We trudged through the snow to take photos from different view points.We spotted the cable cars that we took earlier, against the rocky mountain side, and marveled at how tiny it looked against the backdrop of the Dolomites. (Photo below).
We had a coffee and toilet break and also a break from the cold in the warm and homely restaurant. I looked out at the skiers with envy. They were doing multiple downhill runs since the ski lifts to go uphill had no queue. (I totally 'banished' the thought of trying:- last beginner try was about 20 years ago, am too heavy (weight)-> too fast(gravitation pull) for my own good - the word 'ENJOY' would be replaced by 'FEAR').
Sitting in the cafe to watch the skiers was the ideal option.
As the sun set, we got ready to leave. The jagged peaks reminded me of Chile's Fitz Roy (That would be a really tough one to get to).
We took the cable car to go back to town.
As the sun set behind the mountain ranges, the sky turned from bluish to a dark blue hue, before night fell. It was indeed beautiful to watch the sky transition in colour against the mountain range, making for an almost motion-picture-like experience.
We had our dinner, walked around the small town square and did some shopping in the supermarket before going back to the hotel.
The weather forecast indicated that it would snow in the early morning.
I looked forward to another day in Cortina before going off to London.