Italy - Dolomites - Day #4

Sunday, August 9th

It’s 12:20pm local time.  I’m currently aboard a bus headed to Cortina d’Ampezzo from Venice, Italy.  The total bus ride is expected at 3-hrs -arriving into Cortina at 1:40pm.  

This morning was about getting packed up from our AirBnB, and getting to our departure stop at the Venice Mestre Station - for a 10:40am departure.  We got to the station an hour early - enough time to grab some breakfast.  

The ride has been smooth so far.  As we get closer to Cortina - it reminds me of driving out I-70 to the mountains from Denver.  There have been a bunch of tunnels - mimicking the Eisenhower tunnel on I-70.  The views have been spectacular. 

It’s 8:50pm - in the room for the night.  We’re staying at the Ciasa Lorenzi.   We only had a 1/4 mile walk from the bus station to our place upon arrival into Cortina around 2pm.  We stored our bags in the room and went out to explore Cortina.  Wow!!  This place is amazing.  There are steep mountains that circle the town.  All the hotels have flowers around their exteriors.  This place is special.   It reminds me a lot of Chamonix, France — but maybe even better.  

Greg and I had some drinks and met a couple from the Netherlands who we spoke with for over an hour.  They were doing a week trip to Italy and Austria - a driving loop from their place.  It’s really interesting just how close countries are in Europe.  It took them 12 hours to drive to Cortina from the Netherlands - that’s like Denver to St Louis.  

We next walked the town and had a great pizza dinner - while listening to a blues band playing in a small park across the street.  We ended the night watching some kind of parade with music and everybody decked out in what appeared to be dresses/attire similar to that found at Oktoberfest.  

I know I was only here for a day - but this place is really cool.  I would suggest this to anyone - as a base to some incredible scenery. 

Greg and I got our backpacks all setup tonight - as we’ll be carrying all our own gear the next 8 days.  We have a 2nd bag that will be transferred to our final hotel in Belluno that we’ll grab on the last night of the trip.  I’m sitting around 22 lbs without water (28-29 lbs with water)- it’ll be a tough carry up the steep slopes of the Dolomites. 

Time for some sleep.  We have a 6am shuttle tomorrow morning which will bring us to the start point of the Alta Via 1 - the classic hiking route through the Dolomites. 

Let’s get it started! 

Ciasa Lorenzi - our hotel

Italy - Dolomites - Day #3

 Day #3 - Italy - Dolomites 

Saturday, August 8th

Today was a pretty relaxing day touring around Venice - walking 11 miles for the day.  We started off the morning walking over the Rialto Bridge - 1 of 4 bridges that cross the Grand Canal in Venice - and the most iconic of the bunch. Only 4 bridges cross the Grand Canal - we did 2 of the 4 during our stay:  Academia Bridge & Rialto Bridge. 

We worked our way over to the Venezia Santa Lucia train station after getting some photos of the Rialto Bridge.   We did some recon for our transportation tomorrow - as we’ll be leaving by FlixBus from Venice Mestre train/bus station.  We got our tickets to get from Santa Lucia to Mestre.  

Next, Greg had left his IPad on his international flight coming into Venice from Philadelphia.  He filled out a lost/found form on line - but we wanted to try going back to the airport to file a report locally.   We took a bus back to the airport - and an unbelievable stroke of luck happened.  We stroll into the airport, immediately see a sign for “Lost Devices”, we walk up to the window, and within 10 minutes - Greg had his IPad back in hand.  We couldn’t believe it!!   We figured we had about a 1% chance of getting it back.   The lady at the counter seemed like she was almost anticipating us to arrive.  Conversation:   Greg - “I accidentally left my IPad on my international flight yesterday into Venice from Philadelphia - it was an American Airlines flight.  Lady at Counter - “What color was it, can you describe it?”  Greg - “it’s black with a roll cover”.  Lady at Counter - “Just a Minute”.   She comes back with it, Greg gives her the security code to access the IPad, she verifies his passport - and we were on our way.   We were in the airport no longer than 15 minutes. Unreal - we needed to buy a lottery ticket!

After the airport, we worked our way back to our AirBnB for a quick rest break - trying to cool down, as the temperatures were pretty brutal today.  

Around 4pm - we headed back down to St Marks Square area and did a bit more site-seeing.  The night ended with a great dinner at an outdoor table right along a side canal.  

Another really nice day in Venice!

Italy - Dolomites - Day #2

Friday, August 7th

It’s about 4am on Saturday, August 8th - local time here in Venice.  I just had about 6-1/2 to 7 hours of really solid sleep.  Now - I’m awake and struggling to fall back to sleep (my body adjusting to the time zone change).  So - I thought I’d write a little.

Yesterday was a great first day in Italy.  My flight worked out well from Denver - and I landed in Munich about 30 minutes early.  This provided a nice needed gap to get through a pretty lengthy line in security.  I spoke with a couple from Boulder, CO that were in Europe headed to northern Spain to see the full eclipse set for next Wednesday, Aug 12th.  Bonus for us - Italy will be about 90% affected - with the line of totality hitting in northern Spain. 

I made my way through the Munich airport to my next terminal - departing for Venice at 11:45am.   I made contact with Greg at this time - as he had already made it to Venice from Raleigh, NC - and was waiting for me to land at the airport.  My flight was only 1-hr from Munich to Venice (surprisingly short) - arriving into Venice at 12:45pm. Everything worked out well - met up with Greg right away and we took a water taxi into Venice. 

Venice has got to be one of the most unique cities in Europe.  No cars, no bicycles in the main city center - just endless canals through tight, winding streets.  We found our AirBnb after about a 7-minutes walk from the Fondamenta Nove water taxi stop.   Our place is right on one of the lesser-traveled canals - a really great location - easily walkable to the main tourist attractions in the city. 

It was about 3:30pm on Friday, Aug 6th when we arrived at our place. We ended up showering and took about a 1-hr nap.   Then - we hit the streets walking to St Mark’s Square. 

I haven’t been to Venice in about 15-years.  It was probably 95 degrees today.  I was working on about 2-hrs sleep on the plane with limited nutrition.  But, for some reason, I thought I could find my way to St Mark ‘s Square without a map - telling Greg:  “if we just follow the people - they’ll lead us to St Marks”.  In theory - it should have worked, but I ended up leading us a little south of our target.  No worries - we had time to kill - eventually pulling out our maps to find the main city center.  (I do have to admit when we got to the square initially - it looked so different than what I remembered - I didn’t even think we were there yet).  Lots of people - but no lines going into the Basilica. 

We took some pictures and hung out for a bit.  It was nearing 6pm - and we decided to find a restaurant and try getting out of the heat.  Both accomplished!   We found a nice spot by a side canal and had a great dinner.  Capped off the night with some gelato as we made our way back to our place.  9pm - I was completely exhausted - bedtime.  Great 1st day!

Italy - Dolomites - Day #1

 Day #1 - Thursday, August 6th

It’s 9:30pm MST on Thursday, August 6th.   I’m currently aboard a Lufthansa jet headed to Munich, Germany.   We’re 5hrs into a 9hr, 45min flight from Denver to Munich.   I just finished watching Oceans Thirteen.  I’m still not that tired - so I thought I’d write for a little bit. 

The flight is going well so far.  I’m seated in the middle section of a 3-4-3 seating configuration.  This jet is a double-decker, and I’m on the bottom level.  The flight is not totally full - I have an open seat to my left, and the aisle to my right. 

After arriving into Munich, I have a connecting flight to Venice, Italy where I’ll meet up with my buddy Greg - who’s flying from Raleigh, NC.   The main goal of the trip - a 10-day hiking tour of the Dolomites, an incredible mountain range in northern Italy - in the area that hosted the most recent Winter Olympics (2026).  

The 10-day trip gets started on Sunday, August 9th.  We’re flying into Venice a couple days early to see some sites and get our bodies adjusted before we hit the trails.  

I’m set to arrive into Venice at 12:45pm local time on Friday, August 7th.  Munich/Venice are 8-hours ahead of Denver time.  The goal is to meet up with Greg, get checked into our AirBnB, walk the city a little, get a nice dinner, and then crash early for some much-needed sleep. 

We’ve booked a tour of the Dolomites with Macs Adventures- the same company we used for our trip of the Tour du Mont Blanc a couple years ago.   The tour agency booked our Refugios (lodging) and created the shell of the trip.  We’ll be hiking by ourselves daily - not guided.   We’ll be using an app from Macs Adventures to keep us on track during the day.  

I’m really excited to see this area.   The Dolomites are on the shortlist of most spectacular scenery in all of Europe.  Postcard worthy pictures around every corner.   Hoping the weather cooperates - and my legs are up to the challenge.  We’ll be hiking roughly 60 miles in 8 days, with a total vertical elevation around 17,000’.  So - the hiking miles will be relatively short on a daily basis - but the trek will be steep with some technical terrain to navigate.  The 1st and last day of the tour are effectively travel days - with no specific hiking planned on those days.  

I’m motivated to blog this adventure, because (while I’m familiar with the Dolomites), I’m not that familiar with the individual sites or name-worthy sections.   I did view a few YouTube videos to get an idea of what we’re in for - but I intentionally did little research on specifics.  

With that said - I’m fired up to get things started.  New places, new people, incredible scenery, great food, and adventures to be had —- sounds pretty good to me.   Stick around - let’s have a good time!