Cortina

 

The second stop on our week-long trip to Italy was Cortina d'Ampezzo.  Cortina is the Vail to Dobbiaco's Jackson, New Hampshire.  (I've never actually been to Vail, so I can only imagine its vibe based on reputation, but Cortina is what I imagine Vail to be.).  Cortina is primarily a downhill destination whereas Dobbiaco is mostly about cross-country skiing.  Cortina is glitzy and full of very high-end art galleries and designer shops.  Dobbiaco has a lot of casual restaurants and places to buy outdoor gear.  I'm not sure that we encountered a non-European visitor in Dobbiaco, but there were many in Cortina.  You get the idea.  We enjoyed the contrast, though, and were glad to spend some time in another town in the area.  Also, Cortina will be hosting some of the events for the 2026 Winter Olympics, so it will be fun to know the town a bit as we watch the coverage.

We only had one full day and two partial days in Cortina, and hiking in the mountains surrounding it was on the agenda.  Unfortunately, Glenn slipped and hurt his knee on the first evening there so was unable to hike with us as planned.  He found a very interesting hike for the rest of us to do, though, which took the bulk of the full day we had there.  We started the day with a couple of hours in the hotel spa--steam room, sauna, fancy showers, herbal infusions--it was very relaxing.  Then we started on the hike.  We walked through town up a road to the base of an out-of-use chair lift.  From there, we hiked straight up an out-of-use downhill ski trail which was, for some reason, groomed.  (It may be that they still groom it just for the purpose of marking it for hikers like us.). It was a pretty difficult, renlentlessly uphill, quite steep, hour long hike.  We gained 1300 feet and had to do it through snow.  The payoff was breath-taking, though.  At the end of the hike, we arrived at a refugio that served up a delicious lunch and a spectacular view, both on a sun-drenched deck over-looking the valley.  Here are some scenes from the hike and from the refugio at the top.

On our last morning in Cortina, we took a cable car up to another refugio so that Glenn (with his bad knee) could experience the same views we did.  In fact, the cable car went significantly higher than we had hiked, and the views on that morning were even more spectacular, with all of the valley and Cortina laid out at our feet.  

What a spectacular visit!  On to Venice now!!