Seceda Ridge from Ortisei

On Friday, we woke up early and drove to the town of Ortisei in the Dolomites for a day of hiking and exploring the high mountain trails. We took a gondola (two separate gondolas, actually), all the way to the top of the ridge, at about 2500 meters. And then we walked around marveling at the beauty, taking many photos.

 

 

One of the great joys of the Dolomites are the mountain huts, or rifugios, which are mostly run by individual families, and offer high-quality food at regular intervals along the trails. The building below is Troier Hutte, and is where we enjoyed lunch of sausages, goulash with polenta, schnitzel, and apple strudel.

 

The scenery was just otherworldly. Such an amazing day. 

 

drive to Quellenhof

We left Lago di Garda on Thursday morning to drive north, into the Italian Alps, and hopefully away from the record-breaking heat wave currently affecting all of Europe. 

The drive was uneventful, about two hours, and then we arrived at Quellenhof resort in St Martin Passeier. We ate lunch and then spent a few hours exploring the various resort amenities -- relaxation rooms, pools, waterslide and lazy river, kids playrooms, trampoline room, horse stables, golf facilities, tennis courts, and more. We're going to be very happy hanging out here for a few days.

 

 

 

  

 

Go-kart racing on these tiny karts. Seb absolutely did not fit, and it was so funny to see his giant legs sticking out as they raced each other around and around.

4-hole golf course, driving range, putting green. We'll come back.

 

 

We borrowed tennis rackets and balls and hit a few balls on the clay courts. And then we showered and dressed for dinner at the hotel restaurant (we have full board - breakfast and dinner every day included).

 

 

 

After-dinner bowling and billiards.

Riva/Torbole

We had a full day to enjoy Riva del Garda and the surrounding area. Our original plan for this day was to hike along the lakeside trail, up the hill. But it was 85 degrees and humid by 9 am, so that was clearly not going to work. Instead, we rented bikes and rode the paved path along the waterfront and then inland along a river.

 

But first, breakfast and a short stroll around town.

On the bike ride from Riva through Torbole to Arco and then beyond. 24 km/15 m in total! We passed by towns, beautiful flowers, some rock-climbing cliffs, family campgrounds, vineyards, and more. 

 

 

 

 

We arrived back at our hotel, hot, sweaty, famished. Time for lunch on the terrace. 

And then we went down to the lake to dip in -- it was surprisingly warm for an alpine lake. I dove in and wasn't even all that cold afterwards -- nothing like Clear Lake in Oregon.

We moved from the lake to the hotel pool, and lazed around there for a couple of hours.

And then showers and getting ready for dinner at Aqua in Torbole. The sun was getting low over the hills and it was gorgeous out -- our restaurant overlooked the lake.