Day 26: Sella Pass Hike

Arising late we discovered our breakfast had been laying on the table for an indeterminate amount of time, our boiled eggs now cold and hard. Robin later realised this was because Europeans say "half nine" when they mean "half eight". Our Haus Frau was not impressed and let us know in her firm but polite way that things ran to a certain order in her Haus and that we would do well to snap in to line. Of course this was all said in a friendly smiling delivery and since we had hardly any German we just had to fill in the blanks.

Today we went to the tourist office to get some maps and lift passes and chose a nice scenic area as recommended by the English speaking woman there. Riding a mountain gondola in summer was a first for us both and it was strange seeing the equipment mostly associated with ski holidays in the bright sun and set against green, green hills.

When we emerged at the top we both exhaled a gasp of awe. The valley that stretched below us was amazingly beautiful. It looked like a perfectly manicured garden if the garden belonged to a giant who planted stands of trees instead of flowers and 3000 metre-high cliffs instead of a rockery. The grass was speckled with flowers and stretched far into the distance where the real mountains rose high above into the clouds. Pathways snaked across in all directions, the suggested itineraries for hiking the Dolomites and families with their dogs moved along them.

We chose a long circuitous route that would take us into a valley, close to the highest mountains and give the best sampling of Alpine landscape. We stopped along the way at a small wooden hut that served simple food for lunch. We enjoyed cheese, gherkins and salami followed by apple strudel and beer to wash it down.

We were enjoying ourselves so much that we lost track of time and had a race up the final hills to reach the last gondola back down the mountain. The prospect of spending the night navigating our way down was missed by just one minute as we arrived flush-faced with our pulses beating loudly in our ears. It was a great first introduction to the Dolomites.