August 2 & 3- Trip to Cortina

Cortina had been my dad's favorite place and three years ago we had gone there to place some of his ashes. I wanted to go back again to spend more time and discover what he had so loved about this place.

Uwe & I left on Tuesday morning driving into the mountains on a perfect day. For approximately half the distance, the road was a 4 lane highway and the rest of the way it was 2 lanes meandering in and out of several picturesque villages.

Our hotel in Cortina was a short walk to the business/ pedestrian walkway through town.

Our beautiful hotel

We arrived around noon and our room was ready. Very pretty, clean and functional with a balconey decorated with flowers overlooking the mountains. I was in love.

After getting settled, we walked to town. The pedestrian area was loaded with tourists- again mostly German speaking- and we walked & walked & walked. We had lunch at a little out of the way place and then checked out the local craft show- on every Tuesday & Friday.

Our main aim though had been to go on at least one gondola ride each day and get a totally different perspective of Cortina- and did we ever!

Following the town map that was provided by the hotel we found one of the many lifts open during the summer and got our tickets to go up ( and up ).

Cortina when viewed from the top.

What totally amazing scenery- the absolutely prettiest place I have ever been.

A great bar/restaurant at the top where everyone was catching rays.

After doing a bit of hiking- wore the wrong shoes- and taking so many pictures that my batteries died, we took the ride back down.

Dinner that night was at a nearby hotel. Per usual we were the first ones there- Italians eat much later than we normally do- but that always meant we got great seats. Our dinner was excellent and we

came home to our room to sit on our balcony and watch the clear sky filled with diamonds- so many stars!

Next day we went to the gondola going up the opposite mountain from the one we tried yesterday. This one was much higher and it took 3 gondola changes to reach the top.
                                         This was our final destination- over the clouds.

                                      It was amazing- totally awesome!!!

The final location had a deck where people were sunning and stairs that climbed even higher. Even though it was 9'C in the shade , it was 22'C in the sunshine as we were higher than the clouds.
                                      Here we are on the deck above the clouds.

                                        And the staircase leading further up the mountain

And there were still patches of snow left in August

Another gondola on the way down from the last stop we were at

We made a stop at the last gondola change since it was an beautiful picture taking paradise.

                                                                     And more!