Needing a vacation from our vacation, we decided to venture further north towards Austria and visit the Italian mountain range of the Dolomites. We boarded our bus ferry to the train station and headed to Verona and then to Trento. We had booked for two nights a wonderful hotel that cost the same as the small hovel in which we resided in Venice....and it included breakfast!
After arriving at the station we had to take a regional train to Lago do Calonazzo (Lake Caldonazzo) and then called Daniel, the owner of the hotel and he came to pick us up from the station since no buses ran on Sunday. He had a flat tire coming down the mountain so his father picked us up in the Land Rover. He spoke no English and as I talked with him in my limited Italian we basically almost died because he kept taking his eyes off of the road and the road was full of bikers! Yet, we made it! Check out this website to see just how woonderful! http://www.dolomiti.it/en/trentino/vattaro/hotel/hotel-dolomiti/
This is mack now :) mom's tired of typing. She is stuffing her face with croissants filled with jelly and countless shots of espresso.
After our arrival, we were given Proseco from tap to greet us. The grandfather said in his thick italian accent, "It's like water." We knew we were in good hands. We headed to our room SHOWERED and rested and then headed down to dinner to be greeted by Daniel with a warm smile.
Daniel lead us into an empty dining room where we sat and listened to him describe all the wonderful meals he could prepare for us. We decided on the homemade spinach gnocchis with gorgonzola cheese and pancetta, accompanied with his other homemade spaghetti with veal, porcini mushrooms, and vegetables sauteed on top. Paired with some local red wine, we basically died it was SO GOOD. The best food we have had in Italy hands down.
We went for a walk after dinner around the small down. We strolled passed maybe two people in the moonlight and went to peaceful cemetery by the town church. It was a beautiful and restful night.
The next morning, we slept in...finally. We headed downstairs for breakfast, where again the food was amazing the coffee was unreal. Daniel's mother had made apple and peach tortes. A perfect way to start a perfect day.
We ventured off downhill from our little mountain town to the lake. We hiked along the stream and through the most beautiful, fairy-like forest I have ever seen. Along the hike there were old mining tunnels with a informational signage, all italian of course.
We made it into town and rented bikes for the whole day. We got on the bikes and RODE LIKE IT WAS OUR JOB. We rode along the huge lake for miles and then went into the foothills of the mountain Pass the larger Lago di Colonazzo and to the other smaller lake Lago di Vitato. Along the way we saw old castles and beautiful old italian women gardening
It was wonderful to see that child-like joy sweep across my mother's face. It was a moment of absolute joy for both of us flying downhill and looking at the most beautiful scenery. I could tell she was really happy as we biked through countless vineyards.
Once we made it to the other lake that was a brillant turquoise, we found a rope swing that Daniel had told us about.
We parked our bikes, locked them on a tree and climbed down near the lake and stripped into our bikinis. The tarzan swing looked more daunting up close. So we decided to climb into the water (throwing a stone in first to check for snakes) once we got in it was like heaven. We mustered up the courage (meaning my mom ) and she did the tarzan swing first. Followed by me of course. We did it a couple of times and once an Italian man on a moped stopped to watch and then drove off. Oh, Italian men. We had the whole lake to ourselves and floated in the cleanest beautiful water while looking at the huge mountains.
| Mackenzie as a lake nymph. |
It was an enchanted forest, honestly, you could feel the magic. We could feel dad. It was badass.
Then we continued to bike into the town, get some gelato and cappuccinos. We biked more and more and more and it was truly the best day we have had.
We made it back to our quaint little town with another homemade dinner waiting for us made by our favorite Italian, Daniel. We started off our evening of bomb food Consisting of prosciutto wrapped bread sticks and some amazing local cheese, with an Aperol Sprtiz, our fav drink. Okay, Mom is back to continue this blog entry.
After sitting outside with our aperitifs we headed into the dining room where only one other gentleman was sitting and Daniel again described our meal: Primi: ravioli stuffed with leeks and porcini mushrooms in a butter sauce and spaghetti with sautéed vegetables and tomato. Secondi: beef with a red wine reduction and pork chops with a mustard and raspberry cream sauce all served with potato pancakes and right from the garden sautéed zucchini. Yep, all prepared by Daniel a true Renaissance man who rides a motorcycle, fixes things around the hotel and is the perfect concierge.
We walked the four flights up to our amazing room and checked on the drying process of the clothes we had washed before dinner. We didn't bring too many and we had to wash some things out in the sink...luckily this hotel had a heated towel rack!
Time for bed...we were pretty beat! I would love to come here again to ski or to mountain bike!
Tip of the day: Don't even think about snakes when rope swinging into a lake!
Ciao!
The Traveling Women
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