"If Ever There Was A Place That Touched Heaven..." (Tuesday, September 27)

Today was our tour from Venice of the Dolomites and Cortina. Bellissime Tours is an Italian company that offers small group (eight people) day trips with English-speaking guides. We booked this trip from Canada based, actually, on the advice of good old Rick Steves. What an incredible experience. Joining us were six other people - Myka and Siva from London, England, Tom and Barb from Colorado, and Glen and Diane from San Fransisco(loved this couple in particular). Each couple was a delight which added so much to our enjoyment of the day. Our guide, Alex, was informative and highly entertaining.....outright funny most of the time!
Picked up at the Tronchetta at 9:00 a.m., we drove through some of the Veneto countryside, striped with row after row of Proseco grape vines, heavily laden with fruit. Apparently the grapes are now ready for harvest, but the farmers like to harvest these particular grapes after a rain fall, which has not recently happened in Venice.
Our first stop was Longarone for a view of the infamous "Diga di Vajont" where the Italians learned a harsh lesson about building dams in the Dolomite mountains. At 10:30 p.m. on October 9,1963, a huge landslide on the southern slope sent millions of cubic metres of rock debris into the reservoir behind the dam sending a 250-foot tsunami-like wall of water over the dam top and into the sleeping towns in the valley below. Over 2000 people lost their lives. This one is for you, Peter. Longarone now hosts the international gelato competition. Put that one on your agenda!
We stopped at spectacular Auronzo di Cadone for a view over the turquoise lake to the mountain town. The architecture was now distinctly Tyrolean rather than the tawny colored villages in Veneto.
Next stop was Pieve di Cadone, to visit the birthplace of renaissance painter, Titian. Born in
the 1470's, his home miraculously remains intact; an art gallery displaying some of his works
is inside.
We were now fully within the Dolomite range of mountains, their soaring peaks coming into view. The Dolomites are part of the Italian Alps, but were renamed because of their unique appearance and composition. Lunch was on the side of a mountain at a little mountain hut. Doesn't sound like much, but the food was some of the best we have had thus far in Italy and 100% from the farm that runs the cafe.
We now began to climb. The road we were on is only open four months of the year due to inclement conditions. Last week they experienced a not insignificant snowfall. A toll is charged for every vehicle that uses the road, the funds from which are used to maintain it. Up, up the tight switchbacks we climbed. You could see the towering peaks above and the deep verdant valleys below. Honestly, I should have been terrified by our steep ascent, but was totally mesmerized by the surrounding vistas. At last, we arrived at Tre Cime di Lavaredo at an altitude of 7500 feet. Mother Nature sure knows how to dwarf one. Diane gasped and said, "If ever there was a place that touched heaven..." It is her quote that I have used in my title. We were now only 24 km. from the Austrian border.
Due to their border location during WWI and the conflict between the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, the Dolomite area became a war zone. From our observation point we could see the entrance to tunnels used by the Italian forces during this conflict. A million pictures were, I am sure, taken by the eight of us and then it was back to Venice. On the return trip, we visited the charming town of Cortina, host to the 1956 Winter Olympics.We were dropped off (luckily close to our hotel) at Piazza Roma at 6:30p.m. A long day, but spectacular.
We plunked into the chairs outside our hotel to enjoy a glass of wine and sundown. As darkness descended, Jim beckoned to me. He had a gondola waiting for a night trip through the back canals. Gotta' love this man I married! As we left the Grand Canal, entering the narrow little back canals, I was that child again, looking at the paintings on my parents' wall and moving down those mysterious channels. The only difference? I was enjoying this magical evening while holding Jim's hand! Life does not get much better. As we skimmed through the quiet, still and dimmly-let canals, we made a pack - to return to Venice for our 50th anniversary. Cortona may have tugged at my heartstrings, but I think Venice took direct aim at Jim's heart and won!
A domani!