Today was a day mostly away from history and culture. We went out on a catamaran to see the gorgeous Greek water, a particular wish of Eli C’s.
First, however, Rick and I got up in time to see the sunrise from the Venetian harbor of Chania.
A man and his coffee cup 🙂
Eli W decided to stay back from the boat trip, he’s not such a swimmer and he really wanted to explore the town on his own. He said he had a really nice day exploring the old town and found a pair of linen pants that suited the hot weather.
Eli C, Kaziah, Rick and I went, meeting up with 4 other people and it was just a treat of a day.
Below is our catamaran from the top of Fort Gramvousa – I’ll write about that in a bit. Our boat felt quite sizable when we were on it, but next to the ferry pulling in and unloading a ton of people, we look tiny. Rick and I climbed up, but Kaz and Eli wanted all the swim time possible. The water is wonderful with so many different hues of blue.
Our first stop was the Balos lagoon, whoops, I forgot to get any pictures. But Kaziah did. Here’s Eli reveling in the warm turquoise water.
We swam to the lagoon from the boat and played a bit around the boat, had lunch on the boat which was great and then continued to Gramvousa Island. Ok that island did have some fun history to add to our day of leisure.
The Gramvousa Island fort defended Venetian trade routes and was also a strategic base in the event of a new Ottoman-Venetian war for Crete. Greeks fled the Ottomans on the mainland to Gramvousa and Gramvousa then became a hive of piratical activity that greatly affected Turkish-Egyptian and European shipping in the region. During that period the population of Gramvousa became organised and they built a school and a church. The church was called Panagia i Kleftrina and was dedicated to the wives of the pirates. Only pirates were allowed to enter. The pirates did have a code they lived by – they only stole food and cargo/money, but never killed anyone and always left the boat to the sailors/passengers.
In ancient times the island was known as Korykos, which means leather bag. The island was renamed “Gramvousa” in honour of Vousa, the wife of a pirate chief and the only inhabitant of the island to evade capture when the pirates were forcibly removed in 1828 by British and French ships after Greece gained independence and had naval support from Britain and France.
Currently there’s a caretaker who lives there with his wife and 2 kids (not an extravagant life) because he likes the isolation. Tons of people get off the ferries during the season, but then free!
We went out to dinner that night at a place Valentini had suggested for “authentic Greek” that Kaziah directed us to. Unfortunately, we’re not authentic Greeks so it wasn’t a successful meal except for a couple of amazing appetizers, but cats were coming around and I wanted to give them Rick’s fish. It didn’t have sauce and would have been benign. To the family’s dismay, I took a chunk and dropped it to the cat looking up at me with pleading eyes. We were sitting on the porch next to the sidewalk, so we were outside. Then there were 2 more cats. We had worried about that. I then read online that many people took their left overs and gave them to the stray cats that were everywhere. The family wouldn’t let me do it. Not sure why.
The next day, we asked our guide about this situation. She said yes, people give food right in the restaurants and take their left overs for stray animals. We saw signs in the old city of Chania near restaurants saying please don’t feed the cats, we give them the food at the end of the night. I didn’t see a single cat that didn’t look well fed and they looked healthy too.
When I looked online to see what it said about Greece and cat culture, it supported this idea that they’re cared for and appreciated. “In Greek culture, the regard for cats is a mix of ancient respect for their utility and independence and a modern appreciation for them as a beloved and ubiquitous part of the landscape. Cats have served as pest control, symbols of luck and resilience, and companions cherished by locals and tourists alike.”
It was a treat of a day – again!
Note on corruption – wow, completely consistent, these people do not have any regard or trust in their government. Cristos who drove us to and fro the catamaran said that these current protests for the rail accident are small, but continuing. He’s friends with the lawyer who represents the parents of the victims. He’s seen crowds of a million in Athens and 10,000 in Chania protesting this accident and the government coverup. Legally and politically, once you’re in the system you can’t be touched. So even if they knew directly whose pocket has the money that was supposed to fix and update the trains and the signals – they couldn’t touch them. But they’re continuing to try.
We got to sleep in a bit today. Surprisingly, everyone was still up and at breakfast by 7:30, with Eli W being the first one up!
We decided to meet and walk towards the Agora, going through the Plaka area, the old city with shops, coffee shops, restaurants. I led the way, repeating my walk from a couple of days ago.
We started down through a street completely clogged with a Race for the Cure run. A 5 K that had 1000’s of people streaming up from the metro to join the start in the park. How totally fun to be able to see the gathering start from above before we left for our walk. I hope they raised a ton of money!
Hard to imagine now, with 4.5 million people and modern streets and incredible history, but 200 years ago when Athens started to rebuild after the Ottoman Empire was ousted, there were only 10,000-12,000 residents. Europe had helped Greece oust the Ottoman Empire and put a king, King Otto, from Germany in place. He rebuilt the city, making Athens the capital of Greece.
We walked along narrow streets, ending up in the wonderful neighborhood of Anofiotika. This cool neighborhood was built into the hillside below the Acropolis. In the 1840s expert masons, stone-workers, and builders from the Cycladic island Anafi signed on to construct a royal palace for the new King Otto and to help excavate archaeological sites around the Acropolis. A law at the time stated that if you erected a building between sunset and sunrise, the property was yours. So working at night, using the traditional Cycladic building methods they had grown up with, these builders fashioned their homes right below the monument they were excavating by day. The new locals called their neighborhood Anafiotika, which means “Little Anafi”. This little neighborhood is just wonderful, tiny lanes, tiny sidewalks, a wonder to walk through.
We then walked down through the Plaka neighborhood, just below and curving around Anafiotika. There were shops, restaurants, houses on a sleepy Sunday morning with people going to church and visiting family. Rick, Eli W and I continued onto the Agora to listen to Rick Steve’s tour (for me again, always learning more). Rick wanted to see where Aristotle taught – yep, here in the Agora!
We then walked back, circling the Acropolis as I had done the other day, but MUCH more efficiently, getting back to the hotel in about 30 minutes. We did see Socrates’ Prison. Turned out this was a name given to the space, I don’t know that Socrates was ever here, but the Greeks hid the treasures from the Acropolis here when the Nazis invaded, cementing up the wall in front of the caves. And it worked! Saving many treasures. I thought I had photos of Rick in front, but nope, don’t know what happened. Here’s the plaque and a photo.
Back at the hotel, we rested our feet and then walked out again with Valentina – a guide taking us on a food tour of the Plaka. Oh my goodness, so good and so much fun! She was full of stories and enthusiasm about food and Greece and Greece’s history.
And did I take photos? Hmm, not many. Valentina took a bunch of photos and is sending to me, I along with the names of where we went, what we ate, etc.
This was a stop, Ergon, for 3 kinds of cheese, 2 kinds of meat. All of them were originating from Italy. The Greek creators lived in Italy, learned a specific item, then came back to Greece and made it Greek. Sheep and goat milk instead of cow, spices added to the meats specific to Greece, etc.
The family who started this restaurant/store was a couple with two young boys who had a market stall. When they were ready to sell, the brothers decided they wanted to grow the business. Their parents were already known for selling the most pure cheese products, meat products, vegetables, etc. So the the brothers decided to stay with this theme and traveled the country looking for small farmers, entrepreneurs specializing in the BEST feta, the BEST ham, the BEST mushrooms, etc. They then enlarged the space and started serving a small cafe as well as the store. They grew, started a second store, then built this restaurant store, decorated by the most famous Greek street artist.
In the background, they were also quietly doing work with their producers, teaching them how to market, set a logo, disseminate their products etc. Helping many in Greece get the word out about their unique products. They did not advertise anything about this foundation sideline, but work got out. And their fame and name grew.
Our next stop was for Greek coffee. The cafe off the Maria Callas museum, and it was wonderful. Turns out in order to make real Greek coffee, it has to be heated over hot sand cooking in a copper pan until bubbles rise in the small cup and once the grounds in the bubbles are skimmed off and it’s almost at a full boil, it’s turned off. You can add a bit of sugar, but NO milk product. That would be horrifying.
This tradition came from the Arabic traders who brought the beans to Greece. Evidently (according to myth/fact) one of the nomadic traders wanted to have coffee during the day, not just in the evening when they had time to cook it. They only carried copper pots and he realized between the metal and the heat of the sun, he could bring water and coffee grounds hot enough to make a great coffee. Obviously, not a lot of cows traveled with the camels. A final note was that it was to be sipped, not tossed back. No, no – there’s mud at the bottom! Rick said it was amazing coffee.
We did make one church stop – the little one that I’d seen before next to the giant cathedral, built in the 1000’s, maintained and we got to see inside. It’s tiny, but simple and wonderful. The family rolled their eyes that I managed to get in a church viewing even on a food tour. But just one!
We moved way too fast for Eli C – he loves all the items, would have been very happy to have way more time in the stores. But, hopefully, when we come back through after Meteora, we can go back and get some products. Like halva (sesame paste, so pure, incredibly good), honey, oil, spices. He’s going to need another suitcase 🙂
We had eaten our way until 5:30 and we came back to the hotel and that was it for the evening. Eli C went out for one more souvlaki, but the rest of us were ready for a chill evening. However – there was a big event going on outside our hotel and I watched it build from 5:30 until it ended around 9:30.
We’d gone by the parliament building and had seen the flowers, candles and a tent set up outside the building. We learned that this was an ongoing protest about a train accident from 2 years ago and this week, one of the fathers of the one of the young people killed had started a hunger strike protest.
It was kind of bizarre to see the soldiers marching in front of the tomb of the unknown soldiers in the midst of this sad protest. But they continued their march. We had seen them marching in front of the president’s house yesterday and had noted the kilts, the pompoms and the piece of black material hanging down from the hats. And tap shoes? The steps were incredibly precise, I’ll include a video. I knew that the kilts had 400 pleats to recognize the 400 years of Turkish rule that was overthrown, starting in 1827, fully recognized and borders drawn by the European countries in 1932. But the pompoms and black piece of fabric? Valentina told us that every piece of the uniform and the march itself were symbols of the war of independence.
The slow loud march of the tap shoes was because that was part of the guerrilla strategy against the bigger forces of the Turks – making them think there were more soldiers coming their way than there were. The black material indicates the mothers’ tears for all who died. The pompoms were part of what people wore on their shoes in the days of revolution. They weren’t allowed to carry weapons, so they fashioned pompoms as “decoration” but in fact they were designed to hide daggers. Here’s a video of the march in the midst of the protest.
Back to the protest: I went online to get specifics on the protests – they’ve been ongoing for 2 years since the accident – and have grown huge again. Today, with the father of one of the university students who died having started his hunger strike and the people in the city for the race, there was a huge protest on the steps of the parliament building. When I searched online, the first article that popped up was from NPR from February and it’s now September and the protests are still going strong.
It was sad and impressive and I very much hope they get answers and accountability. Valentina said they had the money to do the necessary repairs that the train unions had been advocating for, but the money went into someone’s pocket. She also said the families of the students who died have become a strong network with a lot of public support.
I watched throughout the evening, listening to the songs, trying to get google translate to decipher the speakers’ messages – didn’t work except for brief random sentences.
Then, vacationers that we are, Eli W, Rick and I also watched the second episode of this season’s Great British Baking Show.
The family made it in last night by 10, very tired, staggering, but happy to be here.
We had a wonderful breakfast to start our day. They have a great buffet here, looking at the Acropolis and Parthenon and then we met our driver for the tour at 8:30. The morning was perfect weather wise. We met our guide at the Acropolis. Turns out there were 7 ocean liners in today, rarely happens, plus it’s international museum weekend all across Europe, so it was free entry, and this negated the tickets that had already been arranged. Babis – our guide – got in line at 7 this morning with 40 people already ahead of him and it still took him 1.5 hours. He was so nice about it.
So there were a lot of people and it didn’t even matter. Babis was a great guide, so easy, knowledgeable, it was a treat exploring with him. Eli W was able to ask all the questions he had related to his prior knowledge, very fun to see and hear. I’m not going to write about the history – biggest impact was the astonishing fact that there’s anything standing at all given the ways in which the building has been damaged, but it is completely impressive despite Lord Elgin stealing an enormous amount and putting it in the British Museum.
We went to the Acropolis Museum next which is truly a feat of design, mimicking to the exact footage of the Parthenon on the top floor. They have put the original pieces in the same place on the pedestals on top that they were on the actual building. They put in white all the pieces the Elgin stole and left blank wherever a piece was completely destroyed or missing and can’t even be approximated.
Babis had another group, had to run another gauntlet of tickets and people so we offered to let him go after the museum instead of doing the rest of the city – we’d already run over time. He recommended a restaurant in the Plakas area and we got dropped off there for lunch. It was so cool to be sitting outside in Athens with the family.
We walked back to the hotel, everyone took naps (I read and wrote this) and then we walked around the National Garden, just two blocks from the hotel. Eli C is continually enthralled with the trees – and some of them are huge!
We ended the day with a meal that sent Eli C into ecstasy – it was incredible, the same restaurant here in the hotel that had so surprised me on my first night. They made a table for 5 on the balcony so he and Kaziah were able to watch the sunset behind the acropolis and have incredible food – the rest of us saw it too, by turning to look. Beautiful!
I know I’ll probably repeat some of today with the family, but needed to do some walking so took my earbuds and phone and walked a couple of Rick Steves tours. They’re so good!
When we were here 8 years ago for my sister’s and stepmother’s birthdays, I didn’t do either of the walks I did today and they were great. Ended up walking about 9 miles which was more than I expected, but I saw a lot!
One fact that stood out today was that there was a big schism in Christianity. A note from AI: The Schism between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches occurred in 1054 with the event known as the East-West Schism. This formal break in communion was the result of centuries of growing tensions, political and cultural differences, and theological disagreements between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity. The formal split was marked by the mutual excommunication of the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople.
I never thought about it and why the Orthodoxy practices are so different. The churches are so elaborate and gorgeous. Evidently, practitioners are supposed to stand, thus the many things to look at, but very few chairs for only older practitioners.
Anyway, I looked at the first walk, Athens City and it started 350 feet from the front door of the hotel. Clearly meant to be. Between 2500 years of history (he does know how to pack it in), the cool perfect morning weather and the interesting sights, I had a wonderful morning.
At the end of the biggest pedestrian shopping mall is this gem. The Church of Kapnikarea, built in the 11th and 12th centuries. I love these kinds of juxtapositions.
The next stop was the big cathedral, built in 1842. The only reason I’m including this is because the archbishop here in WWII was incredible. He was a rare Christian leader who spoke out against the Nazi’s and protected the Jews as much as he could. They threatened to put in front of a firing squad and he joked they should hang him instead. After the war, he was the caretaker prime minister. Pretty amazing. The statue of him was erected by Athens’ Jewish community as a show of thanks.
I then continued with the tour around Athens, winding up through a wonderfully tiny neighborhood in the back of the Acropolis that I wondered if I’d find again. Can’t wait to be there with the family.
I came back to the hotel, to cool off, and get a hat and drop the over shirt – it was getting hot. My plan was to do the tour of the Agora, the ancient home of democracy. I was telling one of the bellmen my plan and he told me to go to this neighborhood in the back (different back) of the Acropolis for lunch. Off the beaten track. Cool, I’ll do that.
We’ll, the Agora was great, though the entry was not marked and was all the way on the other side from the Rick Steves directions. But I did find it, following a French couple who were also wondering if they’d ever find their way in.
Ach, just looked at my photos, really impossible to convey the enormity of this open-air plaza where people actually voted and help their senators accountable. So many cool places, here’s a view of the Acropolis from the Agora. They used to march in a parade from here all the way up once a year, a great spectacle taking a newly woven robe to Athena in the Parthenon.
After I finished the tour, I decided to try to find this neighborhood to the right and back of this view of the Acropolis where Georgia told me to go. I was watching my phone’s battery and using GPS as sparingly as I could. And I walked. And walked.
I ended up in great neighborhoods, saw parents waiting to pick up their kids and then a market that was only locals and went for blocks. I was definitely the only tourist in the midst so just took one snap. I then continued with the tour around Athens, winding up through a wonderfully tiny neighborhood in the back of the Acropolis that I wondered if I’d find again. Can’t wait to be there with the family.
I then finally gave up on finding these small plate restaurants that he said were great and started trying to find my way back. At one point, I was in the midst of land with no people in sight and I had no idea where I was. This was wide open in the midst of Athens! On my map it said I would pass Socrates’ prison – I wanted to see that. I didn’t see that.
I did see this burial spot of Thucydides – amazing to know this name and his history and here he was!
Then I suddenly hit a beautiful cobble wide walkway, ok, I must be getting closer to something I’ll recognize.
Whew, ok I recognize something (the Acropolis)and think I can find my way back if my phone runs out.
Yay, so happy to eventually make my way back to the hotel. I realized I did an entire circumnavigation of the Acropolis adding in many different areas. Loved getting a real sense of the space and how the neighborhoods work.
I wanted to explore with the family, so went on Viatours to find something that would be a day excursion and found a boat trip that went to three islands. It looked like a sailing boat from the ad, but nope, it motored, but it had these crazy big cushions that every one sat on for and aft and we just motored along. The weather was perfect, I had a good spot with a fair amount of sun protection (it’s hot!). I read two parts of two different books, chatted with a few passengers and had a very chill day.
This was a sister boat that went out at the same time. See how it looks like there would be sails?
We had three stops, I walked out and back at the first island, Agistri. I had thought I’d rent a bike, but it really was just the shoreline and then I would have been riding up into hot and arid hills, that didn’t really call. But I had a decent walk and the water was beautiful.
This is coming into the island, so pretty, with the classic blue and white church at the center.
The second island, Metopi, was just a stop for a swim. I did jump in, I’d brought mask and snorkel, but there weren’t any fish. However, the water was a perfect temp, I was really hot after walking on the previous island and it felt great. This island was a small rock and protected (though I don’t know what was there to be protected, so dry!), so we just were in the water for maybe 30 min.
The last island was Aegina, known for pistachio production. They had all kinds of pistachio products, but way too early in the trip to buy anything and I’m not wild about pistachios anyway so didn’t try any (“they’re so fresh!”). However, it did have a totally cool temple and monastery. Two other women and I shared a taxi for a set fare and he got us up to both places and back to the boat in time.
Even though it was just a tiny island, evidently Aegina was a serious maritime trading site. The Temple of Aphaia was the precursor to the Parthenon. Just unbelievable to see this temple at the very top of the island with views everywhere. You couldn’t help but think about who did the work, ach, but it was truly beautiful, built between 500 and 490 BC.
The nymph Aphaia was thought of as the daughter of Zeus and was only worshipped here. So curious how these things evolve.
We did a quick hit and run to the monastery, truly beautiful and huge. It looked so well maintained and had an amazing balcony with balustrades all the way around which caught the breezes and was so cool. Even a monk with full robes would be comfortable!
This was the Chrysoleontissa Monastery. (Copied from internet) According to the local tradition, Panagia Chryssoleontissa was originally built in the coastal village of Leonti, which was, however, very vulnerable to pirate incursions. After being raided and laid waste no less than three times, it was decided in the early 17th century that it should be transferred to a secure location away from the sea.
Legend has it that, for three consecutive mornings, when the builders returned to the construction site, their tools, left there since the previous night, had disappeared. Instead, they found them at the exact place where the monastery stands today. So, the monks decided that this should be the chosen place.
In its present form, the complex is square and includes a crenelated tower built in 1601, and the primary church (called the katholikon), which was erected later on, in 1808. Situated in the center of the courtyard, the convent church is dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God, Saint Dionysios, and Saint Charalambos.
Built to protect the monks from the pirates, it is 20 meters high and has three storeys. With its characteristically high walls, turrets, battlements, and narrow windows, it looks more like a fortress than a monastery. The place also features a huge garden and six chapels.
Having played an important role in the 1821 Greek War of Independence, in terms of both spiritual and financial support, this is also a place of great historical significance.
Up to 1935, it functioned as a male monastery. Since then, it has been a convent, housing about 10 nuns. Don’t ask me how 10 nuns can keep it up.
I guess this pathway led up to the chapels and the housing. Just gorgeous.
Today was some serious up and downing and an exploration of the remnants of WW1. One of our team was a military guy and he’d been studying the area so was really pleased to get to explore.
So – again, Italy was fighting against the Austrians and Germany during this war. Even though a lot of the people in this area considered themselves Austrian. Hard, to say the least.
We walked all the routes laid out for the day and it was truly beautiful. For something different.
We took a shuttle to Bai des Dones for a chairlift to our trailhead. We met a local guide, Christina, who talked about WWI and the geological formations around us. Luca was very knowledgeable as well so could fill in those of us who were at the back, trying to read the signs and learn what was happening. I wasn’t very interested in the machinery of war, but more so in the lives of those in the midst.
We saw trenches, bunkers, and tunnels.
Where we were going to hike to see from the top seemed incredibly far, but it actually wasn’t the hardest hike of the week. Just long.
Martin presenting our day
I took a video of the surrounding mountains, incredible (word of the week) and on the next to last mountain in the video is our hiking destination after exploring WWI. Really?
These are the Cinque Torri, a group of 5 rocks where the weathering has left a distinctive grouping. Giant and people were rock climbing all over the place, but especially the one on the right.
But first – WWI. Again, remember that they were fighting, largely against their will, their neighbors. The second note made it clear:
In the trenches, these are obviously restructured on the original. But they looked out over steep mountain drop offs.
Getting paid and needing food
Cortina is the closest valley to this bunker and the trenches. The outdoor competitions of the Winter Olympics are going to be here in February 2026. A lot of infrastructure is being built, especially because of climate change and needing to be able to make enough snow.
This is what they were looking at from the bunkers. Impossible to defend or to really attack, though bombs were dropped. This territory was not fought over in WWII.
Headquarters – rough. And looking out from another bunker
Three dogs in this photo – in many of the photos, there are dogs. Comfort? Looks like it since two are being held here.
And now – I’ve skipped a whole lot of info re artillery. But this gives a snippet of the population’s attitudes and lives in the midst. And now we’re on our way to hike. Still a bit disconcerting for where we’re aiming – yes that little white speck on the top. But I’m psyched since I did a shorter hike yesterday.
Climbers
Hiking up to the top – there’s Cinque Torre – it looks so small!
Made it to that little white speck!
Someone at the very tip top of another mountain nearby.
We went down a bit to our last incredible rifugio. Then we started basically a full scramble, hardest hike of the week down to a little mountain lake. The knees had a lot to say on this one. But almost everyone did it!
This photo was the best I could do looking back up what we’d descended. It was a lot steeper than it looks. We were all very pleased to make our way down it!
This does the best (for me) at showing the gorgeous juxtaposition of the many colors of flowers and grasses against the bare mountains. I never stopped marveling and appreciating the colors.
The lake at the end of this beautiful trail that was our reward after the scramble.
Elizabeth recovering
Then back to our hotel via bus, except for maybe 5, including Rick, who did the last mile back on foot. I was psyched to do the – yep – steam rooms at The Wellness Hotel Fanes.
Rick booked it and made it in time and we did the round about sauna. It was seriously hot, but cool. Glad I got to do it with Rick. Everyone but one couple were circumspect and wore towels, so it wasn’t just the puritanical Americans…And the whole sauna really did do a very slow rotation. Good thing Rick had warned me because the first time he thought maybe the heat had gotten to him, not realizing that it rotated.
We had a final group dinner with the guides, very fun, favorite memories in a fingersnap and then we continued the ongoing conversations during dinner. Really, the best group I could imagine.
We started with a lift taking us to the Gardena Pass, one of four mountain passes that encircle the Sella Massif. We were then hiking the Puez-Odle park, an UNESCO World Heritage site. We passed through the village of Corvara and could see into the Badia Valley, “considered to be the heart of the Dolomites region and the indigenous Ladrin people.”
Here’s Luca with an assist from Matt:
We will have a day with a lot of choices. The shortest route was the Colfosco Route: 5.8 miles, 500’ gain, 2,200’ loss. The longest route was going all the way until the hotel, The Wellness Hotel Fanes in San Cassiano, 11.4 miles 1,700’ gain and 3,100’ loss. I did the first and then left Rick and all the others who did the second and then Rick and 2 others carried on to finish out the last, walking up the last hill to the hotel. They actually ended up hiking 14 miles? I did not. We had been told that this next hotel had a great salad bar and I knew it was another sauna, steam hotel. This time, I wanted to ask without a bunch of people around, how does this actually work? If no one was around that I knew, maybe I could do the whole sans clothing thing and enjoy. And I did! I’ll get back to that.
So off we went on our hike. And here’s the Sella’s north face:
And another perspective, and Stuart holding his own in front of it:
Ötzi joins for a look and the downhill.
And a quiet moment with Sara
Today, I took the first route, main climb up to lunch and then down the gondola with all the others and then off, back to the hotel. I indulged all by myself by exploring the spa. I finally went to the woman at the desk and said what do you do with the peel? How do the interaction of the showers work? What’s with the group sauna in the turning room? And I got all my answers!
No suits for most of the areas, one sauna that wasn’t that hot allowed it. Take the peel (little pots of delicious smelling goop) into the sauna/steam room, get quite hot/sweaty rub it all over, sit for a while longer until even more sweat running off you, then shower. You’re supposed to shower after each room. Oops, none of us did that in the other hotels. I don’t think. And take one of the little white pads to sit on. Well, that’s delicate and a nice little touch.
So I found the hottest steam room, called Turkish bath. I was a little worried that you were supposed to do more since there were a couple of hoses in there. Add to the steam? Rinse off there? I didn’t use them.
The Turkish bath was very dark, little lights over head with a variety of short benches with little walls next to them. If felt very private and it was great.
Then the special performance sauna. I missed this, but a lot of the others did it when they got back just in time from the longer hikes. You’re supposed to go in the cold plunge little pool or whirlpool then into the sauna. A guy puts ice and herbs on the hot rocks then waves a towel or a large fan like a matador, walking around the space and blowing HOT air over everyone while softish music plays. That was the 5:15 one. The 6:15 one was loud music, and even hotter. Rick did this, he had a massage first so missed the soft one. When he came up just in time for dinner he was in a complete daze. I decided I’d rather try for the soft one tomorrow.
For dinner, we were on our own again so 6 of us had the great salad bar and other things – the salad bar didn’t even count in terms of having dinner – and then to bed.
We left our wonderful hotel today to venture further into a new valley. We had three choices of routes, and everyone took the long route (I think, can’t remember). The San Casiano Route, 11.4 miles, 1700’ gain, 3,100’ loss. So beautiful. Every day we just marvel.
We started with a lift taking us to the Gardena Pass, one of four mountain passes that encircle the Sella Massif. We were then hiking the Puez-Odle park, an UNESCO World Heritage site. We passed through the village of Corvara and could see into the Badia Valley, “considered to be the heart of the Dolomites region and the indigenous Ladrin people.”
Mountain rhododendron, the flowers are incredible. So many colors, shapes, all tiny.
After a long hard climb, we caught sight of our rifugio for lunch. So happy to see this!
View coming back down after an incredible meal, in the Santan Cristina Gherdeina area. And Ötzi is sighted again!
Our hotel tonight was the Alpenroyal Grand Hotel. One night, but really fun because by now our whole group was getting into this sauna/steam thing. And this hotel had an outdoor pool that was warm and with targeted jets around some of the edges. Hard jets! So you felt like you got a massage. Which Rick and now a few others did, but I was happy with the pool and saunas. I’ve decided I like the steam rooms the most.
On my way to the restaurant, I’d noticed a coat of arms sign with 1370 written on it, and then I saw a full family tree from the same family all the way up to today with a line with people born in the 1950’s and 60’s. Amazing. I’d known that most of the hotels and rifugio’s were family run, but this was one long line of owners!
Dinner on our own, nothing planned so 8 of us ate together, Marla/Ken, Sara/Stuart, Carol/Matthew and Rick and me. So fun and great food again. Started to see a theme here.
We walked outside our hotel on the Völser Weiner Route, our first hike of the day. It was 5.4 miles, 1500’ elevation gain, 900’ loss. This gain loss is what I’d heard a lot about for the Dolomites. Sometimes it did feel like a steady serious uphill or downhill, but except for our next to last day, it was never super hard. It was definitely manageable and the miles were never that long the way we were scheduled. That being said – you could do seriously long hikes if you wanted to, trails go ALL over these mountains.
A note re our hotel – and turns out all of these hotels – they’re “wellness” centers. What does that mean? Goodness, spa, sauna, steam, pools. And in this ancient hotel, they’d carved out spaces in so many directions that Rick and I took at least 30 minutes just to explore and see what was what. It wasn’t until we left after 2 nights that we found out there were two more steam and sauna rooms that we’d completely missed. Rick went for a massage yesterday and Sara texted me asking if I wanted to go to the sauna. Ok. Happy to do it with someone else. You can’t wear bathing suits in the sauna so our group by consensus said we were all going to wrap our towels around us. Sara had come up to see our room and when we were looking out the window we saw at a distance a bunch of people drop their towels and get into the fountain pool. Hmmm.
So we went down and to the sauna and baked. A lot. Then we really wanted to go to the pool but didn’t have suits. We finally decided, with some prodding on my part, to go to that same fountain pool and if no one was there we knew, we’d go behind the statue and hop in. We did and felt quite brave and pleased with ourselves. And what a great way to recover from the sauna!
Here’s Luca doing his artistic debriefing of the second day’s options.
We walked outside our hotel of our hotel, down the hill and the first site was a memorial to WWI with bits and pieces the artist had found on the hillsides. WWII was not fought in this area because they’d realized how futile it was to try to fight in the nooks and crevices of these mountains. Refugees and resistance fighters were able to hide here.
Our hike today set the frame of all the days. We were going valley to valley around the Schwerin massif, “an enduring symbol of South Tyrol.”. But first, orchards, vineyards, dairy farms…
Tyrolean helmet
Looking back down over the church and our hotel – the building just to the right of the church. This is a lot of town are, nestled into a side of a mountain.
Carol and Matthew on the way up, past beautiful meadows and then into the woods.
And our next lunch rifugio with Sara and Marla to welcome me 🙂
And after another amazing lunch, we were off to a mountain lake for swimming.
Here’s the Schwerin massif at the center of 5 valleys. We would see 4 and peak over the top to the fifth over the days of hiking.
We came back into town, but I had some energy and really wanted to see that little church we could see out our window. It looked so far away, but Elizabeth, the youngest amongst us, had already explored early that morning and said it was a wonderful church built on ruins. And that there was a wonderful jeweler in town and worth seeing her shop. So church first.
This plaque explains some of the archeology that was happening around the church. There was a little chapel outside the cathedral that was closed and had a sign “churches, museum and aperitif tours”. Bewildering combo, but this site explained that the chapel was the archeological museum.
I climbed up the hill towards the church passing this site. I went inside and there was a space carved out from the rock that was tiny. How 80 people could fit in here was bewildering, but it did feel protected.
It watched over the town.
In town looking up at church
On my way back, I went into the jeweler hoping to find a wedding ring for Rick. Yes, 36 years later. Several years ago, he’d put his ring into my hands for safe keeping. I have no idea what happened, but it was lost. We were in the Romantik hotel, in a darling little town, on a totally amazing trip with some of our oldest friends (college, Quaker meeting, NY roommate) and wouldn’t that be a cool place to find a ring?
I was completely sweaty from the day, but went in and the goldsmith was a darling woman, so appealing and she did have rings. So I went back and had a shower and asked Rick if we could look for a ring for him. And we found one! We both think it’s perfect and I love seeing it on his hand. The goldsmith had to make a new one to his size so we had to go back at 7. In the meantime, we went to have a cocktail/mocktail on the patio at the hotel. Funny little statues around the place – actually a ton of art all over the hotel, but here’s a snippet.
We then had a dinner out at a woman’s house. She and her husband cook dinners for the group all local food, from her garden or within a few k of her house. She announced a wine that was within 1 k and another that was 7 k away. She’s been recognized – magazine covers around the kitchen – for her part of the Slow Food movement. Another astonishing meal. So efficiently served and delicious. The apricot cake was my favorite.
Rick decided to get some quiet time (there’s very little on this trip) and stayed home, picked up the new ring and had a quiet dinner at the hotel.
Caveat to this section. Turns out between meals, hikes, transition, it was really hard to get time to write every day. So I’m now writing on the last day of the tour and trying to recollect a truly memorable week.
That being said, this will be the longest entry because of learning about the area and the people who settled here.
Today we met up with 3 others who were staying at our hotel and going on the Backroads trip. Turns out Bolzano only has 50 taxis and is quite a big city, actually second wealthiest in Italy. We were going to the Sheraton to meet and it was a solid 30 minutes away. If you’re going to Bolzano, definitely stay near the old town since it’s not that easy to get transportation early or late. There are buses, but time, and getting to where you want to go might be challenging.
So we met our first 3 new people taking a van together – all so nice and turned out that was true for the whole group.
We met for a check in at the Sheraton, to collect water bottles, luggage tags and snacks (turns out food would NOT be a problem on this trip), quick intro. What a nice collection of people between guests and guides. Just a treat for the whole week.
We had our first 4 mile hike on route to our first on route hotel, so we’d come dressed with day packs while the bus took our bags to the hotel after we were dropped at the Gondola.
We started our hike in Welschnofen and took a gondola ride up to the Catinaccio mountain group in the Dolomites. Per our guides, the “Dolomites” was taken from the name of a French geologist, Déodat de Dolomieu, who was the first to describe the type of carbonate rock abundant in these mountains. Evidently he was a chemist and was trying to figure out the mixture of elements in the rock because it was known that it wasn’t pure limestone. He finally add acid to the rock and unlike pure limestone, which would have bubbled up, it stayed stable and he realized that the make up of the stone was almost half calcium carobonate and half magnesium.
There is Dolomite rock elsewhere, but the unique geological history of this area came about because it was once a marine area fully covered with coral and other marine organisms that settled into dolomite rock. When the plates came together and created uplifting, these unusual mountains were formed. This was an important part of our talks by several guides, a lot of pride in this area of their unique mountain region within the alps. And deservedly so – it was spectacular.
Coming from the Rockies, it was startling to see such distinctly different formations. The vast mountain meadows with these dramatic peaks towering over us had all of us taking photo after photo in a vain attempt to capture the beauty. We were hiking, but this is a winter wonderland evidently. Even with climate change happening – and that was talked about a lot – snow was still the primary driver in this area. You can see a snow making machine behind the cow.
Today set the tone for the rest of the week. We hiked from the gondola drop off across the mountains to a lunch at a rifugio – an alpine hut that was one of a series across these mountains. The scenery was just a start – we couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. Seemingly inaccessible, even if a gondola went up, we had the most incredible lunches every single day. A huge variety from which to choose, plates of salad, bread, meats and cheeses promptly put out to greet us to get us warmed up for whatever we wanted from the menu. Really? Astonishing amounts of incredible food. Today’s specialty was the Apple Strudel. It set the tone for Rick – needing to assess apple strudel in every rifugio. This first one set the high bar. Here’s Luca and Martin holding it up for demo before cutting in.
I was so conditioned from Camino food routines, small breakfast, a few snacks, big mid-day meal and little to no supper, made me think – I’m not going to like this whole 3 meal routine and how can you hike after a lunch? Well, turns out, just fine. Oh my goodness, the food was so good, the company was wonderful, the views incredible – every day we just relaxed into these lunches and then carried on after.
We never stopped marveling at these primarily family-run rifugio’s ability to quickly put out these incredible meals, handling a fair number of people with ease. It was also starting to hike for miles seeing some, but not a ton of people and then arrive at the rifugio and all these other people were there too. There are trails all over these mountains and people come all different ways to explore. Sometimes there were dirt roads (rare to see cars), so bikes and trails with different levels of difficulty offered a variety of ways to get up to these places.
We were a group of Americans, one from Peru and one from Portugal, but the rest of us were mono lingual and just marveled at this area. Depending on where the line was in the Dolomites determined German/Italian/English, OR Italian/German OR Ladin/German/Italian. Kids are growing up with 3 languages, one week for each sequentially and then when they get older, subjects moved to a particular language. So cool.
The history of this area is that of Tyrol. The people consider themselves Tyrolean and Ladin was the earliest people and language spoken here. Again, the area determined the languages spoken. We got a synopsis lecture on the history of the area – but I didn’t have my iPad and a lot of the specifics went out the window. What I remember: Italy became a country in the late 1800’s. The northern part was Tyrolean and went back and forth between Austria and Italy. At the time of WWII, this area was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Italy, Austria and Germany made a pact to all defend if one was attacked. When the Crown Prince was assassinated, starting WWII, Austria attacked Russia along with Germany. Italy held out as a neutral territory, wanting Austria to give them Serbia and Croatia if they joined in the war. Austria said no. Then France and England jumped in and asked Italy to join them along with Russia. Again, Italy asked for territory – if they won the war, they wanted the Dolomites and Tyrolean territory. Done. So – very much against many of the Tyroleans who spoke German and considered themselves Austrian, they were now Italian territory since France/England won the war. It’s now settled, but memories are long and the languages reflect the different alliances.
Story of the Ladin in the Dolomites
And now – to the hiking. We had our first experience of the mountains. It was a bit rainy, but not enough to deter us (and so much better than the torrential rain predicted) and the group was such a congenial group, there was a lot of chatting and exclaiming together. The hike went very quickly both before and after lunch. Matthew made sure the Ötzi joined us on many days!
We’d always start with a brief overview with a drawing and description. Backroads had great mapping and tracking on their app and I didn’t look at it once. But I would have if I’d been alone or up in front as our super woman, Michelle, was fun. But I usually brought up the back. I’m steady, but not quick!
We arrived at our hotel and oh, so much fun, right up my alley. It was a historic building, a tower, built in the 1200’s. The Romantik Hotel Turm was originally a residential tower, first mentioned as a courthouse tower and jail in a document in 1244. Sold to a Monastery in 1398,. Used from 1820-1833 as a vacation resident by a Bolzano family. It was converted to an inn with attaché butcher shop i the late 19th century. [The rooms were so individual, a few of us traded looks just to see what had been done. They were really big and every one had spectacular views. It didn’t matter which direction you looked, it was beautiful.
Rick and I went out to explore after cleaning up from the hike. We were in the heart of this tiny town and the church right next door was incredible. Rick thought it might be the most beautiful we’ve seen in our travels. Evidently Italy has a fund and helps take care of these historic structures.
This one was immaculate and the organ incredible. On our last morning, the organist was practicing for 9am mass and I got to listen for a bit before we left for our next hike.
Outside monuments were interesting. This one was to WWI and was painted in 1921. This was on the wall of the church entry.
This monument had us stumped. We’re so conditioned to one way of thinking for WWII and this seemed to celebrate Germany. However, later on one of our hikes, I saw the same helmet painted on a dairy barn door and realized that it may have been more of an emblem of the Tyroleans who had died, no matter the side they were fighting on.
The cemetery was beautiful as well, so well tended and cared for, with many photos in the crosses that served as headstones. It made it feel very personal.
The town fountain was beautiful and there was a local exhibit of an artist’s photos around the town sharing the lives of women in the area.
Finally, strikingly, the benches all through the town had yellow oval medal plaques with quotes asking about life. I translated all of them because I was so curious.
Wolf Schneider’s “diary for the Essentials”
We don’t know who we are, where we come from, where we are going and what we can hold on to.
…In this sea of vagueness, of “It could be – but it could also be different,”man seeks security and in doing so renounces truth.
And today genetics and neurobiology explain…For Brockman, the conclusion therefore seems inevitable that the natural sciences hold the key to the answers to humanity’s important questions:
What am I? Where do we come from, where are we going? How does society work? Hubert us Breuer
Each of us has a story to tell about who we are, where we come from and where we are going. These stories shape our personality, create our certainties and our fears. Andreas Barella
Social work begins with the guest ion: Who is in need?…These are the biblical questions: Who am I, where do I come from, where am I going? This gives rise to very practical challenges. The Jesuit order sent me to Romania in 1991…and the CONCORDIA work was born in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Father Georg Sporschill
If man comes from heaven, he returns there. To answer the question: “Who are we, where do we come from, where are we going?” …and there are still some who think that man has made a long journey and is not of this world…. Alessandro Conti Puorger
Wolfgang Nethöfel: Being Pious
Piety is a domesticated wild animal…if you let it off the leash of morality. And within this beast lies the knowledge of where we come from, who we are, and where we are going. Our guide dog walks on the reins of morality.
And there were many many more.
The end of our day was a group welcome cocktail/mocktail gathering and a great dinner at the hotel. Rick – laughing. We laughed a lot on this trip!
Reb's Walks! 