Last weekend we decided to rent a car and escape Duino for a little adventure...we ended up in the famous Dolomites in the Italian Alps! Our destination was a small, out of the way bed-and-breakfast that Kristen found in the area near Belluno where the Dolomites start to rise up from the Adriatic coastal plain. Our plan...to go hiking in some real mountains and get a much needed peaceful night away from our small town.
On our way we stopped in the mountain town of Belluno, an authentic alpine city in the foothills of the Dolomites with jagged peaks forming a beautiful backdrop around every corner. A quick stop for some cappuccino and a walk around the Saturday market in the piazza and we were back on our way up into the mountains. Our destination: Alla Cassetta, our B&B tucked into the hills above the small town of Cesiomaggiore.
We reached Alla Cassetta in the early afternoon on Saturday and were really pleased with what we found. The B&B, we came to find out, was a restored farm house originally built by the current owner's great-grandfather. The owner, Christian, was an incredibly nice and knowledgeable guy from the area who gave us great information on everything from hiking to birds to trees to wild mushrooms...anything you wanted to know about the region. The house was warm and cozy with a wood-burning stove in the big eat-in kitchen where we sat and ate and talked with our gracious host. And that wood stove came in handy because it was a lot colder up in the mountains than it was down at the sea!
Saturday afternoon we had just enough light to do a short but strenuous hike up into the mountains to get a closer look at those pink and green rock faces of the Dolomites. We hiked up into the mountains via the Val Canzoi on a trail that starts near a milky white-green river flowing down from the Parco Nazionale delle Dolomiti Bellunesi high above.
The late-afternoon sun provided some nice lighting for the colorful peaks. We didn't get up very high or go very far, just enough to wet our appetites for future trips back to the Dolomites to hike further in (and farther up). Can't you just tell that Kristen is dreaming about those future trips when we can hike to the top of those glowing peaks in the distance? I know that I can't wait to go back!
We reached Alla Cassetta in the early afternoon on Saturday and were really pleased with what we found. The B&B, we came to find out, was a restored farm house originally built by the current owner's great-grandfather. The owner, Christian, was an incredibly nice and knowledgeable guy from the area who gave us great information on everything from hiking to birds to trees to wild mushrooms...anything you wanted to know about the region. The house was warm and cozy with a wood-burning stove in the big eat-in kitchen where we sat and ate and talked with our gracious host. And that wood stove came in handy because it was a lot colder up in the mountains than it was down at the sea!
The late-afternoon sun provided some nice lighting for the colorful peaks. We didn't get up very high or go very far, just enough to wet our appetites for future trips back to the Dolomites to hike further in (and farther up). Can't you just tell that Kristen is dreaming about those future trips when we can hike to the top of those glowing peaks in the distance? I know that I can't wait to go back!
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