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Bkmarking
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Dec 13 -
It had snowed quite a bit overnight, the plows were out in force, 3c. I went next door to Silvia Café for a cappuccino and chocolate croissant (€4.40) while Bill fiddled with the percolator. We both failed at our attempts to caffeinate; my cappuccino was luke-warm, his percolator experiment was a disaster, despite having watched a Youtube video before trying it out. It was a shite weather day, lots of wet, slushy snow, no views to be had. We went across the street to pick the brains of a cranky woman at the tourist office. She suggested a hike I already had on my list, one where views didn’t really matter. So, we walked from our apartment to where the trail began along the Sextner Bach Stream, donned our traction cleats and headed towards Sesto/Sexten. The trail then climbed up to Wildbad, a former spa town fallen to ruins. Here the path was wide, and also used by logging trucks; one rumbled by and scared the bejesus out of me. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bagni-wildbad https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...1264701a01.jpg Walking towards Sesto/Sexten https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...d9c51c1166.jpg Walking towards Sesto/Sexten https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3de9c8a1c1.jpg Walking towards Sesto/Sexten https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...db16f2a530.jpg Walking towards Sesto/Sexten https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3a6e919b6d.jpg Wildbad https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...27a4db8126.jpg Wildbad We then continued on to the Riese Haunold Hutte/Rifugio Gigante Baranci, which was slow going due to deep snow and the 380 meter ascent. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...975d7bfc92.jpg Walking to Reise Haunold Hutte/Rifugio Gigante Baranci https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f74c38b446.jpg St Salvatore im Wildbad https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3c1f58b672.jpg Walking to Riese Haunold Hutte/Rifugio Gigante Baranci https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...fbebecb7a7.jpg Riese Haunold Hutte/Rifugio Gigante Baranci By the time we reached the hutte/rifugio, we were enclosed in a blanket of white, completely socked in; the snow was coming down like gangbusters. We had a self-service lunch, barley soup for both, sausage and fries for Bill, wine for both €31. We were surprised that ketchup and mustard packets were free (we’ve paid as much as .90 chf per packet in Switzerland) and once again were amazed at how inexpensive decent wine is here in Italy. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...be06c5323f.jpg Riese Haunold Hutte/Rifugio Gigante Baranci Rested and fed, we decided to hike back down, thinking we could do it in an hour, but it took us 1:20 of steady walking; the hike there and back had taken 3:20 in the snow, 8.5 km. Back in San Candido we sought out cake and café lattes at the Wachtler Store, a beautiful place full of interesting food and gift items spread across two floors. There’s a tiny coffee shop in the middle of the store - I loved this place. We had excellent hot café lattes served in insulated glasses and shared a piece of cake €10.20. Lovely. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b2c5e8c704.jpg Wachtler Store, San Candido We then walked to DeSpar to pick up dinner provisions and try out their nifty orange juicer; if we had these at home I’d drink a whole lot more OJ. Then it was back to the apartment to check out the infrared steam cabin. https://hydrosoft.at/ To be continued... |
Dec 14 -
More snow overnight; a partly cloudy day expected. We stepped outside and saw this: https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...34cc3118d4.jpg We went across the street to the tourist office for some more info. The same cranky woman was on duty, and even more testy and impatient than yesterday. We then took a bus to Versciaco from the bus stop right in front of the Residence Silvia (free with Sud Tirol card) and got off at the stop nearest the cable car station. Here we picked the brains of a very helpful young man at the ticket office. We bought a three day cable car ticket (good for three out of four days) and he explained which cable cars it was valid on, where to go for the best views, etc (€60 for me, €54 for Bill). He was a breath of fresh air after the grouchy woman at the San Candido tourist office. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...050703b867.jpg Versciaco We then took the cable car/gondola up to Helm/Monte Elmo, said to be the ideal starting point for exploring the entire 3 Zinnen Dolomites ski area. The views were fantastic, the sky blue, I couldn’t stop taking photos. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2ea5a5eb0c.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8df04f7d9c.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ef91b57ae3.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7dc5132fbc.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...75ac748465.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3db5d98e35.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo We located the trail to Hahnspielhütte, which was groomed for walking, but the snow was still plenty deep; some skiers were also using it despite the signs prohibiting them. We trudged uphill through the snow, me stopping every few minutes for photos of the gorgeous mountains to our right. Winter walking isn’t without its challenges, although there was only a 150 meter elevation gain, this walk really wore me out. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...99080791d9.jpg Walking to Hahnspielhütte https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a7d1fdb6b0.jpg Walking to Hahnspielhütte https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4747e29ef6.jpg Walking to Hahnspielhütte The trail crossed a few wide ski pistes, which always makes me nervous. Skis are much faster than hiking boots, and I always worry about getting mowed down before I can make it to the opposite side. Some 30-40 minutes later we reached Hahnspielhütte, where we settled in at a table on the terrace for an alfresco lunch. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...dfa576fd8f.jpg Hahnspielhütte https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...54ab453add.jpg Hahnspielhütte Let’s just say that the views were world’s better than the food. We both had their barley soup, which was so incredibly bland (even after adding salt) that I couldn’t finish it. We also shared a ½ liter of white wine - our waitress mistakenly brought us a full liter - we asked if she was trying to get us drunk, and told her we’d only ordered 5dl (€30.90). After lunch we backtracked to the Helm/Monte Elmo self-service restaurant, very busy with skiers, where we shared a nice cheese strudel, €6. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0c6afcbe92.jpg Backtracking to Helm/Monte Elmo https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...280f6eeae1.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo self-service restaurant We then took the cable car down to Sexton/Sesto, just because we could, and then went right back up to Helm/Monte Elmo after a few photos. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...89b743f237.jpg Sexton/Sesto https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...feffe3b2fe.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...41b3ffe80b.jpg Helm/Monte Elmo Eventually we took the cable car back down to Versciaco and crossed the overpass to the train station. We’d considered taking the train to Lienz for the Christmas market; the ticket machine indicated it was €48 for both return, the OBB app indicated it was €35.20 for both return. As we thought about it, the train to San Candido arrived and we had to make a quick decision. We decided to just return to San Candido. Back at the San Candido train station, we walked the 15 minutes back to the apartment, stopping enroute to pick up kebabs from shop across the street from Residence Silvia (€7 each, on the small side, but good). It’d been a spectacular day in the Dolomites. To be continued... |
....and according to the OeBB website, Vierschach-Helm - Lienz in Osttirol and back costs 43 EUR.
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Wow Mel - such a fabulous recap of your winter adventure. Your photos are spectacular. Thank you!
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neckervd - so who do we believe, lol?
Thank you cats! |
Winter wonderland!
I am wondering why cranky people decide to work in the tourism industry at all. And the food saga continues ... |
Ingo - Maybe that offered liter of wine was meant to distract us from the food:)
We wondered the same thing about the cranky lady. |
Back to your stay in Stubai valley: I talked with a friend today who was skiing there last week. Lousy weather mostly but they were super happy with their hotel (room, spa and food):
https://www.erika.at/en/ |
So fabulous to see these photos in the winter.
We did the same walks, but it was end of September….much easier 😉 |
Adelaidean - I've been meaning to ask you how the weather was that time of year...you know we don't like the heat.
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Wow!
We do admire your ability to walk in such incredible snow and cold. Thank you for such detailed comments and gorgeous photos. We have been considering San Candido for September this year and with your report and the wonderful reports from Adelaidean it looks like this might the place. We have been in this region a number of times in mid to late September and have not found it too hot: but we are used to warmer weather. Again: thank you. |
Re Erika:
Thank you Ingo for this hotel reference. It looks like a promising place to stay as a place to recover from the long haul flight from Australia. Been in this region before but like the look of this place. |
love_travel_Aus - can you define not found it too hot? You Aussies are much more tolerant of the heat than we are!
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Enjoying the photos! San Candido looks nice. We've only driven through that area briefly. Taking notes for the Dolomites trip after next - we’re already booked for Alta Badia (Colfosco) in September, so maybe Val Pusteria in 2025! We also like smaller towns. I remember going into Ortisei for the lifts on our first trip in 2009 and being glad we were staying elsewhere. Ditto for Cortina.
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Thanks for confirming what I suspected about Cortina, ms_go!
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Thanks Mel. The Dolomites dressed in white look glorious. You’ve helped put the area high on my list.
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Originally Posted by Melnq8
(Post 17531027)
Thanks for confirming what I suspected about Cortina, ms_go!
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msgo - Colfosco is a great choice for Alta Badia - I’d happily stay there (and it’s my intention for another trip)
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Dec 15 -
2c in town, -3 c in the mountains - partly sunny day predicted After an encore of café lattes and croissants at my favorite new place, the Wachtler Store (€12), we explored the Dolomythos Museum in their basement, part natural world, part Christmas shop, and quite interesting (no entry charge). https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...56ae295da2.jpg Wachtler Store https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b7c2fa24ad.jpg Wachtler Store https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2bf1312fa0.jpg Dolomythos Museum https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c4b19413f9.jpg San Candido We then took bus 446, hoping to go to Signaue which we saw on both the Sud Tirol and Google maps. But, upon boarding the bus, we discovered that our stop was not listed on the display board. Hmmm. So, we got off the bus as soon as we saw a cable car, in this case Croda Rossa. We walked to the ticket office and enlisted the help of the friendly clerk for the Bad Moos Rotwand/Croda Rossa cable car. We told him that our plan had been to take the Drei Zinnen/Tre Cime cable car to Stiergarten for what we’d been told by yesterday’s ticket seller at the Helm/Mt Elmo ticket office were the best views of Tre Cime, but we didn’t know how to get to Signaue. He told us that the Drei Zinnen/Tre Cime cable car had broken down yesterday between 3-4 pm and wouldn’t be open for three days. Argh. He suggested we go up his cable car instead, assuring us that there were good views and restaurants. So we did, finding a much smaller ski area, fewer people, and great views. The first restaurant we saw - Rudi Hutte - was completely in the shade of the mountain, so we walked down a short steep trail and had lunch at the cozy Rotwandwiesen Hutte instead. Bill had the homemade bacon dumpling soup which he really liked, we shared a plate of grilled local cheese with a mystery dumpling-like thing, and fries, washed down with a Hugo and an Aperol Spritz, €29.50. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...bede59e725.jpg Croda Rossa https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...cd711b276f.jpg Croda Rossa https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...82787de54f.jpg Croda Rossa https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2c90f881d1.jpg Rotwandwiesen Hutte https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...9c961a3f6d.jpg Rotwandwiesen Hutte https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...9339a5e702.jpg Rotwandwiesen Hutte https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...df5082ac43.jpg Rotwandwiesen Hutte By the time we left the hutte, the wind was up and it had gotten quite a bit colder. We walked back up the hill to the cable car station planning to make our descent and walk to the Croda Rossa bus stop. The cable car stopped and left us dangling mid-air in the wind for a while, and I had to wonder if it was on the verge of going kaput too. It started with a lurch, then stopped again several times, but fortunately didn’t break down. We made it to the bottom, but then had to wait 25 minutes; the cable car delay caused us to miss our intended bus. Although it was only 2:30 pm, the sun had already sunk behind the mountains and left us shivering in the shade. We got off the bus at the Haunold/Baranci stop and then took the chairlift up to see the now visible views that we’d missed the day we’d walked up from town. It was windy and my ankles were slightly exposed; I thought I’d freeze to death. Once at the top, we warmed up with a mug of gluhwein in the Riese-Haunold restaurant, which was winding down for the day; we the only customers. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5bbd1baa52.jpg Haunold/Baranci Then it was back down, where we walked the 10 minutes to the apartment. Later we went out to explore the tiny San Candido Christmas market and to check out the very cozy Enoiteca Dell’Orologiaio. It was just the two of us and a small group of men, who became louder and louder as the alcohol kicked in. While we enjoyed our wine, an accordion player and his elf costumed cohort came in from the Christmas market playing music and asking for donations. We donated, they left, and peace was restored, €17.20. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...18f231979b.jpg San Candido https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...541dd54c94.jpg San Candido https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...eac1a203d8.jpg San Candido Before returning to the apartment, we picked up kebabs again, €14. To be continued... |
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