And we are off to Dolomiti
We had to part ways with Patrizia Monday morning. Her kindness continued and she not only drove us to the train station, she waited for the train to arrive for an hour. I think she was afraid we would miss it lol. We said our Caio Caio and she promised that they would all come to visit us and Nicole and Dylan.
Our train was one stop only, 10 mins, to Padua where we picked up a car and headed north to Lago di Braies in Dolomiti. The beauty of driving through the Dolomites in the summer (we were here winter 2019 with the boys skiing in Cortina and Alta Badia) had us singing The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music and Edelweiss.
Just before getting to our hotel, we stopped for lunch at a agritourisimo is San Vito. We are now in German speaking Italy, and all of the towns look Bavarian for skiing since we are in the dolomites. I had a typical beef goulash with a ham, speck dumpling called Canederli. Paige had sausage and fried potatoes. It is very heavy food and I really need some grilled chicken and a salad lol.
We took photos of a small beautiful church called the parish church of San Vito. It was closed so we could not go in.
We took some photos of some fighting cows behind the restaurant before we continued to the lake.
So when we arrived to our room on the lake, we had to pinch ourselves with the surreal beauty. Our balcony overlooks Lago di Braies. We quickly headed out for the two mile jaunt around the lake. Of course there is a small chapel on the trail called Capella. (Closed). We met two German speaking girls on horseback that asked us to take their photo then they took ours with their horse. We found some very hungry trout eating real flies and we wished that we had our fly rods.
https://www.lagodibraies.com/qr-code-en-p208.html
We saved some Amarone wine from Verona and finally opened it before we found a place for dinner.
We had a molto buono fresh grilled lake trout followed by homemade German apple strudel with homemade vanilla ice cream.
ABOUT LAGO DI BRAIES
“Lago di Braies is South Tyrol’s most popular lake and arguably the most beautiful lake in the Dolomites — if not the entire world (although some claim Lago di Carezza deserves the crown). Tucked between sheer mountain cliffs at an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet (1,490+ m), Lago di Braies gleams like perfectly polished jade.
Its crystalline waters are fed by a labyrinth of underground springs that fill a vast expanse beneath the mountains. Braies ripples across 77 acres — an area equivalent to approximately 30 rugby fields — and plunges to a depth of 118 feet (36 m).
What lies beneath the surface of Braies? Trout and the stuff of legends and myths.
According to ancient folklore, Lago di Braies is a magical gateway to the underground kingdom of Fanes whose people are the original inhabitants of the Dolomites. The kingdom of Fanes appears in many South Tyrolean sagas and has historical roots going back 2,500+ years.
Another legend of Lago di Braies, albeit much more recent, tells of 10 tons of gold lying at the bottom of the lake. When World War II ended, Nazis supposedly sank the treasure.
This legend may have some plausibility. During the war, Nazis used the stately Hotel Lago di Braies adorning the northern end of the lake as a base. Built in 1899, the hotel still operates today and is owned by the same family that opened it. In 1945, the hotel played a key role in liberating 139 concentration camp survivors including several family members of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg — the leader of the most famous failed assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler.”
We definitely needed to sleep 10 hours after Mestrino and we woke up to an amazing breakfast at our hotel that even had a juicer. We are ready to go check out another lake before our predicted severe thunderstorms arrive at 2 pm.
