Our guide’s name was Cristiano, and there were eight of us in his van as we experienced an all day trip to The Dolomites.
There had been a lot of rain and about four feet of rock had crossed the road and made it impassable. Cristiano shared a link. I am familiar with rock slides but I have never seen anything like this:
Cristiano started to talk about wines. He was surprised that I don’t drink. He said that there is an Italian saying: “If you don’t drink, you have something to hide.” I am pretty much an open book.
Doloniti is the name of this area in Italian. We call it: The Dolomites
Discovery of dolomite is credited to French mineralogist Dolomieu who first described the rock in the late 18th century. Dolomieu encountered a unique type of calcareous rock that reacted differently to acid than typical limestone. It is actually calcium-magnesium carbonate. The rock and the mountains were later named in his honor.
High-end glasses and sunglasses are made from sand from The Dolomites. Luxotica, Ray Ban, etc come from this area. There are many eyeglass shops in the area.
Cortina will host the Winter Olympics in 2026. Some events will take place in Milan. Cortina hosted the 1964 Olympics as well. A bobslope is being made. I had never heard of that term before.
Ladeno is a combination of Latin from the Romans and German. Italians from other areas can’t understand this language. Cortina was part of Austria until WWI when it then became part of Italy. There is a diversity of languages and food.
Ten million trees from the Cadore region were placed into the lagoon as a foundation to build the city of Venice. They were strong and are now petrified.
used mostly for furniture.
There is a 250-mile bike trail from Munich to Venice. One would not want to attempt the route in the opposite direction.
The Dolomites are young mountains and are still growing. Three peaks called Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Three Peaks of Lavaredo) are very famous like El Capitán in Yosemite National Park in California.
Many movies were shot here such as the first scene of Cliffhanger. The James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only was shot in Cortina. From Russia With Love, “Moonraker” and Casino Royale were filmed in Venice.
A village population of 5,000 swells to 25,000 in August and at Christmas. There is no air conditioning in these mountain villages.
In Venice, the water comes directly from the mountains.
to make this be known.
and its stunning lake.
We had two hours with lots of options. We decided to go to the top of the dolomite and have lunch.
There is great biodiversity in this region. A local sandwich shop has 45 different sandwiches named for the 45 species of birds in the area.
I learned a new Italian word. Pioppo is poplar. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to come up in every day conversation.
Our guide said that he thinks that one week immersed in a foreign language is equivalent to two years of classwork. Maybe so. He knew English very well and took a trip to the United States. He couldn’t understand anyone for a week. I asked him where he went and he said … California. No wonder!! Haha!
He said that living in Europe with different languages was like traveling to another state in the USA with a completely different language.
Now it’s back “home” to Venice for dinner next to one of the many canals.
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