DAY 1

The Dolomites

It was August 15th and a long-awaited journey was about to begin. This time the destination would be the Dolomites, one of those places where you can't stop seeing impressive photos and that when you discover its location you can't believe it's so close. I had always had a strong desire to know if those sites were real and this time I would find out for myself. I had managed to convince Carlos and Pablo that it was our destination this summer, and to be honest, with very little effort. We would leave from Valencia (VLC) to Milan (BGY) (177€ round trip) at 6 in the morning and there we would rent a car at € 8.60 per day and beard (258.50€) (10 days) (3 people). A few kilometers from Bergamo we made our first stop at Lago di Garda, where there is a Castle in the water (Rocca Scaligera) that we finally couldn't see. The road was collapsed, the Italian roads had presented themselves as our first great enemy, a real disaster.

We continued north, the landscape was changing, the mountains began to surround us, we crossed a large river by a bridge, we crossed a mountain range through a tunnel and soon after we reached Lago Di Carezza. Perhaps a not so popular postcard from the Dolomites, a postcard that welcomed the Italian Alps, a postcard made up of three layers: a lake of mesmerizing colors, a horizon of pines and firs, and in the background, a mountain range with endless of peaks.

We would arrive at the campsite at night, set up the tent practically in the dark and fall asleep at the subtle request of our neighbors in the form of a direct and efficient "Shut-up guys".

DAY 1

Trip details

- Departure from Valencia Airport (VLC-BGY).
- Arrival at BGY airport.
- Car pick-up inside BGY Airport.
- 1h30min Driving from Bergamo to Lago di Garda (Sirmione).
- Lunch in Sirmione.
- 2h15min Drive to Lago di Carezza.
- 1h40min Drive to Camping Sass Dlacia.
- Camping check-in and pitch the tent.

338 km

4h 40 min

Tolls

Car

177€

Camping

DAY 2

Lago di Sorapis and Misurina.

It had been a long time since I woke up in a place like this. I walked out of the tent to the car, the trunk had become our travel wardrobe, and I got ready to shower. Camping Sass Dlacia (13.80€/person/day) had been our choice as a base camp. The highest-altitude campsite in the Dolomites, a full-equipped campsite, with a supermarket, restaurant, pizzeria, sauna, toilets and hot showers, rather focused on caravanning, and too prepared if yours is the wild style.
We decided to start strong with two emblematic locations, we prepared ourselves for the warm-up route, with a total of 13 km to go up and down to Lake Sorapis, a lake of blue waters, with a dream color, that no matter how many photos you see you need to see it with your own eyes to believe it's real. The very pleasant route was traveled mostly between pine and fir trees, and in turn, between dozens of hikers who had proposed to do the same route, a must on the trip to the Dolomites. We practically did not manage to be alone the whole way and little by little it became the challenge of the trip, to be able to hear the silence on the mountain, something unlikely for me to date, an unknown sensation for me, mountain and crowd.

No later than four in the afternoon, we had finished the route so it gave us time to visit something else. We took the car and went to Lake Misurina, where you can rent some boats to navigate the lake, and from where we took the second photo of what we thought was a hotel, but later we would discover that it was a center to treat children with asthma .

DAY 3

Three peaks, zero cakes.

Encouraged to try the famous cakes from their shelters and for being one of the emblems of the Dolomites, we headed to Tre Cime Di Lavadero. When we got to the vicinity of the park, we found an infinite line of cars that wanted, like us, to get into the kitchen. The queue was not moving and when we approached the guards to ask they told us that the upper parking lot was full, so the only option was to go up by bus. We had to go through the checkout and half an hour later the bus left us at the foot of Tre Cime, in the Auronzo Refuge, on the opposite side of the postal view.

We had planned a 10Km route that we would finish in 4 hours at a fairly relaxed pace. The route consisted of going around Tre Cime, passing through the Lavadero and Locatelli shelters, where we ate and took this photo, and the Langalm shelter. Note that the vast majority of shelters in the Dolomites have different names in Italian and German, which is quite confusing, since they appear in one way or another without any pattern that we could identify.

The route was simple, we moved motivated to devour the cakes of the shelters that we had heard so much about, but that we finally could not try, the shelters were saturated with people and we decided not to waste time queuing.

DAY 4

One shirt, three "Bambinos".

After the rutes we had planned a relaxing day, to rest for the 3-day route that we had the next day. We took the car and headed to Alleghe, a charming little town on the shores of a lake with the same name. Perhaps a little encouraged by the hype of the blogs we had read, it was not so up to par, as it was named the most beautiful town in the Dolomites, and honestly, despite having a certain charm and being located in a privileged location, just a mountain town, like many others around.
Taking advantage of the fact that we were surrounded by civilization, we used the morning to gather all the food that we were going to need for the route, some trekking poles for our badly injured Carlos, a raincoat for the intrepid Pablo and a map that, without having planned, would save us of more than one rush in the days to come. We ate some trout tagliatelle that are worth highlighting at Coldai (€ 21) and returned to the road towards Braies.

Lago di Braies is undoubtedly the most emblematic photo of the Dolomites, a famous jetty on the shores of the lake, surrounded by high mountains and some charismatic wooden boats, a candy in the mouth for instagramers. The good thing about being Spanish for places of mass tourism is that we arrived at the site when everyone was leaving. After an hour in line and 28€ we managed to rent the famous rowboat. After half an hour of rowing, The boats began to withdraw and we took the opportunity to have fun for a while taking photos with a country shirt that forces Pablo to wear for the photo.

DAY 5

The peak of the Eagle.

We had changed the plan several times already, we started a three-day route through the Italian Alps, a linear route that we had to close with a bus section. We left the car in a free parking lot in Cortina d'Ampezzo and took the first bus (1.80€) to Passo Falzarego. There we dodged the first 600 meters of unevenness with the Funicular (12€), as we climbed we entered a thick fog, we could only see the cable from which our cabin hung and suddenly the Lagazuoi Refuge welcomed us to the summit .

We started to go down through some trenches of the war and to follow Route 20. Soon the road separated into 3, the map and the signs used different numbers, but we would discover that later. We were walking along a path that was getting narrower every second, other hikers were turning back and soon we were left alone. Eagles flying in circles announced the summit, exhausted we reached the top and dumbfounded, we discovered that the only way to continue was by making a Via Ferrata, yes, we had gotten lost or rather, we got the wrong track.

We had lost 3 hours and we had done 6 kilometers in vain. When we discovered it the spirits were on the ground, the group was on the verge of breaking down, Carlos wanted to leave, I could not stop thinking: What had been the failure? Had he chosen too ambitious a route? Did the team have the necessary form for a route of that caliber? We had 12 kilometers ahead of us, it was like starting over and it was already 12 noon. We decided to slightly modify the route, taking a lower path with a pass to the base campsite. The new route allowed Carlos to continue walking with us, we stopped to eat very close to the campsite, at the Scotoni refuge, and he started to rain heavily.

The rain made our pulsations lower, it was a pause, a recapitulation. The rain stopped and we began to play with the Alpacas in the refuge, the rest was long, but enough for all of us to regain strength and already dusk, we managed to get together to the Lavarella refuge, where we would sleep.

DAY 6

Shelter, cows and Parcheesi. Compensating for Karma.

The greatest mystery of the mountain is its constant ability to bring out the true self of people. It is a feeling that scares or comforts, but that leaves no one indifferent. The combination of tiredness, disorientation, thirst, hunger, heat, dehydration or loneliness, make you feel helpless, vulnerable and that is when you are really able to know yourself, to know how you react in an extreme situation, a dangerous situation or despair, a situation that you or a colleague overcomes.

The previous stage we had push Carlos to the limit and perhaps we broke one of the golden rules of the mountain that already taught me as a child and that for many years I was transmitting to my little scout pupils: the rhythm of the route is set by the slowest of the team, or in other words, the strength of your team is marked by the weakest of its members, you have to adapt to it, help it and accompany it on its path of improvement. In the mountain you have a lot of time to meditate and the truth is that I was not at all comfortable with what I had done, had we forced too much? Had we made the right decision? Had he lost control of the situation? Had something changed inside of me? Was this my true self? In this second stage we decided that karma had to be compensated. We cut the stage in half, sacrificing some landscapes that had been recommended to us. The route was quite bearable and we got to eat at the Sennes Refuge (€ 30 / night / bunk), surrounded by green meadows with grazing cows, where we ate a tribute steak (€ 18 per person, not bad for a refuge) and rested all afternoon, playing Parcheesi and enjoying the views.

DAY 7

 The chubby cheeks innkeeper

It was the last day of the route and we had a goal to meet. Our only way back was to catch a bus 30 kilometers away and our timing in the Alps was not very precise, so we decided to lean towards the safety side. We woke up at 5 in the morning, had canceled breakfast at the shelter, and ninja-style packed our backpacks to get out of a crowded room of wooden bunk beds. It was night and the fog was thick, the cold enveloped us and the moon lit our way. Pablo and I knew that feeling well, I have to admit that I forced the situation a bit, excusing myself at the times, but I think it was actually because I missed it.

The first time you walk at night you cling to your flashlight, as if it were a weapon that can protect you from the dangers of the dark. Little by little, with experience, you realize that the Moon is your best ally, and you discover the incredible ability of your eyes to adapt to darkness. We walked surrounded by fog with just a few meters of visibility for several hours, cows appeared to us sleeping in the middle of the road, everything seemed worthy of a scene from the Lord of the Rings. At around 9 in the morning we found a refuge, Malga Rossalm, we decided to go in to shelter from the cold and have lunch. When we entered there was only one boy, about 12 years old, endearing, blond and chubby, who invited us to enter when he saw our stupefied faces and prepared us some coffees and some scrambled eggs with ham, which tasted like glory. Without a doubt, a stop left its mark.

DAY 8

Seceda, San Giovanni and Santa Madalenna

When Sam, my Chinese coworker, came to Valencia I spent several days showing him the city. In one of his lucid moments he told me, I think Luis, I have already understood that it is to do tourism for Westerners, it is to go to see churches and old buildings. And in a way he was right, so as good Westerners it was our time to visit churches. On the Dolomites route there are two points indicated in all the guides, which are the churches of San Giovanni and Santa Madalenna. Both located in the town of Santa Madalenna, an hour and a half from our campsite. Apart from a couple of memorable photos, the visit did not have much more crumb, so we took advantage of the fact that we had moved west to visit Seceda as well. Seceda is another point on the Dolomites photographic route, a route that invites you to visit the most iconic postcards, some easily accessible and others not so much. You can get to Seceda in three ways, on foot, with a Cable Car from Ortisei (34€ round trip) or with the chairlift to the ski slopes from Santa Cristina (20€ round trip), so you choose the level of difficulty. My recommendation would be to go up Santa Cristina and walk down, it is a walk that is worth it.

DAY 9

Marmolada

It is highest mountain of Dolomites and the stories take place in there will staid there.

DAY 10

Carmen

It was time to say goodbye to the Dolomites, the return flight was waiting for us at 6 in the morning the next day and since there were almost 5 hours by car we decided that the best thing was to make our way. As soon as we got up, we started to prepare our backpacks, we said goodbye to our dear neighbors and hit the road. The first stop was in the city of Trento, which I had never heard of and which was pleasantly surprised, with a very well preserved historical center, tiny and quick to visit.

We continued on our way to Milan, we were running on time and posters of Verona began to appear on the highway. It was in another direction but neither of us had been, the idea of ​​diverting us began to take off and suddenly Carlos's light bulb lit up. It turns out that Verona is famous for an opera festival, which takes place every year, in which you can enjoy opera in the open air no more and no less than in the Roman amphitheater of the city, and yes, that night there was a concert. . If you have ever been to the opera you will know that it is a rather expensive show and that it also governs a dress protocol. We were all made up in camping gear, so our chances of being admitted were clearly in doubt. We went to the box office and that night we ended up seeing the Carmen Opera for 23€, dressed in mountain clothes.