Venice to Cortina

Our late morning start yesterday meant that we had until 1130am to get ourselves on the bus back to the mainland and the carpark. It was ingenious really since we were able to pack everything up whilst talking to both parents again and left at 1015am. We both carried the large bag down the three flights of steps since there wasn't any elevators and then walked about 3 minutes to the water bus stop and hauled all our luggage on. Once again the boat was rather packed and it was even more difficult with more than just a backpack to keep track of this time. The boat stopped on a lot of ports before it ended at the bus station and I was able to leave the gear with Lew whilst I pushed myself through the crowd to the side of the boat where I could get some Gopro footage. We had worked out that we could use the bus as part of the ticket we purchased yesterday and it would even take us a couple of minutes walk away from the carpark back in Mestre. If we choose to take the train we would have to pay the €2.50 ($4.20 NZD) and then walk 20 minutes to the car so it was a no brainer. We hopped off the boats and straight onto the "4L" bus, 10 minutes later we were back in Mestre and picked the car up. It did cost us €36 ($60.60 NZD) to have it parked there but we left a lot of stuff in it and we knew it was safe. Lew was a little rusty getting back into the car and stalled it straight away pulling out of the park! We headed in the direction of Cortina but planned to stop off at Belluno on the way for a potential Kappa store. The autoroute started getting closer to the mountains and we automatically became more excited as to where we were heading for the next few day! Belluno didn't seem far away as we busied ourselves with beginning our overview of where we had been and our tips for people wanting to do the same thing. Belluno is nestled at the foothills of the Dolomites and we were planning on staying here initially but after more research and a lack of accomodation in Belluno we decided to stay in Cortina. We found some underground parking just outside of town and were pleased to see that it was only €1.80 ($3 NZD) an hour. A short two minute walk into the main piazza we were frustrated to see many of the shops were closed between 12.30-3.30pm. Of course when we came across the Kappa store it too was shut between those hours and with it only being 1pm we tossed up looking around and having lunch or continuing up to Cortina. We decided after searching store locations that there was in-fact one in Cortina so we would continue onward. On our way out we stopped off at a grocery store to pick up some fruit and also tried to locate a local looking pizzeria for a sneaky pizza for lunch. We pulled into the front of one place called Trattoria Pizzeria Ulla Peppa that actually did vegan mozzarella and also got their flour from the towns wheat crops. Lew said he wasn't entirely hungry so we ordered one pizza between the two of us which I knew was going to end up being a bit of scrambled to each get our share. The place had a cover charge so we took it to go and it was so steamy and hot it began to fog the car up. Lew said to me as we got in the car "I think we do have a pizza problem" and I replied "yea we do it's not cut!" meaning we would have to just tear it since I couldn't be bothered hunting for the knives and forks in the back of the car. It took Lew ages to find a place to stop since we didn't want to just eat right outside the place which meant I had to try and feed him pizza whilst driving. It had the most delicious tomato sauce we have had so far on it and Lew didn't care that it didn't have any cheese for a change and of course once we had finished it we wished we could have a second one since they were an affordable €4.50 ($7.60 NZD) for the marinara anyway. Once we had finished lunch it was a non toll road that made it's way further into the mountains to Cortina. It was just unreal scenery and Lew said it was like looking at the backdrop of an MacBook. There were trees changing colour to beautiful oranges, yellows and reds amongst the ever green pines with the outline of the Dolomites in the background. For some reason it was quite foggy/cloudy/smokey but the haze added to the feel of the place. We pulled over a couple of times to take pictures and also set the GoPro up outside the car with a suction cup to take a video time lapse. Arriving into Cortina itself the houses reminded me of what we will see in Switzerland with the typical ski chalet and the place wasn't very large to navigate around. We couldn't find any affordable Airbnbs so we were staying in a hotel called Hotel Aquila. Lew reckoned we must have been upgraded since our room was lovely and had a nice view over the mountains outside- they had valet parking and we even had breakfast included! I think total for two nights was €144 ($242 NZD) which wasn't too bad after all but we don't have a kitchen though so will have to eat dinner out. It's cold enough that it doesn't matter if we don't have a fridge as we can put the chiller bag outside!

Funny enough the Kappa store is actually just outside the hotel so you can imagine what we did as soon as we unpacked. The bonus was it was also open but Cortina in general feels a bit like it's a ghost town. It will be interesting to come back and ski sometime and see what's it's like during the peak season. We had a success at the Kappa store with Lew getting a beanie and also a nice long sleeve shirt to add to his collection of Italian souvenirs. We wandered around the town some more looking at the ski shops and those shops that clearly are for the wealthy with their fur coats in the windows. We found a store that hired out gear if we wanted to do some of the via ferratas in the area so will do some research tonight (they are ladders and wires up in the Dolomites that were created during WW1 for easier movement of troops and equipment). We also want to climb the Tre Crime so no idea how we will fit it all in. The sun was down by 5pm and we were rather chilly - it's the first taste of real winter we have had. The restaurants all open at 7pm so we had a long way to go until then but we checked out some of the menus but were still unsure of where we would go back to, especially since we can't do pizza again. Heading back to the hotel we began our research into tomorrow's adventures and Lew found a place that did via ferratas guided tours and they were still open for another 1/2 hour according to google. We threw on some warm stuff and walked right through town to their office but sure enough the place was completely dark and quite obviously closed. Instead we sent them an email- we didn't want to do a guided tour but just wanted to get a bit more information on the best one to do and how to get there. They did have some information outside their office and we book marked a couple that looked like our sort of level of climbing experience. Since we were already out and it was 7.15pm we decided to find a place for dinner. There was more to the town than we realised and there were some shops up the back we hadn't seen but nothing caught our eyes. Earlier when we were out there was a place called Il Vizietto that did a lot of different pastas and looked quite and cute, also the ratings on google were pretty high so we decided on that one for tonight. Sure enough it was a lovely atmosphere with a few other locals and tourists and we were pleased by our decision. They started us off with some bread and also an appetiser from the chief in which they made a special dairy free one for me. They were great and said they could make anything on the menu dairy free so I got a risotto and Lew ordered the tagliatelle with wild meat ragu. Every time we finished majority of the bread we were given another filled up basket and this happened at least four times over the course of the meal. I'm not meaning we finished all the bread each time by the way! We had decided not to buy drinks tonight but the most annoying thing about Europe is that they won't serve you tap water. We were asked whether we wanted still or sparking and usually I just bring a drink bottle and when the waitress isn't looking I pour it into cups for us but Lew had already answered "still". Of course it came out in a bottle and we knew instantly we would be charged for it.

Dinner was interesting and Lew wasn't so sure about his wild meat ragu at first seeing as he didn't even know what type of meat it was! I didn't want to ask incase it was something strange and it would ruin his meal. My risotto didn't have many vegetable in it other than the yellow courgette but was ok tasting. I actually think my mum makes a better risotto though so perhaps I'm just a bit spoilt since she's an amazing cook. After dinner they gave us some biscotti and chocolate hazelnuts and by this stage it was 8.30pm and we were keen to get back and continue our research. They offered us a drink such as limoncello which we both declined and asked for the bill. Now this was the most expensive meal I think we have had to date - €43! ($72 NZD). They charged us €3 ($5 NZD) for the bottled water and €8 ($13.50 NZD) for the cover charge which we weren't expecting since it was never outlined in their menu. At least we made the most of all the bread but we were still wondering whether the drink we just turned down would have been included as well. Lew made a good point on the way home that the cover charge is effectively a starter which we would usually get and infact a €4 ($6.80 NZD) starter each isn't too expensive. Imagine if we added drinks to that though!! 😫. Once at the hotel we skipped the idea of having a swim in the hotel pool as we were both shattered. We decided tomorrow we would do the via ferrata called via ferrata Alpini to the Col dei Bos summit and get up early to find some climbing equipment for hire! How strange to think we woke up in Venice?