August 5, 2012


Cortina d'Ampezzo: Settling In


I've settled in at Hotel Ambra, my base here in Cortina (as we cognoscenti refer to it), resting for a day before heading back on the trail.

Cortina is a medium-sized resort town nestled in a wooded valley at 5,000 feet, surrounded by the craggy stone peaks of the Dolomites, which surround the town like so many grey sentry walls.  Host city for the 1956 Winter Olympics, Cortina is Italy's St. Moritz, an upscale, sorta posh, sorta chic resort popular in both winter and summer.  High end stores line the main shopping street along with a variety of restaurants, cafes, tobacco shops and a church or two.  It sits on the border between the South Tyrol, with a strong Austrian flavor, and the more Italian Veneto to the south; Venice (100 miles) is the closest major airport.

Winter and summer, Cortina is the hub of the Dolomites.  At this time of year, it is home to a large number of vacationing Italians, some families and quite a few folks like myself who come to take part in the hiking, climbing, cycling and other outdoor activities available in this beautiful, mostly protected region.  Numerous national parks surround Cortina and I should be able to report on several in the next few days.

My hotel room has a small balcony, which has nice views of two nearby peaks, visible today with the warm weather and pleasant breezes common to this time of year.  My guide says that this will be an unusually warm week with mostly good weather, although with late day showers that cool things down, which I will probably welcome because, as was true in Switzerland, there is no air-conditioning (or screens, for that matter.)

Not much to report yet.  I stocked up on a few food items at the local Coop after a lunch of prosciutto and melon.  Dinner will probably be simple with an early bed so that I can attack the hills tomorrow with renewed vigor.  Hopefully I will not have to shlep all the stuff in my daypack that I did in Switzerland; I'm mule-like enough without actually being one.

More to come, with pictures and, hopefully, something interesting to tell you about!