AlphabeThursday - The Dolomites

Before we left Bolzano, my brother asked a local resident which was the best road to drive through the Dolomites, on our way to Venice.  The gentleman gave us directions going east and south through a mountain pass that was open.  I'm glad my brother was courageous enough to drive on the twisting roads; it was just beautiful!

I used an app on my smartphone to keep my diary going.  I recommend this to anyone on vacation - it's so helpful to whip out your phone (and camera!) and take notes.  I also took a tiny journal and carried plastic bags with me, where I stored tickets and cards that I picked up along the way.  When I got home, I emailed my diary to myself, so I could cut and paste the days where needed.  Here's what I wrote about our Monday:

Monday, May 28 - Bolzano to Venice
We left Bolzano and headed east into the Dolomites, tremendous mountains in the Italian Alps.  I have a lot of photos - they were hard to shoot unless we stopped, which we did several times.  I bought a cute little clock when we were at the mountain pass.  We got to Venice late because it took so long to drive out of the mountains.  We parked on Isola Nuova, an island devoted to visitors, and took a vaporetto (ferry) in with our luggage.  We're staying at the tip of the Grand Canal in the Accademia section of town, where the museums are.  Had dinner near Saint Mark Basin, what the Grand Canal spills into.  I finally had a pizza (tomato, artichoke, ham, olives) that I shared with mom.  Very good. 

The Dolomites' highest peak is at 10, 964 feet and it has glaciers!  There are lots of mountain climbing and many ski resorts, but because we were there in the Spring, there was snow only at the mountain pass.  Lots of bicyclists and people riding motorcycles.  

Here is a video, halfway up.

And then at the mountain pass:



I was so happy my brother decided to take this side trip to Bolzano and then through the Dolomites.  Actually, he was the one (or so I believe) who decided to take a few more days and go to Venice.  Thanks you, BB!




And thank you for walking down memory lane with me.  You can visit other blogs participating in AlphabeThursday and find out what they were thinking when asked, "D is for .... "