European Grand Tour 2007 Day 7

Day 7

After a nice breakfast outside in the hotel courtyard we were off. On my hike up the hill the night before I had seen road signs for Via Panoramica so I thought we would have a drive up there to have a look. There were some hairy roads and great views so it was worth the trip. I managed to scrape the bottom of the car at one point but there does not seem to be any visible damage :-)

Via Panoramica, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Lake Garda is very pretty in the north, the water is very blue compared to the dark inky colour of Lake Como. Presumably Garda is much shallower than Como?

After the panoramic drive we checked the rubbish guide book and took a risk to go to one of the recommended stop offs, Varone Falls.

Varone Falls, originally uploaded by xrrr.

They turned out to be well worth the visit. The falls are 90 metres high and the visitor bit was split into two caves, one at the top and one at the bottom. Lots of water, lots of noise and lots of spray so no photos I am afraid.

After the falls we headed for nearby Arco where there is a castle on the hill. Hill. Repeat hill. By now it was getting on for around 30 degrees celsius and it was a big hill. Alison got a bit grumpy but we strove on to the top. I thought it was worth it for the views but I think I was in the minority :-)

Arco Castle, originally uploaded by xrrr.

View from Arco Castle, originally uploaded by xrrr.

After we got back to the cool of the car's air-conditioning we decided to press on. I stopped to take this photo by a lake:

Lago di Toblino, originally uploaded by xrrr.

The hotel we were staying in was a few hours drive up the motorway. On the motorway the temperature got to 37 degrees C. Fortunately the hotel was at a ski resort and so was a pleasant 25 degrees or so. The drive from the motorway was through the most amazing scenery and the Hotel Rosengarten was pretty much in the middle of nowhere at very far end of a road into the wilderness (well about 5 minutes from the village centre).

Hotel Rosengarten, originally uploaded by xrrr.

The hotel was right next to a chair lift so we bought a ticket and headed on to the top to see what was there.

Chairlift, originally uploaded by xrrr.

At the top there was a car park, a pub, another chair lift to higher up and some great views of the Rosengarten mountain range.

Up in the Dolomites, originally uploaded by xrrr.

We resolved to come back the next day, drive up to the car park and take the next chair lift up to the higher place. We had time for a beer before the chair lift closed and then headed back to the hotel.

Up in the Dolomites, originally uploaded by xrrr.

I went out and took a few more photos from the meadow/ski run by the hotel before dinner.

The Dolomites, originally uploaded by xrrr.

Up in the Dolomites, originally uploaded by xrrr.

The hotel staff were great, they all spoke perfect German which totally confused us and I ended up trying to communicate in a new pidgin language that I called Germitalglish. Fortunately I had emailed ahead that Alison is a veggie so that was not a problem - until she got a fish for her main course! Obviously something got lost in translation. But they were happy to exchange it for a plate of vegetables. My beef was nice :-)

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