There is a mountain range in the southern Alps known at the Dolomites (Dolomiti in Italian). It is an area that used to be part of Austria but after World War, became part of Italy and there is still a strong Austrian culture with German language and traditions. Our Italian friends recommended a lovely area called Alpi di Siusi for skiing, so we drove there for a post-Christmas visit for each of the past two years.
Alpe means pasture and this area is now a World Heritage site because it is the largest alpine meadow in Europe. The cows and goats who graze here are moved to lower pastures for the winter. Many of the farmhouses and small barns are still present but some are now restaurants and lodges for skiers in the winter and hikers in the summer. As at most European winter resorts, downhill skiing co-exists with winter hiking, sledding, nordic skiing and horse-drawn carriage rides.
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| The Schlern (Dec. 2013) |
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| A view so beautiful we decided to use it for our Christmas card |
Last year (Christmas 2013), our daughter Annie was visiting from the United States so she was able to join us. We stayed at a small family-run hotel in the countryside outside of Suisi which provided both breakfast and dinner each day. The staff spoke German and Italian and most of our fellow guests were German speaking. Each morning, we caught a bus which took us to the cable car that goes up to the ski area. The day that we arrived, the region received over one meter of snow so the conditions were fantastic.
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| Annie's visit - December 2013 (photo by kind stranger) |
This year (Christmas 2014), our son Patrick and his wife Lizzie came to visit from Colorado but were not able to bring the snowy weather with them. There has not been much snow in the Dolomites yet this year but even a mediocre snow day here is beautiful. We stayed in an apartment hotel in Castelrotto which is about 7 kilometers by car to the cable car. The trip was made even better when we met up with friends from Como who shared some delicious meals with us.
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| Patrick and Lizzie's visit - December 2014 |
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| A nice way to get back to your hotel. |
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| The Dolomites have a characteristic jagged shape and pastel color |
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| Riding up in the cloud (2013) |
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| Annie above the cloud |
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| Musicians waiting for the chairlift. |
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| Entertainment at the Castelrotto Christmas market |
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| The town of Castelrotto (Kastelruth in German) |
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| A reminder that these are pastures in the summer. |
