June 28th: Vigo di Fassa to Arabba

 

Despite the late dinner, we woke up early enough to make it to the breakfast table by 7:20. Unlike other hotels, this one enforced its 7:30am opening hour, but unlike other hotels there wasn't a mad rush in the morning. We ate well before descending the last section to the valley. Once in the valley, we found the bike path that avoided the busy main road. To my surprise Boen decided not to do any of the zipline playgrounds that we found along the bike path, which quickly turned into dirt.

I finally got fed up with the bike path at a construction driven detour and decided to just ride the main road. While the main road was busy the traffic was relatively well behaved. At the turn off for Passo Pordoi we started the climb. At this point we started seeing lots of cyclists come up the road, mostly encouraging us as we were passing. In fact, one of the packs was some sort of professional team as they had a follow vehicle which shouted words of encouragement to us.

It being early in the day, it was too warm yet. Passo Pordoi grants you beautiful views of the surrounding dolomite peaks once you get above 1800m. The climb is never too steep, though the traffic at times is onerous. There were plenty of places to stop and rest, and we made good use of it. We were clearly in need of a half day.

At the top of Passo Pordoi it was a zoo as usual. Lots of cyclists, drivers, tour busses all vieing for pictures with the pass sign, the sculptures, and various other viewpoints. After we got in line and took several pictures, I asked Arturo if the Gondola was worth doing. He looked up a  few reviews and decided that yes it was and we had time to kill, so we paid the Gondola fees and got up the Gondola to the top.

We weren't quite equipped for the cold or the hiking, since the plateau was rocky and snow covered in spots, but the views were spectacular and Boen had fun playing with the snow. The restaurant at the top was very expensive for what we got but we had the nutella biscuits bought the day before and ate that!

Once we'd had our fill, we descended the Gondola and then rode down to Arabba where we showed up at the Hotel Portavescovo where we had stayed at 2 years ago. In fact, for the first half of the next day we would be following the same route to Cortina d'Ampezzo via Passo Falzerago.

Without reservations (but backed with a booking.com quote) we got a good price for the half pension. We took a shower and did laundry and got everything charging before heading out for the Pizzaria where we shared a Pizza for a late lunch before visiting the DeSpar where we stocked up on Chinotto after being unable to find Decaf-No-Sugar Coke. A swim in the pool interrupted occasionally by visits to the Sauna finished off the day.

Dinner to my disappointment was once again rabbit, though prepared differently enough that I wasn't too unhappy about the whole thing.