Thur 11th – Mon 15th June
Accommodation: Hotel Angelo Engel
Sat 13th June
It was a beautiful sunny day and forecast to be quite warm which made quite a change from yesterday. Our plan for the day was to walk the Seceda Ridge line and we had reserved tickets on the Ortisei–Seceda cable cars for 11 am. This ticket covered the two cable cars needed to access the region: the first is a comfortable 8 seater cabin that travels 2.5 km from Ortisei to Furnes and takes about 10 minutes. The second is a larger, standing-room-only cabin where you are squashed in, sardine style, and that travels about 2 km, from Furnes to Seceda, and takes about 5 minutes.
This trip up to Seceda was much busier than the one yesterday to Alpe di Suisi and this had implications for our time on the mountain. The whole of Ortisei, and I dare say the Dolomites, is awash with American tourists both young and old. There are a lot of Asians as well but, in this case, I think the Americans well outnumber them. Mark thought he had a gentle All Trails walking route planned for our time up on the Seceda Ridge but that ended up being very far from the case. He had earlier showed me the elevation profile on the All Trails app and the 2.5 hour ‘moderate’ walk supposedly started with a little downhill followed by some uphill and, then, most of the walk was a gradual downhill back to the cable car. In reality, our experience was nothing like that profile! Our actual walk started with a fairly steep downward section, with the path being very narrow and quite congested, and it just kept going. It was not a vibe at all. It was so steep that you could only watch your feet and there was little chance of enjoying any of the view. We regrouped after about an hour at a little restaurant hut for a hot chocolate. When I spied a road from the hut winding back up to the cable car, a nice, wide relatively smooth path. It was like the yellow brick road for me. I made a decision then that I was going to take the yellow brick route back up to the cable car station and the others, Mark included, also thought that might be the best option. My reasoning was that this was a wider path, and therefore safer but also that it may not be as steep a gradient. There were a lot of others taking this route as well so I don’t think I was alone with my thinking. I did get the first part correct but not really the second part; it was still quite a steep climb, very steep in some places, back to the cable cars station.
Overall, the scenery along the way was quite spectacular however it wasn’t as pleasant an outing as the one we’d had yesterday up on Alpe di Suisi. And yesterday‘s cable car was about half the cost of today’s combined tickets. By the end of our walk we’d only covered about 6km but it took almost 3 hrs. We were all glad of the achievement at the end and not sorry we had undertaken this walk but if anyone was coming to the Dolomites and had to choose between the two mountains, and this might be very controversial given the iconic status of Seceda, but I would definitely choose the Alpe di Suisi walk over the Seceda Ridge line walk.
Of nearly as much interest on the day for me was the up and down travel in the seated, 10 min cable car out of Ortisei. On the way up we chatted with a couple from Austin, Texas and Mark gave them our All Trails walking route for the Ridge. God help them if they actually also tried to follow this mysterious path! On the downhill section we had a late-20s,American-born Pakistani who worked for the US Military and was based in Germany. When Coll asked if his job was at risk of AI he smiled, somewhat apologetically, and said that he was the AI! Both his father and grandfather served in the Military in various capacities and I had so many more questions I wanted to ask him that it was lucky for him the ride was only 10 minutes! A more sobering comment from the young man was that his skin colour had never been an issue for him growing up in the USA until now. Thanks Trump! I don’t expect he will be hurrying back to the USA any time soon! Reflecting on our cable car journeys, I actually think there could be a book in the stories that emerge out of these travels and I’d have been just as happy riding up and down this cable car all day as doing the steep downhill and uphill walking! It would have been very expensive though; a single return ticket for these trips was €74 (approx $121 AUD).
We got back to the hotel at around 3.30 pm and, after doing a load of washing, spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the glorious sunshine by the pool. Coll and David were well into the wellness aspect of the hotel and made use of the spa, the steam room and sauna.
Dinner tonight was a little place just outside the main part of the tourist village, Snetonstube, and it was so good we booked to go back there tomorrow night. They even had cloth napkins that sealed the deal for me!
Sun 14th June
Today started with a bang. Literally. At 7 am loud cannons announced the start of a day full of scheduled festivities for the Feast of the Sacred Heart that dated back to Napoleon’s time. The boys had a big bike ride planned for today that involved driving to the starting point and they left early at just after 6 am but only to arrive home shortly later as Mark had bike issues.
Coll and I had already decided we’d take on another walk but one we hoped would not be as demanding as the previous two. An Aussie, whom we had met at the laundromat yesterday, had advised us that the Alpe Resciesa mountain range was supposed to be more of a gentle walk and some quick Googling, as well as a chat with the hotel concierge, confirmed this to be the case so we decided to give it a go. Alpe Resciesa is at a higher elevation than Alpe di Siusi but lower than the Seceda Ridge line. It turned out that the boys would be joining us after all, given their failed bike ride attempt, so we all left together after breakfast. Our journey involved a short walk up to a modern funicular that took us directly up to Alpe Resciesa and it was a scenic path with the funicular passing through woodland and meadows as it climbed up 2,200 meters to the summit.
I had discussed a walking route for us to follow with our hotel concierge but also checked on All Trails and found they aligned. Using the All Trails app is an excellent tool as it tracks your journey and you can see whether you are following the correct path; an issue which is very handy in the Dolomites as there are so many criss-crossing tracks. Our loop today was about 5 km and graded as ‘easy’ but it still involved a bit of a steep climb in sections and even a little bit of rock scrambling BUT it was a great outing and one that we’d all highly recommend if you’re ever in the Dolomites. One didn’t have to spend the entire time watching their feet, the scenery was spectacular for the entire route and there was even a stop along the way for another hot chocolate. It was a great walk and filled in the morning nicely as we got back down to the hotel by 1 pm and then had another afternoon of rest and recovery by the pool.
Colleen showed me around the Wellness area of the hotel this afternoon. I hadn’t been down there until today and it was mightily impressive. It’s a vast area where you can go for treatments, such as massages and beauty services, but there is also a ‘Just Relax’ suite which was quite Zen-like with a huge fish tank and dimmed lighting and lounges. There were also two sauna rooms, one just for females, a steam room and a spa area. The whole space was beautifully appointed and it’s such an asset for those people who enjoy saunas, steam rooms and the like but, sadly, that’s not me. Colleen and David had gained excellent value out of their room rate though as they’d used most of these services every day. We will all be sad to leave this place!
Dinner for our last night was back at Snetonstube and it was just ok. They must have had a different chef on for a Sunday perhaps because we’d been served and completed our meal in just 25 minutes! We strolled through the Village on our way back to the hotel and stumbled across what appeared to be a promotional evening for a clothing shop, to which we were all invited, but we graciously declined as we’d seen the prices for the clothing items. It was then back to the hotel to watch the final part of the Sacred Heart celebration ritual with various bonfires scattered across the mountains.
We had all thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Dolomites and it was made all that more special by our stay at the wonderful Hotel Angelo Engel. We didn’t think anything could beat our time at the luxury hotel we had enjoyed in Rovinj but this place won hands down. The Hotel Angelo Engel offered a smaller, more intimate experience that we all greatly appreciated. We had the same delightful Italian waiter, Nick, at the bar each night who understood us Aussies very well, perhaps because he had lived in Balmoral for 8 years. After we’d returned from dinner this night, Mark was trying to order two red wines from him, the same he ordered each night, and Nick stood by politely nodding as he waited for Mark to finish asking, but he already had the two glasses in his hand! It caused quite a laugh! He was just delightful and it is small things like this that go to making a hotel experience not just good, but great! The hotel was pure luxury in every area and all of the other staff were delightfully helpful and friendly too. Needless to say, we all think Ortisei was a great location for exploring the Dolomites and we’d very highly recommend this hotel. Tomorrow we leave Ortisei and head to Riva Del Garda where we have three nights before heading to Milan for our final night together.
