October 7 - Cortina

What a difference a 150Km can make in the culture.  Today we drove north from Venice to Cortina.  The drive was very scenic as the bus traversed the multiple valleys in among the Dolomite Mountains, which are part of the Eastern Italian Alps.  These mountains are smaller than the Swiss Alps but the peaks are more jagged.  Locally they are known as the Pink Mountains, due to the colour of the rocks during sunrise and sunset.  Personally I didn’t see it but maybe I haven’t drunk enough wine.

Each day on the bus tour, we are supposed to rotate to a new seat on a predefined schedule.  It is a simple rotation, because you just move forward 5 rows until you reach the front of the bus and then you move to the other side of the bus and starting moving to the back.  It is funny because each day there is some disagreement between people who can`t figure out where they are supposed to sit.  I think our youngest grandson, Cooper, could ace this schedule and he is only in senior kindergarten.

Along the way we passed a set of villages downstream from the Vajont Dam.  Throughout the summer of 1960, minor landslides and earth movements were noticed; however instead of heeding these warning signs, the Italian government chose to sue the handful of journalists reporting the problems for "undermining the social order.  In 1963 a massive rock slide from one of the mountains caused the water level in the reservoir to rise above the dam which in turn caused a major flash flood that destroyed five villages and caused 1,800 deaths.  The Longarone Flood is still remembered in Italy as one of its worst natural disaster. Today the river bed appears to be bone dry because of this summer has been so hot and dry in Italy.

I have not seen a single golf course while we been here in Italy.  Of course it is impossible to travel the major highways in Canada or the USA and not see a sign for a golf course, so it seems very strange because we know that golf is very popular in Europe.

Cortina was the site of the 1956 Winter Olympics.  These were the first Olympics where the Soviet Union participated.  At the games Canada took home one silver medal in Pairs Figure Skating and two bronze medals for Hockey and Women’s Downhill.

The original `Pink Panther’ movie with Peter Sellers was also shot here.

View of mountains from our hotel

Cortina is an alpine village and bears little resemblance with other major cities in Italy.  The village seems to be more Swiss than Italian.  The villas here are covered in white stucco and have full wooden balconies whereas most Italian villas have coloured stucco, brick or stone walls and have small ornamental balconies.   

Chalet in Cortina

After lunch we went to a World War One outdoor museum.  In the First World War Italy and the Austro Hungarian empire fought each other for control of the Adriatic Sea.  Between 1915 and 1917, the Italians and the Austrians battled for control of the Falzarego Pass, which is north east of Cortina.  Each controlled a set of mountains and would shell each other in a vain attempt to dislodge each other from their defensive posts.  This was a key battle ground because if the Italians could break through in this valley they would be able to control the South Eastern Alps and be able to invade the Austrian-Hungarian Empire through the Brenner Pass.  If the Austrians had been able to break through the Italian lines they could have occupied Venice and controlled the Adriatic Sea.

We went to the top of Mount Lagazuo, via a cable car, where we were able to walk around the trenches and tunnels. From here  we could see the views that the soldiers from the Austrian army had of the valley and the Italian positions.  It was extremely cold and windy up there.  It felt like it was going to snow.  I can’t imagine how terrible the conditions must have been during the winter for these soldiers.  Later we moved down the road about 2 Km and stopped in an Austrian fort, Fort Tre Sassi, where there is a museum with many artifacts from the war.

Falzarego Pass from Mount Lagazuo

In the end the Austrians were able to break through and capture Cortina.  But because of the collapse of Austrian economy in 1918 and subsequent breakup of the Austrian/Hungarian empire, Cortina was returned to Italian rule. 

Snipers post dugout on topof  Mount Lagazuo

To finish off the trip we stopped at bed and breakfast, where we had fresh apple strudel.

Our hotel again met our expectations.  We are staying at the Hotel Europa Cortina. It did have a nice bar decorated in rich wood, instead of the usually Italian marble. The hotels we`ve being staying at all have a least one English TV station, but it has always been a news or business station.  The internet service has been excellent and cheap or in some cases free.  The only problem was in Cortina where service to the entire district had been cut off.

Barbara,our guide told us that when she started working in the tourism trade she worked in a hotel.  She was told by the maids that North American tourist thought that the bidet was used to wash fruit instead of being used for personal hygiene.

For dinner the hotel put on a turkey dinner to help us celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving.  We even had a Bellini to drink.  This is a famous Venetian peach and Champaign drink, that unfortunately we couldn’t get in Venice.