On December 18th, I wandered around Bolzano for a while first thing. I explored a few areas and streets that I hadn't had a chance to explore the day before.
Love a pink building!
I then went to the Bus Station to catch a bus to Ortisei. I am very comfortable with trains, but I haven't ventured much into taking buses prior to this trip. I took a bus in Spain because the train lines were under construction but that's it. It is probably fair to say I was a bit intimidated by buses prior to this trip and sometimes would let that dictate my travels. This was the trip I decided to overcome that "fear" (if you can even call it that).
I really wanted to go to Ortisei and see the Dolomites and you cannot get there by train. I wasn't going to rent a car, so bus was my only option. Look, you can see the Dolomites from the bus station!
The skis were a good indication that I was waiting at the right spot.
Just a random castle on the way.
I would NOT want to drive a bus (or anything) on this narrow winding road. Cars would have to stop to allow us around the curves.
I got off the bus in Ortisei and almost immediately headed to the Secada Cable Car. There were a couple of different options in Ortisei to see different portions of the Dolomites. What I read seemed to recommend Secada more (with hindsight I think that's a summer recommendation since there would be good hiking there in the summer).
This is such a foreign way to ski to me! You take a couple of escalators up and then there are people movers taking you up a bit. Then you ride a couple of gondolas up and then a larger cable car.
The views were immediately a wow! But there was a 15-20 minute hike up to get the best views. I debated it (knee!), but decided to try. I was proud I managed to get up and down and not kill myself!
While the ride up was packed with skiers, the ride down was mostly empty.
You can see one of the cable cars coming in the other direction.
Once back down, I walked around Ortisei. They have a Christmas Market, but it doesn't open until 4:00.
I decided to go see about the other mountain I hadn't visited. I walked to the Alpe di Siusi Ropeway. The guy at the ticket booth spoke English very well so I told him I'd just gone up to Secada and asked if it was worth it to do this one too (it's pretty expensive to do each of them). He told me he thought this one was way better than Secada, so of course I couldn't click my Apple Pay fast enough!
This was my reaction video walking out of the cable car building...
HOLY MOLY! I couldn't believe it! I still can't believe I saw this in person!
This is the bridge over the roadway from the Alpe di Siusi cable car back over to Ortisei.
After coming down from the mountain, the market was open, so I walked around for a bit more before taking the bus back to Bolzano.
It's one of those places where you walk around and ask "is this real?!".
Hard pass.
On the ride back to Bolzano I looked at some of the information I had and decided where to go for dinner. I decided to try to get into Wirtshaus Vögele. I walked there from the bus station and was happy when they said no problem when I asked if they had a table for one. They marched me right through the nice dining room and right back to this hallway!
There wasn't much ambiance in my hallway, but the food was good! I ordered a filet.
Despite the language barrier I was able to convey that I like my filet VERY RARE.
After dinner I walked through the Bolzano Christmas Market on my way back to my hotel. Once at the hotel, I iced the knee and thought about how great the day was. I had really been looking forward to this day and it is always amazing when something exceeds your expectations!
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