You Can’t Sit There- Matt and Leslie try not to F up in Europe, Ch.6- Surprise Canazei
(Continued vacation story/how-to.. See “You Can’t Sit There- Matt and Leslie try not to F up in Europe, Ch.5 - Austria” for previous)
Last we left our story, Matt and I had escaped an angry herd of Marmots and were running for our lives back to Italy when the Polizia stopped us and asked for our lunch money and….
Kidding.
We had casually driven across the border back into Italy with absolutely no issues or events at all. We were headed to Monte Piana for a very special museum located at the top of the mountain. The drive continued to consist of gorgeous views and bavarian villages. We arrived at the parking lot near the mountain after maybe 2-2.5 hours of driving (including our scenic High Pustertaler Road) and still in my anxiety mode. Let’s say I was not pleased when it took us a hot minute to figure out where the shuttle was, if the shuttle was required (it is), and how to buy a ticket.
Now, so you don’t have to figure it out...
Here’s the skinny on Monte Piana:
You park in a big gravel lot near the Ristorante Bar Genzianella (you can use that as a navigation point)
Parking is just 1-2 euros an hour I think (little machine near the road)
You can walk to the top for free, or take a shuttle which runs every 20-30 minutes from about 9am to about 5pm
The shuttle was 13 euros per person for a ticket to go to the top and return; the little trailer in the corner of the parking lot will have a sign and someone inside… here you can buy your ticket… “andata e ritorno” is essentially “there and back” and 1 = uno, 2 = due (doo-ay), 3 = tre (tray)... ticket = biglietto (beel-yetto), tickets = biglietti (beel-yett-ee)
Since the shuttle runs on a set schedule, you can just hop on one heading up, and when you are done, you wait until another one shows up to bring you back down (just don’t miss the last one down!)
At the top there is a maze of WWI trenches and monuments to the Italian soldiers who fought and died in them. It’s incredible.
The shuttle is a super cool military-style jeep (at least it felt like it to me, might have just been a Jeep…).
We were driven up what seemed like mostly a normal-ish road (though in a few parts it became very narrow and dirt/gravel, and we understood why it was closed to normal traffic) by a middle-aged Italian man that spoke little to no English. He listened to his radio and got us to the top without falling off a cliff- job well done.
When you get to the top, there is a gorgeous view behind you (obviously)
And immediately in front of you the Rifugio Angelo Bosi al Monte Piana in which you can stop and get some food,water, or a beer. We chose both water and beer. After ordering 2 small beers and a water bottle from the delightful man behind the bar, I ran to the bathroom really quickly. By the time I came out just a minute later, Matt had already sat in the wrong place and gotten yelled at for it. Typical.
(from before he got kicked out- white tablecloth = table service, no tablecloth = order for yourself from the bar and sit down)
By the time we finished our beers it was about 3:30pm already. Matt then ran to the bathroom and came back out with a suspicious look on his face.
“What was YOUR bathroom like?”
“Say what now? What do you MEAN ‘what was my bathroom like’?? It was a bathroom. Toilet. Sink. Etc.”
“Really?”
“Yes really! What the heck are you talking about?!?....”
Then he shows me this picture…
Bahahahahah.
Anyway.
So it was already about 3:30pm, and we knew we didn’t have much time to hike and explore, so Matt took off at what felt like a sprint haha. I don’t know if it was the beer or the altitude or just the fact that he is in better shape than me when it comes to uphills, but I literally had to run to keep up with his walk, and I couldn’t stop giggling because of it which didn’t help the situation. I think my anxiety was officially gone at this point..
We finally make it to the top, though, and I cannot even describe the amazing views and feelings of being up there. Seeing, very literally, land that soldiers fought on in the first World War. Standing where they stood. Seeing where they stored materials. Peering out from inside the trenches and seeing the Austrian trenches on the other mountain. Matt was moved at the first site of the trenches, but what really got me was when he asked, “Can you imagine being up here when a storm came through?” With the dramatic and jagged mountains surrounding you on all sides, picturing being up there, in the middle of a war, unable to leave, unable to lay by your loved ones in comfort, the thought of a thunderstorm sounded absolutely terrifying and… demoralizing. What an incredible experience.
Can you find Matt?
Pano caught Matt twice ha
Just unreal...
We even found what look to be old bullets sitting at the foot of the monument (we left them in place after this picture),
So after about an hour, hour and a half, we caught the shuttle back down to the car and continued on.
We were headed to Rifugio Gardeccia for the night. There are a few ways to get up to the hut, but for all of them you need to be in the area of Pozza di Fassa. There are a couple of cable car + hiking options, a hiking only option, and a shuttle option. Our first plan was a cable car + hike, so we were navigating to that area.
If you plug it into Google maps from the Monte Piana parking lot, no “Avoid Highways” needed, the route is this winding gorgeous mountain road. The FASTEST route there is a 30 mph backroad SR48 that takes about 2 hours ha. Matt was in heaven.
We found out after the fact that SR48 is actually the “Great Dolomites Road,” known for being gorgeous, and Matt’s new favorite road.
https://www.guidedolomiti.com/en/great-dolomites-road/
Matt found a specimen!
Mountain road traffic jam got Matt reeeaalll agitated haha.
On the way, I did as much looking as I could on the methods to get up to the rifugio, but was unable to confirm times, unfortunately. Especially after hitting the mountain road traffic, we weren’t going to get to the cable car until about 8pm, and we thought there was a chance that the cable cars and shuttles might not be running.
Long story short, we were right. None of the cable cars or shuttles were running that late, and we were not about to do a steep 2-3 hour hike at dusk. So, we found a hotel. We had driven through a few nearby cute looking towns that looked pretty busy, so we started driving back to pick one to spend the night in ha. We landed on Canazei.
Once we had decided, we did a quick map search for parking and found a free lot (well, we’re pretty sure it was free, regardless we did not pay :-) ) at Via del Piz, 15, 38032 Canazei TN. We parked and started walking in search of food. It was late. We were hungry. All we had had (that I can remember) since our deli meat breakfast in Austria were car snacks and a beer. We decided to try a place called L’Ostaria da Besic. It was a pizzeria type place that looked full enough but not too full so you knew it was going to be at least OK food, and big and touristy enough to not be awkward and maybe have some english speakers.
It ended up being exactly what we needed. Good pizza, nice staff, good beers, and a man loudly and entertainingly horribly singing karaoke across the street. We both tried to eat our pizzas the “Italian way.” I gave up (again) after about 2 bites, but Matt stuck it out and ate the whole pizza with knife and fork. Angrily. But he did it.
While we ate, Matt booked a hotel just a few minutes away called the Hotel Cesa Tyrol.
Hotel Cesa Tyrol:
Booked through Booking.com
Was the most expensive night of the trip, but let’s be real, we booked it at 830 or 9pm on the night of.. Or later.. In a touristy town. I think it ended up being about 150 euros for the night
Our room was huge. It was a double or queen bed with a little living room area as well and a balcony. Matt called it the Motel 6 Honeymoon suite hahaha
Breakfast was included, and they reserve a table for you for the meals you will be there for.. so when you walk downstairs, you tell them your name and they take you to a table with a little card that has your name on it
The staff was seriously the nicest we have experienced; they spoke english very, very well, the man walked us to our room when we first got there to make sure we found it OK and knew where the light switch was etc. ha
Free parking on site
Honestly, if you want a little Italian mountain town but are afraid of staying somewhere small or with less amenities or where they don’t speak english, then stay here. It was the nicest lodging we stayed in all trip.
After we checked in, we headed back towards the center of town to find another drink and maybe just maybe catch the end of the Croatia vs. Denmark game. We ended up finding a neat little bar with outdoor seating and caught the last 20-30 minutes of the game which went into double overtime and penalty kicks. It was really fun!
We were just a few minutes from the car at that point, so we walked back to the parking lot and then drove back to the hotel.
Side story for Matt to tell you another time- A Whole New World.
So we get back to our room, and find that they have robes in the armoire!! Classy AF. So obviously, since we are the classiest of people, we put the robes on over our clothes, sat on the balcony drinking our leftover wine from a water bottle, and listening to the Rumba lawn mower next door.
It’s a thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotic_lawn_mower
Sometimes the unexpected nights are the best nights.
The next morning we packed up and went down to our very special breakfast table. We felt really important, until we realized we had paper napkins when every other table had fabric napkins…
Finally, it was time to get our butts up to the Rifugio!!
Til next time
See you soon!!!