We took a trip to the Dolomites in Northern Italy to go hut-to-hut hiking. The places we stayed weren’t exactly huts – more like hotels in the backcountry with running water, electricity, meals, and a full bar. (Definitely not roughing it, and no full packs!). The scenery was gorgeous – steep mountains above green meadows, with the occasionally friendly sheep or cow. Some of the hikes were a little challenging – upwards of 15 miles with a couple thousand feet of elevation gain, but fortunately not that high (6000-7000 feet).
Prior to the Dolomites, we spent a week in Austria, starting in Vienna and ending in Salzburg with a couple of days on Lake Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut. We toured a 2600 year old salt mine and and took a trip through the world’s largest ice cave (or so they claim). Kade skipped Austria, but we met him in Munich for a beer before heading south.
Our flight back was through Rome, so on the way we stopped in Florence for a day and saw the Duomo, Michelangelo’s David, and Botticelli’s Venus.