Europe on a Boot-string

After looking at the weather forecast we decided to head east. The amazing thing about Europe is that sometimes it seems so small. We had breakfast in Italy, morning tea in Austria, then dinner in Slovenia. It was only a 3.5 hour drive. The morning tea in Austria was memorable as we went off the highway and found a traditional bakery in an old village square. The range of cakes was stupendous, and brought back memories of our visit to Kitzbühel in 1986.  Staying in Austria would carry a great risk of stomach expansion.  Fortunately we crossed over the border into Slovenia and were soon at our Air B and B in Bled. This pretty tourist town is on the shore of Lake Bled, and has all the features of a fairy tale.  Cliff-top castle, wooded island with a beautiful church, green forests, blue lake, and mythical lake monster.  Dara really scored on the Air B and B. We were greeted by our friendly hosts and plied with espresso, and homemade biscuits, lemonade and liqueur. Our ...

We started our hike by taking the local bus from Cortina, getting off at Lago di Braies. We nearly messed up at Toblach, where we changed bus, by almost getting off at the train station instead of the bus station. The pretty green lake was flat calm with tourists out in row boats.  Lago di Braies After walking around the lake we had a four hour uphill hike to lunch at Rifugo Briella, at 979m. The last stretch was though beautiful karst country; striated white limestone rocks, and stunted low-growing pine. The highlight was seeing an ibex with massive horns. The low point was a brief meeting with the most outrageously racist person I have ever come across. A small section of via ferrata followed, and wild flowers became abundant.  The limestone karst landscape Some via ferrata to spice up the climb. Lunch at Rifugio Biella. We had a grand lunch: pasta, beer (when in Rome...) before traversing the moonscape to Ucia de Senes.  Loud music from a live band greeted us, with a c...