Milan & The Mountains
Milan & The Mountains
Lombardy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto & Trentino
We have spent all our time thus far in “The South” of Italy - considered by some the real Italy and by others the poor cousin. Arriving in Milan station it was possible to almost immediately confirm the latter - this town has no shortage of money. They even have a full blown underground metro network, which is easy to navigate (oh my god!) and we take it to our accommodation.
We’re staying in the Navigli neighbourhood near the canals, and there’s heaps of little restaurants with international cuisine. Despite our desperation for a shower after our sweaty overnight journey it’s too much so we stop at a little Asian place and for the first time in Italy have some delicious noodles and spicy curry. We don’t have long in Milan so use our time wisely to finish up admin for onward travels, wash our clothes and eat as much good non-Italian food as we can.
The Carnic Alps
We’ve hired a van to explore the mountains with Indie Campers, and the reviews are very mixed. We’re a bit anxious about what’s waiting for us at the depot but it turns out fine - we have a very new van that’s in good nick and we are in and out within the hour. We went for a biggish van (Fiat Ducato for those in the know) so we could have more space and a shower and toilet, but totally overlooked what that might mean for negotiating the mountain roads.
Getting out of Milan isn’t too bad, and we survive a few hours on the road to our first sosta. We are trying to push North-East to the Carnic Alps, to let the crowds in the Dolomites die down a bit before we base ourselves there, which means a big day of driving. We have two possible routes - a nice valley road or a nice mountain pass. Rosie quickly suggests we should do the pass because it’ll be more scenic and has great memories of driving a pass from Austria to Italy years ago with her friend Cara in a campervan (which was somewhat smaller, but this fact is overlooked).
Well, the Stelvio pass is beautifully scenic. It’s also total chaos with cyclists and motorcyclists wizzing up and down and quickly becomes extremely stressful. The hairpin turns are not designed for big vans nor the roads wide enough to accommodate cyclists and cars. We wonder if there’s some kind of cycling event on but decide cycling the pass must be “a thing” for and we’re the stupid ones coming up here with such a big vehicle. Oh well, we’re up here now and we have to get down so the only option is to keep on going. We make it to the top of the pass and there’s delicious bratwurst snags cooking in roadside stands but also about a million lycra-clad cyclists so its a hard no. Amber has to wait a bit longer her first bratwurst.
We reach the crescendo of the pass on an exceptionality tight hairpin and poor Rosie has to complete a reverse hill-start three point turn to get the fat Ducato’s rear around the bend. It’s something out of a theatrical over-the-top Italian movie, we have honking, an overweight man in lycra shaking his fist at us and to top it off a female motorcyclist screaming like we’ve run her over. Rosie completes the turn and the last few hairpins without incidence and we are down. We take a break to shake off some adrenalin (and tears), and for Rosie to apologise to Amber for being stressed and snappy. This is the first and last pass we do in the van.
We stop for the night alongside a couple of other vans at a dam which grants us a spectacular sunset and our first (and unknowingly last) set up of our table and chairs.
Our second leg of the journey east takes us through icey-pricey Cortina, a mountain town that’s heaving with people. We spend 45 minutes doing laps looking for a parking space and learn another important lesson (avoid touristic towns). Our reward for parking is a delicious flat white (with coffee art!) so it’s not all bad, and we find a good shop to stock up the van.
The driving today has been much less stressful, but then as we’re nearly at our destination we find a huge truck blocking the road. Rosie tells Amber to get out of the van to “spot her”, not knowing what she’s doing she wanders about in the rain gesticulating wildly, but it feels way too tight to pass. The friendly truck driver informs us he can’t move his truck, but offers to relieve Amber of her duties, and we have no choice with cars banking up behind us. We kiss the van deposit goodbye as we drive with literally an inch on each side, sharing none of the confidence exhibited by our spotter, but somehow make it through unscathed. We pull up on the banks of a river in a delightful and quiet spot where Rosie necks her Dolomiti craft beer in record time.
The Carnic Alps are directly east of the Dolomites, and look pretty much the same but minus the crowds and some of the big flashy limestone peaks. We decide we need a day off from driving so pick a nearby hike. It’s a good introduction to walking in the Alps as its up up up then down down down. We see one other mountain biker, and lots of cows, and it’s lovely to be somewhere in nature without other people. It’s wild and beautiful and so so green, we feel very happy to have made it over to these lesser visited alps.
The rain soon sets in, and we head back to our base of Sappada to find hot showers and recharge the van battery. We’re learning how long we can last without needing to top up or empty something, and its about four days. The van gives us a lot of freedom to explore, but it also requires careful management of battery and water levels. We have a delicious meal and Guinness at the camp ground and we wait out the rain by watching movies and reading.
We are keeping a close eye on the weather and every bit of forecast sunshine is capitalised on. We head up a nearby valley for an afternoon hike. It’s a steady plod uphill on the road because we decided no to more narrow switchbacks and parked below the trail head at a Rifugio (restaurant rest stop for hikers and skiers) . It means we’re already a bit gassed when we hit the trailhead, and so we make it basically to the top but not quite, and decide to enjoy the view on a bench with some donkeys. We pull out an apple to snack on and the donkeys are immediately all over us, leaning in to try and eat our apples. They’re completely undeterred when we shoo them away, and one tries to eat Rosie’s bag when she runs off so she has to come back to protect it. The apples can’t be enjoyed safely so we take a few big bites then toss them away, hoping peace will ensue but the donkeys are unrelenting so we have to move on to shake them. We arrive back at the rifugio and think about having a hot chocolate, then decide UHT is high risk up here, so settle on having a beer instead. Much safer.
The rain sets in again as we continue our circuit through the Carnic Alps to Ovaro. We don’t see much coming in because its so wet and the clouds are low, but they lift in the afternoon and its a very cute little valley with little towns dotted along it. We head up Monte Zoncolan the next day for another hike. Again, we have to park below the trail head because the van is too big for the little tunnels near the summit (thankfully there is a place to turn it around at the tunnel entrance). This hike serves up some serious views. It’s steep going (an emerging theme), but there are mountain ranges in every direction. Rosie’s also pretty sure she can see Slovenia and Croatia out across the Adriatic Sea (Amber’s not convinced). We come back to the van for tea and biscuits then head back down to the valley.
Rain is forecast again, and after a few big hikes we are keen to sample some of the mountain cuisine and locally brewed beers. Amber finds a mountain village that specialises in both of these things - Sauris. We head up a winding valley, pass a big lake, go through some tunnels and pop out into the tiny village. We head to a large “van appropriate” parking space, but get snookered as the road up (which isn’t more than 30m long) turns out to be on a stupidly steep gradient and has a house on each side making a corner that is so tight we again think we’re going to lose the van deposit. “LEFT LEFT” Amber screams as Rosie watches the van’s fat rear squeeze through with barely and inch clearance on her side. We’re trying very hard to avoid these situations but they’re proving hard to pre-empt, and we contemplate never leaving the main valleys again. We walk back down the road for lunch, which includes a delicious but enormous platter of cold cuts and cheese and the best tiramisu we’ve had all trip. We decide leaving the main valleys is worth it and we’ll just try and be even smarter with picking roads and parking spaces.
Snow is forecast for two days time in Sauris. We contemplate what to do - stay to enjoy it, or leave to avoid dealing with potentially icy roads. We are trying to be smarter with driving so we take option B and leave. We pick up some dark beers from the brewery on the way out. Its much warmer down in the main valley and pull up near a little stream and plot our next few days as we head over to the Dolomites.
The Dolomites
There is a dusting of snow on the mountains when we wake up. Its bloody cold so we crank the heating and enjoy the cosy warmth of the van. The views driving to the Dolomites are very beautiful - the snow has transformed the landscape. We arrive at our campsite near a trailhead, which is about 1600 metres above sea level, and there’s still snow on the ground. This is Amber’s first official encounter with snow so its great that there’s plenty of it and we take a walk to soak it up before it melts. The excitement is short lived as keeping warm overnight with our pathetic doona is difficult.
The next morning we have a discussion about whether doing the hike we came here to do is sensible in this weather. We agree to start with no commitment to finish, and it turns out walking warms us both up. We hit a very steep section and Amber decides to go back down to the van for tea and biccies, but Rosie pushes on. Turns out this walk is insta famous so there’s loads of people, and we all trudge up in single file towards the lake. The views and the trail are stunning but it doesn’t feel like hiking because there’s too many people.
When we’re both back at the van, we discuss our plans. We wanted to hike another nearby trail called Tre Crim but we read that the car park (which has 700+ bays) is still filling up by 8am, and they fleece you €45 to park. Despite our best efforts to hit shoulder season in the Dolomites they’re still heaving with people . We decide to leave the insta hikers behind and find some quieter hikes, and a camp site at lower altitude.
Easier said than done. We set off for a pleasant sunny looking camping spot (found on Park4Night, Europe’s Wikicamps) that takes us up a pass. It’s blanketed in snow and there’s traces of ice on the road so we make a hasty retreat and find a nook in the woods near our next trailhead. Besides some idiots (male idiots, presumably) in sports cars that come racing past in packs, its quiet, flat and not snowy. Tick.
The hike to Lake Credo takes us up over 2000m for the first time. Its bitingly cold up there, but very beautiful. Thankfully the rifugio is open and we head inside for a coffee and very delicious red currant and hazelnut tart. We leave so other cold hikers can have a seat, and head back down. Amber even “trail runs” some of it - we are off to a camp ground with a sauna this afternoon, and the sooner we’re down the sooner we’re at the sauna.
Sass Dlacia camp ground sits beneath some towering limestone mountains, very dolomites. We get clean and then head to the sauna, which is very nice with all the wood paneling and we each get two white fluffy towels to use (such a luxury after using our thin travel towels for a couple of weeks). Amber is a sauna expert but Rosie less so, so Amber heads off into her Finnish bliss whilst Rosie looks for the least hot option. We both manage a couple of rounds and feel better for some respite from the cold.
We head out from Sass Dlacia towards Ortesei, a convenient looking hub for our next handful of hikes. We try and do a little valley walk in the afternoon but cut it short because we can’t be bothered and we’re cold. We head back to the van for tea and biscuits to warm up and find a camp site. Except we can’t find one, this municipality seems to be very anti-campers, which is confirmed when we try and park somewhere to food shop and they want us to move on because we take up two bays. We get the hint and bail on Ortesei. We’ll have to drive in and out of the valley for hiking. We find a great spot near a ski lift about half an hour away, which puts us near a couple of other trail heads.
We tackle the Sass Putia hike the next day. It starts on a slightly sour note when our €8 parking fee turns out to be €18, a blatant tourist money-grab. We only get a kilometre into the hike before hitting our first rifugio and we stop for a coffee to admire the view. Rosie has left the wallet in the car, and there is a quick panic about whether we’re going to be able to pay, and just as importantly whether the lunch rifugio will take a digital phone wallet card. We press on, planning to walk anti-clockwise to get the steepest bit out of the way before lunch. Except the steep bit doesn’t come, and we realise we’ve gone clockwise meaning we’ll have to tackle a pass with full bellies. Oh well, we get up and over a crest and are treated to views of the next valley.
We arrive at our lunch rifugio and query whether they take card, yes they do, phew. We end up both getting Knödel (dumplings) with a generous side of cabbage salad and it’s delicious. We sit to digest a bit but there’s still no room for dessert so we press on. We reach the beginning of the climb over the pass and see its still partly buried beneath snow. We have neither poles nor snow shoes but we manage to get to the top without falling over. The way down is through a washed out gully, also with plenty of snow, and surprisingly we get down this too.
We make it back to the rifugio at the beginning of the hike, and have a drink to soak up the last of the sunshine and extend the hike a bit longer. It’s been the best hike of Amber’s life, and the best hike we do all trip. We get back down the van and realise we can stay overnight if we leave by 7am, so we opt to stay because we’re pooped and can’t face driving the mountain roads.
We wake up to ice on the windows. It’s freezing cold, and the gas has run out. We’ve been cranking the heater too much this past week. We have to drive anyway so we turn the car heaters on full blast. It’s going to be a beautiful sunny day so we’re heading to another trailhead - Adolf Munkler. The score becomes Dolomites 2 - Us 0 as we’re stung with another €16 parking fee instead of the researched €5 but we take the hit and park. This trail head is packed, and coaches keep rolling in and we suspect this is not going to be a hike we’ll enjoy. We decide to linger over a coffee at a nearby rifugio with our books, except the rifugio is closed. We’re both a bit over it, so we decide to leave the chaos and find our intended caravan park for the night so we can read in the sun there.
We arrive, but it’s full, even before midday. We call several nearby caravan parks, but they’re all full too. We decide to drive towards a car park that lets campers stay overnight, and see if their attached caravan park has a spot. We get there and nab the last spot, but it costs us €60. Dolomites 3 - Us 0. Having not had to book anything thus far, we’ve been caught out. We’re not entirely sure why these valleys are so busy, and expensive, but we decide we’re just about done with the Dolomites.
We set off the next morning for one last Dolomites hike, in the Alpe di Suise, an alpine plateau. The official carpark charges €24 to park but we’ve found a free one and hallelujah its not full when we arrive. It feels good to beat the system this once. We set off for our meadow stroll and only get 3km in before deciding that’s enough and park up at a rifugio. We order coffee and they bring us blankets and we settle in with our books. We extend our stay by ordering lunch (delicious). Content with our fill of food and Dolomites views, we head back to the van and say arrivederci to the Dolomites.
South Tyrol’s Other Mountains
We’re still in the mountains though, and we’re heading for the Austrian border. We’re in the province of South Tyrol which feels decidedly not-Italian. In fact we might as well be in Austria or Germany because everyone talks in German and signs and menus are written in German. The culture is German, and the food is German. The other provinces have been quite Bavarian too, but in South Tyrol it is the most pronounced.
We have a rest day at a free camp, then make our way towards a valley for a cow festival. It’s the last weekend of summer and the cows are celebrated as they come down from their alpine pastures to the valleys for winter. They are dressed up in flowers and head dresses and there’s some food and drinks and yodeling in a big tent to add to the festivities. We have a drink, and Amber spies sausages so we share some of those too, and sample a strudel pastry thing for dessert.
Our last stop in South Tyrol is caravan park north of a town called Merano. Like most caravan parks in the mountains, reaching it requires us to negotiate a narrow laneway and tight corners. We park up and stay put for two full days, exploring on foot along the river path. Merano is a very quaint little town. Lots of beautiful flower gardens, and the best coffee we’ve had in six months! It’s set in a wide valley which is full of apple orchards. The trees are heaving with apples, and we have a lovely orchard farm lunch of schnitzel and knodel before we depart for Val di Rabbi.
We’ve come to Val di Rabbi for some hiking and a sauna but are caught out. It’s too rainy to hike and the sauna closed for the season a few days before our arrival. We park up anyway because we have a lovely quiet spot next to a stream. The valley is beautiful and it’s a shame its so cold and wet because the hiking would’ve been great, and uncrowded. We sneak in an afternoon walk but cut it short when a local farmer starts spraying liquefied cow poo onto a paddock and the fresh mountain air is no more.
Determined to get to a sauna, we find another an hour away and head there the next day. It’s now very very rainy and we spend most of the drive in the clouds, obscuring whatever mountain views might have been. The sauna hits the spot, and we camp out at a nearby waterfall for our last night in the mountains.
Lake Orta
The last stop on our van journey is Lake Orta. It’s a solid six hour drive to get there, and we are served up one final dose of Italia driving - speeding, tail gating, no indicating, overtaking on blind corners, cutting corners and driving well over the centre line in our lane. There’s also a few annoying lycra-clad cyclists thrown in to round off the experience. We’re back in proper Italian-Italy now, and it feels right that our six months in the country ends this way (not with yodeling).
Lake Orta is beautiful, and despite looking very small on the map it’s pretty big. The water is crystal clear but it’s too cold for swimming, even though we’ve lucked out with a couple of sunny days for our stay. We wander around the shore in the morning, and then in the afternoon wander to the little lakefront town. Its very cute and Italiany, and we have a glass of prosecco in the piazza and pasta at a little pizzeria.
On our last day we change things up a bit and head to a “Claddagh Festival”, our first festival that isn’t celebrating a saint. It’s a bit alternative, and to be honest we only came for some good food and to walk off the big gelato we planned to eat later. There’s lots of market stalls selling celtic stuff, the mood is a mix of Hobbiton meets Dungeons and Dragons. We sniff out the food and pick which long food stall line we want to wait in. Ambers kills some time with a Guinness. The food situation is so typical of Italy - inefficient but delicious. We wait over half an hour because the lady cooking the food is making individually cooked portions of fresh pasta with homemade sauce.
Our last day in Italy passes uneventfully. We drop the van back, claim 100% of our deposit, share a taxi with an Australian to the airport, wait around at the airport for a few hours, catch a bus to another airport and wait there a few more hours. Over a glass of aeroporto prosecco we reflect on our six months in Italy. As a destination it packs a punch, from the delicious food and wine to the varied and outstanding natural beauty. Italy can be difficult, the bureaucracy wearisome, the queue jumping endemic and the heat oppressive. Despite this the Italians can just shrug it off, knock back an espresso and carry on. With the true beauty of Italy being it’s people, who are warm, humorous, generous and loving. Thank you Italia!
What an adventure you’ve both had.
Such an experience to travel around Italy for 6 months. Great blog raw, honest and funny. The pics are amazing and I’m sure you’ve inspired lots of people to get out of their comfort zones and travel. Looking forward to next adventures.
The care and safe travels ❤️❤️