Sunday June 21

We left the Sofitel in Munich at 9am and walked, with our luggage, to Europcar about 10 minutes away. We got the car (upgraded to a BWM 3 series, we could have had an X5 but we declined as we felt a smaller car was preferable on mountain roads). It took nearly an hour to collect the car and get Apple Car Play sorted out so we were finally on the road at 10am. Due to some crazy thinking on the part of Apple Maps we did not go over the Brenner pass but took secondary roads through the valley. Traffic was heavy and we reached the nearest open supermarket (to our apartment) at 2pm. Then it took almost an hour to do a big shop so we finally reached our holiday apartment (Golden Hill) at 3:30pm. We were totally mentally exhausted and stressed from the drive and the navigation. However the apartment was amazing - a 10 out of 10 (even with a few issues - like a very small freezer and no ice in the ice cube tray).

The biggest mystery was they had expected us the day before (for an 8 day stay) which it seems we paid for - however Dieter was sure he had called and changed this but unfortunately had no e-mail confirmation - in the end they only charged us for the 7 days.

We unpacked and settled in for happy hour and sambos for dinner.

Monday June 22

We took it fairly easy today - still in recovery mode. Since our apartment is a 2 k's outside the actual town of Dobbiaco - we went into town (which is very small) to check out the Tourist Information center, the shops and restaurants. Now if you look at a map, Dobbiaco looks like a sleepy hollow in the middle of nowhere but the whole area is booming - tourists everywhere - cars, busses, bikes of all types, hikers, and so on. 

We wanted to visit the head-line attraction of Tres Zinnen (in German) but you have to reserve parking - the only spot we could get was the following Saturday at 3pm and all shuttle busses were fully booked all week.

We returned home for a light lunch then drove to some nearly lakes to walk around.

We stay home for dinner - pasta/salad.

Tuesday June 23

We drove to the Sexton goldola (about 8 k's away), sorted out our 3 day (over 4 day) pass and walked around the top - before heading down we had a light snack at a mountain restaurant.

A thunderstorm moved in around 3:30pm, fortunately we were already home. The rain cleared just in time for us to walk down the hill (2 k's) for our dinner at WinkelKeller. The dinner was very nice - large portions - we agreed maybe it's better to have 2 entrees and share a main. We walking (i.e. hiked) back up the hill to our apartment - good exercise after a dinner.

Wednesday June 24

Up early as usual - there was a hot air ballon floating by. We drove to Pragser Wildsee / Lago Di Braies, a lake about 20 minutes away. This is one of the headline attractions so we had to booking parking (10 Eur) in advance and since it was 5 K's away we also had to book the shuttle service (another 10 Eur). (Note one of the confusing things here is places and streets have both a German and an Italian version; e.g. Toblach Dobbacio (where Toblach is the German name for Dobbacio),  etc)

The lake was lovely with towering mountains around it. This is  a nice walk around it - a bit up and down - 1.5 hours at leisurely pace. Back at the start we had a light lunch before heading home, stopping to do some top up shopping.

We stayed home for dinner.

Thursday June 25

We visited Innichen, one of the loveliest villages in the area. We took a gondola to Gigante Baranci, the area with a Fun-bob and walk around "large" displays of giants (mainly for children). 

We stayed home for dinner which was a "fail" - fliechekase and roesti.

Friday June 26

We took a couple of gondola rides - first to Croda Rossa and did a challenging walk then finished with nice lunch. Then we finished the afternoon with a ride up the Stiergarten gondola. 

We went out for dinner to Gausthaus Weber - unfortunately it was also a total "fail" - while there it started to rain and the quote on a taxi back to our apartment was 25 Eur so we elected to walk - about 25 minutes uphill - but the rain held off.

Saturday June 27

Today was our big trip to the Tres Zinnen - the headline attraction of the area. Since you need to book parking in advance (40 EUR) - the only reservation we could get for the entire week was Saturday at 3pm. After having a banana for lunch, we drove part way there hoping to stop at Miserurina Lake but there was absolutely no parking so we drove back to another lake for a short before heading up to the Tres Zinnen. We were early but they let us in anyway. The viewing area is at 2300m where there is a Refugio (Auronzo) and the start of many walks. We took one of the shorter ones to a chapel (30 minutes return). The whole area is quite amazing with the towering jagged peaks but we still think Zermatt tops it.

Sunday June 28

We were required to check out of Golden Hill at 9:30am and Carmen (owner/manager) would not cut us any slack. So off we went to Cortina - see next entry.