Getting into the Dolomites

 From Verona we wanted to walk in the Dolomites but had to take a bus. There is a bus system called the Flexbus that has buses that connect Verona to lots of cities. There is no station for the bus, only a small, covered stop by the side of the road. This was a real adventure!

We thought that the bus would go from the station located in front of the train station. We hurried down to the station, about a ½ hour walk. We were trying to beat the rain. We had several hours before our bus would arrive and thought that we could sit inside and keep warm.

We got to the bus station and went into the café when we realized we were not where the Flexbus stopped. We needed to walk another 10 minutes. In the meantime, it started pouring rain and, of course, we had leaky rain jackets. We caught a cab this time.

The cab left us at a gas station across the street from the bus stop, so that we could stand under the roof over the pumps. We joined a line of people standing between the gas pumps trying to stay out of the way of the cars getting gas. Standing between the gas pumps for 4 hours was not what we’d had in mind.

We saw a couple of flex buses arrive and many people left the little covered stop so we hurried over and were able to get a seat. The little waiting area was soon packed with people again.

A bus arrived close to the time ours was to arrive, so I went to ask about it. A woman translated for me, but it was not the bus. In the meantime, she looked up our bus and found that our tickets had been cancelled and the stop changed. It was pouring rain so I’m getting soaked, and it looked like we had to walk back to the train station.

After many discussions a different woman verified that the stations had been changed but changed to the covered stop so we were at the right place. I decided that we were just going to get on the bus, canceled tickets or not.

As it turns out, out tickets were fine, we got on, and off we went on a Mr. Toads Wild Ride up to the Dolomites.

We walked to our hotel, wet clothes and all, happy to find a warm room.

Our hotel was interesting. Over 100 years old, lots of beautiful wood trim, and features that are not in the new hotels. The night person said that the hotel had recently been sold so it is uncertain what will become of it. I hope they refurbish it and not tear it down.

As many trips go there are just times that one needs to change plans and go with the flow. This was one of them.

I’d wanted to go to Tre Cime di Laveredo but when I looked for hotels, I wasn’t sure about actually getting to the hotels. The hotels are not anywhere near a town, at least that is what it looks like on the map, however, there appear to be lots of bus stops. But where the buses originate from and the schedule was impossible to find. Not having good bus information, I didn’t have a clear notion of how everything would work. Hence, we went on the FlexBus to Cortina. I knew that we would at least be in the Dolomites and from we could figure the rest out. Additionally, bad weather was to set in soon after our day in Cortina, so we had to work around that.

The morning after arriving in Cortina, we went to the tourist office. There we found our info on getting to Tre Cime, we could take a cab, but unfortunately, we were running out of time to see the sites we wanted. 

Instead, we walked to the nearby gondola and went up to the local mountain where we had a stunning 360® view of peaks. The views were after a hike up a fairly steep hill, walking on an uneven path, but it was worth the effort. After our walk we treated ourselves to a bowl of steaming hot Goulash in the lodge restaurant.