Italy Unpacked

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With a long drive in front of us today, Lake Bled in Slovenia to Ortisei in the Dolomite Mountains of Northern Italy, we headed out early at 8.30am after having an early breakfast and checking out of our apartment.



First stop was two small lakes just inside the Italian border, at Lago di Fusine. The conditions were perfect for photos of the mirror reflection lake with the snow capped mountains in the background. After taking a lot of pics, then having a Long Black Coffee, we jumped back in the car and headed further west to the small hillside town of San Nicolo di Comelico.



San Nicolo di Comelico was featured on an episode of one of our favourite TV shows, Italy unpacked, with British art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon and Italian Chef Giorgio Locatelli. The church in the town can be traced back to the 12^th century. In 1482, Gianfrancesco da Tolmezzo was commissioned to paint the frescoes in the Church Apse. He founded the Tolmezzo school of painting and was one of the leading exponents of Friulian art in the 15th century.



As we parked outside of the Church, we weren’t sure whether we had to locate someone in the town to open the Church door, as we had to do previously in Beram in Istria. The door to the Church was closed, however, it was not locked, and we entered the Church to find an array of medieval frescoes, that would in any city of the world be carefully guarded and locked away behind glass. We were careful when taking our photos not to use flash, to avoid harming the beautifully preserved frescoes. We left a donation in the Church to help defray the cost of preserving these amazing frescoes for future generations.



Whilst on our way to the third proposed stop on our journey, Lake Lago di Braies, we were stopped randomly by the Italian Police at a check point, having to produce my International Driving Licence, my NSW Driving Licence, my Passport, Kim’s Passport, and the registration of the Alfa. After checking everything over carefully, they let us proceed on our journey.



Lake Lago di Braies is a renowned lake surrounded by high mountains, and is supposed to be one of the premier photo opportunities in Northern Italy. It was getting late in the day by this time, and the sun was not showing up the water and high mountains to their best potential, so after taking a few photos, we hit the road again and continued driving to our accommodation in the little village of Bulla, just outside of Ortisei, in the heart of the Dolomite Mountains.



Liz and Darrol headed off to their Hotel accommodation, and we headed off to rest our weary bones in our highly rated B&B. We can see some of the majestic Dolomite Mountains towering above us from our apartment window. The mountains are calling us, so tomorrow we will have to seek out a way to get us up to the heights, where snow has fallen in recent days.

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