Alpe di Siusi, Ortisei, Val Gardena

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Our goal today was to walk in the Alpe di Siusi above Ortisei. We walked down to the village and went by the gondola (holds 15 people a car) straight up the steep mountain face from 1236m to 2005m. From the valley you would have no idea what a beautiful panorama awaits when you step out of the gondola. The Alpe di Siusi is the largest cultivated plateau in Central Europe and is 50 square kilometres in size. It fills a slightly dipping plateau with a drop off to the valley on one side and soaring jagged mountains on the other sides. It is green, farmed and has many walking tracks in all directions. I have never seen so many walkers in one place at one time but they were spread out so it didn't feel crowded.

I should also mention that this is also a prime skiing location and you can see why with such a huge unrestricted area.

We took the Trail 9 downhill to Saltria. It is essentially downhill, across the plateau, then downhill again to the hamlet. We found a nice little barn with a seat to sit and have our gourmet sandwiches (salami, lettuce, cheese and gherkins) and apple with the panorama before us. Truly a superb scene. We took the road from here which had a more gradual rise that the walking track. Eventually we branched of to Trail 6 which would take us back to the Bergstation. We stepped off the track and lay back on a knoll to admire the scenery and take in the serenity of it all.

There are all types of walkers here. Slow ones, fast ones, old and young ones, fat and skinny, those with wonderful gear and then there was us in our hodge podge gear after the biking trip. I swapped to my comfy sandals and figure I was the only one in all those 100s who had sandals and not walking boots or shoes. There weren't many shorts either. Despite it being a sunny day it wasn't warm at that altitude but with wind proof jackets we kept warm. We are very happy after the hot temperatures of the past few weeks.

Back at Ortesei we bought food, caught the bus uphill and settled out on the balcony for some relaxation. A good day.

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Photos

Walking in the Alpe di Siusi
The photos do not show the immense size of these mountains rising straight out of the plateau in jagged rocky pinnacles