Tom`s travels: Selva di Val Gardena (26-30/12/2017)

We decided to head to the mountains for a few days right after Christmas. So after leaving our hometown, we drove all the way to the town of Selva di Val Gardena, located among the Dolomites. We stopped on the way to eat late lunch before then arriving at our destination. We checked in our hotel and relaxed a while before then heading out for dinner. The next morning, the others got up to ski but I decided to stay in town and instead go out for a walk still feeling not confident enough to ski due to my shoulder. I thus decided to walk from the town of Selva to the nearby town of Santa Cristina. On the way, I was able to see from afar the Castel Gardena, a 17th-century castle located on the hillside. Not far ahead I then reached the Cascata Trevela, a small waterfall, which at that time was frozen. A little upwards I then found a path leading uphill to a skihut. Once I reached it I took a few pictures and then decided to head back as the weather was very cloudy so I would not have any nice views if I continued walking. After getting back to the hotel I then relaxed a bit while waiting for the others and then heading for dinner and bed later. The next morning I decided to go for another walk, this time headed another way from the day before. I headed to the nearby Wolkenstein Castle, located right to the north of the town. After walking through knee-deep snow, I climbed uphill and reached the castle, now standing mostly in ruins. It was built in the 13th century and only part of the walls of the keep are remaining. As I was up there I could see the whole valley down below including the town of Selva and the Sassolungo mountain right above it. I was then walking back downhill and heading for the hotel to rest a bit before heading out for dinner. We decided to have dinner in Ortisei a nearby town which was decorated with some nice Christmas lights. We saw its city center with the small church of Santo Antonio, dating to the 17th century, and the pretty Christmas market having an even better ambiance thanks to the snow that had fallen recently. The following morning, a beautifully sunny day welcome my next hike, this time along the lengthy Vallunga, a really long valley as the name suggests. I passed by the castle from the day before, managing to spot several chamois walking high above the rocks, and then passed by the small Chapel of San Silvestro, standing lonely at the beginning of the valley. The snow was still knee-deep making the walk quite hard and tiring, though providing an incredible backdrop together with the impressive dolomite peaks incentivizing me to continue further. A few hours later though still advancing at a really slow pace due to the snow I eventually decided to give up and head back as the road was beginning to head uphill and at some points, I was even falling in holes which made the snow level reach my hips making it extremely hard to continue further. After reaching the hotel I then relaxed some before the heading out for dinner again. The next day was the last one in the mountains and we decided to head to Ortisei to walk around its city center once more, this time during daylight. We walked around the Christmas market, through the streets of the old town and then visited the main church of St Ulrich, built in the Baroque style. After that, we had lunch and then finally headed home to Vicenza.