Walking the Prosecco Hills – Day 4

On Day 4 of Walking the Prosecco Hills we Climb to the Top of Monte Cesen:

Views from Monte Cesen

After yesterday’s big walk, we’re supposed to have an easier day by visiting Treviso in the morning, followed by a gentler walk. But the Treviso local guide isn’t able to take today’s tour and so our guide agrees to a swap in our Walking the Prosecco Hills program. This is not such a good idea for us as we have two consecutive days of hard walks and a few ladies bail out.

Monte Cesen

Today’s panoramic walk takes us through the grassy alpine landscape of Monte Cesen which rises to an altitude of 1,570 metres. Mini-buses take us part way on very windy roads to a car park, from where we begin our climb.

There are many popular walking and cycling trails criss-crossing the mountain pastures and meadows. The landscape is completely different to the one we explored yesterday.

Grassy path up Monte Cesen

Highest in the Pre-Alps

Monte Cesen is the highest in the Venetian Prealps and the climb to the top is a steep one.

Steep and stony section of Monte Cesen path

Just when we think that we’ve made it to the peak, we find that we have one more climb to reach the top.

Climbing to the peak of Monte Cesen

Climbing up to the peak is exhausting in the hot weather, but the views are amazing.

Panoramic views from Monte Cesen

Monte Cesen offers a stunning panorama of the Prosecco Hills region. On a clear day, the views can stretch as far as the eastern Alps, Dolomites and Venice.

On top of Monte Cesen

We have our sandwich lunch stop here whilst enjoying the spectacular views. It’s cold and windy up here, but luckily we’ve been warned to bring a jacket.

Descent is no easier

Having done all the hard work getting to the top, we are thinking that walking down will be a breeze. However, coming down is surprisingly more tiring on the legs muscles and toes as we try not to slip on the stony pathway.

Walking down from Monte Cesen

I’m told that if I secure my shoes correctly, jamming of the toes shouldn’t happen so obviously some of us didn’t tie our shoe laces correctly.

Pizza Reward

Tonight, back at Pieve di Soligo, we all reward ourselves with delicious pizzas at Rico’s and Tony spices his up with Lucifer’s chilli oil.

Pizza dinner at Rico’s

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