At 2752m, the Dolomites look stunning from Rifugio Lagazuoi – especially with hot chocolate!
Tony and Helen Page take the cable car to Rifugio Lagazuoi, built in 1965 by mountain tour guide Ugo Pompanin (and still managed by his family). From its terrace at 2,752m, you can get a stunning 360-degree panorama over the Dolomites, and the strüdel and hot chocolate is pretty good too!
“Well, we’re on top of the Italian mountains now (Ed: The Dolomites) and this is the Rifugio Lagazuoi and these guys, as you’ll see in a bit, are on the Austrian Military Troop Path which is a little high, as you’ll see. There you are, there’s the sign to it. So, if you feel like walking, there’s your route.
Let’s just do a quick sweep. Plenty of people here, including Helen. (Helen: “There’s the Marmolada”) Where, over there? So this, I’m informed is the Marmolada.
View of Tre Sassi Fort Museum
“Now this is the place we’ve just been, it’s called the Block House (Ed: Tre Sassi Fort War Museum), it’s a World War I museum and the guys there have collected Austro-Hungarian, German and Italian. It’s horrendous actually to see the twisted metal and all the weapons they used up here in the snow, and the uniforms and equipment are pretty primitive. Perhaps the most frightening thing I saw were steel clubs that were used to administer a coup de grace to the poor bastards who had been gassed to save them from their agony.
Amazing views in the very clear weather
View from Rifugio Lagazuoi
“Helen’s just pointed out these quite interesting spikey peaks over here which if I remember are the ones called the Five Fingers or Five Sisters (Ed: “Five Towers” – “Cinque Torri”). Amazing views up here and today, we’ve got very clear weather. I’ll just zoom out and try and walk across the Rifugio front to give you a better idea of what’s going on. Unfortunately the sun is in our eyes here, so until I get across to the other way, it might be a bit difficult.
After the cable car, it’s a steep walk up to the Rifugio
On the whole it’s quite a good view. The weather is relatively clear. Now here’s the cable car over here that you come up on. There are two levels – there it is – and although you can’t see the end of it from here, it’s actually at the same level as those cars you can see down in the valley. So, we’re a little way up.
Time for a strudel and hot chocolate!
“Here’s a view of the mountains, that’s the best I can do, I’m afraid, given the light. Quite a pleasant little place and Helen’s asking me to go in for some hot chocolate or whatever, and maybe I’ll agree. That’s all for now.
“Well, I don’t know what the light’s like but here they all are, strüdeling up. Quite a friendly little place really. I don’t know if you can hear me above the noise. I’ll think I’ll just sign out and dig in too.”
See more Dolomites photos at Travelsignposts Dolomites–Rifugio Lagazuoi album Here.
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