What a glorious morning…sun in abundance! This was such a welcome sight after a pretty miserable night. We had to sleep in our clothes to stay warm and we didn’t dare put a bare foot on the floor as it was freezing.
Alberto served us a good breakfast with a great cup of coffee which always helps the day start off nicely! He showed us Venice in the distance and wished us a good trip with a big hug. We were his only guests as I think the hiking season was about over.
Once outside we could not believe that we could have missed this place! It is a monolith comprised of multistoried towers and antennas.
We took a long last look at the Dolomites behind us and began to descend for the next three hours all the while enjoying the view of the Venetian plains before us.
We stopped at Rifugio Pian della Femene for a quick cup of tea to warm us up, but were quickly convinced that a longer visit was necessary! This is a family run rifugio and their specialty is mushrooms…BIG ones. Everyday they harvest these mushrooms in the forest and then prepare them for a sumptuous meal. We had their lunch special which was a mushroom sandwich. A local man approached us to practice his English, learning that we were Americans. He had just returned from Whidbey Island, WA where he had been hired to do the fine carpentry on a National Geographic boat.
We continued our descent now in the rain. The trail was the remains of an old stone road that went from Castel Moar to the village of Revine. Many of the stones had worn ruts from ancient wagons rolling up and down this road.
The old road ended at a large church, St. Francisco de Pablo, built in the 1700’s.
We arrived at the village of Revine and navigated the small winding, picturesque streets before beginning another uphill pull to Tarzo.
Most of the countryside is vineyards and very lush. Our B&B, Ai Pini, was a lovely surprise with many antiques, large rooms and a shower!! The B&B is family run: the wife is the chef, the husband and daughter are the waiters, and the grandparents run the B&B and bar. The food was marvelous.
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