The Dolomites: Biking the Alpe di Siusi

After hiking the Alpe di Siusi on our first full day in the Dolomites, we decided to take a biking tour offered by our resort in the same place. Only three of us headed out that morning to take the same cable car to the top of the mountain. This time, however, low clouds obscured the views heading up. We wondered what kind of day we would have on the trails.

Fortunately, when we got to the top, we found that we were above the clouds, and we actually had beautiful weather for biking (i.e., not too hot).

We were very glad to have e-bikes as we definitely did a lot of climbing in our ride. As you can see, the views were once again spectacular, and we visited several areas that we had not seen on our hike the day before.

We stopped for coffee at one of the many huts scattered around the Alpe di Siusi, and saw some spectacular photography of the area from a young local photographer. While we were there, we grabbed a picture with our touring companion, Michael.

As the day continued, the views continued changing with the changing light, but remained spectacular throughout (that is our guide, Patrick, in the photo on the right).

Rather than ride the cable car back down the mountain, we took the main road most of the way down. This was a bit difficult for Shana, because she does not like to go fast on a bike, and really does not like riding in traffic. Fortunately, the number of cars, and especially trucks, is limited and she didn't have too much difficulty. On the way down, we got great pictures of the cable car we had taken up.

We did not return directly to our starting point, Seis, but road along a trail above the next main town, Castelrotto, which looked adorable from our view point.

As Castelrotto was our next stop on the trip, we can confirm that it is just as adorable as it looked from above, but we did not head into town on our bike tour as we all wanted to get back in time for our afternoon "snack" and to relax after a fabulous ride.

More soon.

Ciao,

Jeff and Shana

The Dolomites: An Introduction

 

Clearly Italy is a favorite destination, and we still have plenty to explore, e.g. Sardinia, Turin and Calabria, We even have a trip to Friuli-Venezia Giulia planned for 2027. We had been pondering what we should do to celebrate our 30th (!) wedding anniversary when my dear friend Debbie mentioned meeting up in Europe as part of a trip to celebrate her daughter's high school graduation. Since she is an avid hiker, the Dolomites seemed an obvious choice. The Dolomites had been on our list for some time, and it’s unclear why it took us so long to get there. Perhaps because we are more “city” people than “rural, outdoorsy” people. But this trip suggests that we are, in fact, both.

The Dolomites proved to be one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. From the moment we got off the train from Verona to Bolzano we were blown away. The bus ride up to Seis was stunning. We were glad Jeff wasn’t driving, both to enjoy the views of mountains, rivers and vines, and to avoid managing the twisting, two-lane, road.

The view of the Sciliar Mass as we walked from the bus stop in Seis to Sensoria, a family-run, all-inclusive mountain resort, awed us.

Sensoria is located near the cable car up to the Alpe di Siusi/Seiser Alm, Europe’s largest high Alpine pasture, where many of our adventures started. The amenities at Sensoria were just the splurge we sought for our celebration, including fabulous meals and spa facilities.

The hiking opportunities in the Dolomites are endless, thus choosing a route was overwhelming. I spent a lot of time researching trails that would work best for us as day hikers. Ultimately, I learned that as long as the route is appropriate for your fitness level, you can’t go wrong because everywhere you look is beautiful. On our first day we hiked a version of the Alpe di Siusi Circuit trail, a close to 10-mile loop.

We were fortunate to be in the Dolomites in early June, when the wildflowers were blooming. We were prepared for all kinds of weather but were lucky to not even need our sleeves for long.

We came across some horses grazing, none of them seemed phased as we passed by.

While we saw some other hikers at various points of our journey, we mostly felt like we had the trails to ourselves. While it was early in the season, the Alpe di Siusi is so large that hikers spread out easily.

We were happy to return to Sensoria for what they called a “snack,” but was a huge spread of food. We had worked up an appetite! And then the sauna was calling to ease our tired muscles.

Ciao,

Shana & Jeff

A Return to Verona

Our long-time readers may remember that we visited Verona during our first visit together to Italy in July 2018, eight (!) years ago (https://vinoconvino.blogspot.com/2018/07/visiting-verona.html). We just came back from our seventh visit to Italy, and we started with a return to Verona, which we used as an entry point to visiting the Dolomites and Lake Garda. As usual, we had a great time in Italy, including our one full day in Verona.

Last time we were in Verona, we could not visit its famous Roman Arena because of a Lenny Kravitz concert being set up. This time, we got tickets to a concert dedicated to opera, which has been named an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The concert itself was a bit strange with too much talking and self-congratulations, but the site is truly spectacular.

We did get to see Placido Domingo (of Three Tenors fame) perform briefly, and although he is 85 years old, he still sounded good to our untrained ears. He may have disagreed because it seemed he requested a do-over of his performance while being interviewed afterward (we said the show was a bit strange), and then sang the same piece again to great applause. Patti Smith also performed "Because the Night," clearly not opera, but then she described how much opera apparently influnced her. 

We spent our day walking around learning a bit about the history of Verona and viewing its beauty.

We did return to the famous Castelvecchio and Ponte di Castelvecchio, which were key to the city's defense for many years.

Of course, we had a fantastic lunch, including trying horsemeat stew, which is a specialty of the Veneto region. A big thank you to Stanley Tucci for this information, which gave us the confidence to try the dish when it appeared on the menu.

The best thing we did, however, was a visit to the Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona, which they advertise as the oldest continuously operating library in the world. While this claim is disputed, the library can be dated to the year 517 by a manuscript signed and dated by its copyist (this being before the invention of the printing press). The library museum only opened to the public in 2023, and we were so glad we stumbled on it.

Right beside the library is Verona's Duomo complex, which was the site of a wedding the day we were there. This was the couple's car and driver for after the ceremony, but he was very kind to pose perfectly for Shana's photo.

This lady and her dogs may not have been posing, but there were seven of them, so Shana just had to snap a picture.

We really enjoyed our return to Verona, and recommend the city for a visit, especially if old books interest you. More about our Italian adventures soon.

Ciao.

Jeff and Shana

 

May Madness

As we say goodbye to May, we thought we’d give a quick update on the bit of chaos that came our way this past month. We gladly returned to our routine after our trip to Morocco. Real Sociedad won the Copa del Rey (the Spanish national tournament) on April 18, and the city went all out to celebrate the championship. Our focus was more on getting back in shape and preparing for Jeff’s trip to visit his mother in Northern California.

Jeff spent 10 nights away, arriving in time to celebrate Mother’s Day. It was a busy trip as he was focused on helping Mom with her ongoing transition to flying solo. Truth be told, considering it has been less than 5 months since his father died, she is doing well in her adjustment. Three highlights for Jeff were playing bridge, including winning the Thursday bridge tournament with Mom ($4 for the win), playing poker with Dad’s former group (where he won $22), and going to a CrossFit class with Karyn.

Those 10 nights were the longest we had been separated since we moved here, and possibly the longest we’ve been apart in nearly 30 years of marriage. I enjoyed the quiet, spent time with friends and went to a few different exercise classes that don’t work with my normal schedule.

Jeff was hoping for peace and quiet upon his return but instead came back to the stress of multiple electricity problems in our building and the worst heat wave to hit Europe in decades, both based on the temperatures and number of days it lasted. Our hot water heater was knocked out by electrical surges, and we lost several bulbs as well. It’s no fun when you’re afraid to use any appliances for fear of what might happen – especially when the air conditioning is your lifesaver. Thankfully, that all got sorted out and the heat finally broke after nearly a week.

Walks on the beach are always a pleasure. Last weekend the beach was mobbed due to the heat. Today, the last day that dogs can be on the beach until October 1 was calmer. Walking along the shore is always a pleasure, and enthusiastic dogs always make it better. Here are today’s gems:

There was even a kids rugby tournament on the beach this morning. The kids whose games had finished were joyously playing in the surf.

Here’s to a fun summer,

Shana & Jeff

Tangier and Morocco Wrap Up

Our last stop in Morocco was Tangier, completing our south to north journey. We could immediately tell that we were closer to Spain, as we heard a lot more Spanish. We could see Spain and were looking forward to heading home, mostly because we were ready. We liked Morocco; we didn’t love Morocco. This wrap up will explain why.

Tangier is a beautiful coastal city with a long history as a gateway from Europe to Africa. We visited the Tangier American Legation, which was surprisingly interesting. Morocco was the first country to recognize the newly-formed US in 1777. The Legation was a gift from the Sultan in 1821 and served as the embassy for over 140 years. It is the only US National Historic Landmark located outside of the US and now is a museum and cultural center. There is a definite “if these walls could talk” vibe, especially considering its role in supporting Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa in WWII.

We also enjoyed our time at the Ibn Battuta Memory Exhibition Space. Ibn Battuta was a Muslim traveller, explorer and scholar from Tangier. From 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, Asia, and the Iberian Peninsula, travelling over 100,000 km, more than any other explorer in pre-modern history. It makes sense that Tangier’s airport is named after him.

We were happy to have sunny weather again in Tangier. The city walls and medina were scenic and fun to wander through. Overall, each city’s medina was like the last, distinguished only by the level of chaos – Marrakesh being a 10, Meknes being a 3.

After nearly 3 weeks, we were over the nearly uniform restaurant menus of Moroccan food, so we found a good pizza place. We’ve had enough tagine to last a lifetime. Tagine is quite good and healthy, but it gets boring. This is one of the only vacations where we didn’t gain weight, likely for two reasons: (1) Moroccan food is very fresh and offers lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and (2) we weren’t drinking much alcohol as it is not freely available. We did drink A LOT of amazing fresh orange juice every morning and we believe it is probably some of the best OJ we’ve ever had.

The views of white-washed walls and the sea were fantastic from our hotel and our last dinner, Moroccan food, of course.

As always, learning the history of a country is a highlight. The relationship between the native Berbers and conquering Arabs and their current overall peaceful coexistence is underwritten by some resentment by the majority Berbers. Every Berber we met was kind and open about their heritage. There is a lot of speculation about the very absent King of Morocco, who appears to spend more time in France getting medical treatment than at home.

The French influence is still strong even though Morocco has been independent since 1956. We learned that, going forward, schools will be offering more English and Chinese, which may impact the prevalence of French, but that will take decades to change. The multilingualism is impressive. Many people are trilingual or quadrilingual, speaking Arabic, French, Berber and/or English. Apparently, there are many affordable resources for children to learn languages outside the school system.

We skipped camping in the desert, which is just not our thing. Our favorite city was Essaouira. Our favorite experiences were the hot air balloon ride and walking through the ruins of Volubilis. We always felt safe. The Moroccan people are friendly and capitalists, but people always accepted our expression of disinterest in seeing their shop’s wares. It almost seemed like they had all gotten a memo: “treat the tourists well, they mean a lot to our economy.”

One last “highlight”: the (mostly stray) cats of Morocco, which are omnipresent. No one seems to mind them much; in fact, there is often food and water left for them. They make themselves comfortable – on cannons and scooters in Essaouira for example:

They contrast nicely with the green walls in Moulay Idriss. Two of our riads had a pet cat.

Using scooters as resting spots was common. And then there was this princely gem who looked like he ruled Tangier.

Three weeks in Morocco was probably too much, but we still didn’t see it all. You never can. At some point, it’s time to come home.

That’s it for Morocco. Our next trip is Northern Italy in June.

Happy trails,

Shana & Jeff

Moroccan Jewish History

Although we were aware that there was Jewish history in Morocco (not least because Shana's cousin is married to a Moroccan Jew), we were surprised and impressed both by how extensive the history is, and how well maintained Jewish sites are, especially considering that today the Jewish population is estimated at only 1,000 (at its peak, the Jewish population of Morocco was over 300,000). Every tour we took mentioned Jewish history at least in passing.

Our first introduction to Moroccan Jewish history was at the Jewish Museum in Marrakech, which is in the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter of the city. There we saw both the Slat Al Azama Synagogue (opened in 1492) along with a number of exhibits around the site's lovely garden.

From the amazing photos of the exhibits, we learned that Jews originally arrived in Morocco after the destruction of the First Temple in 587 B.C.E. The Jews who arrived then lived among the native Imazighen peoples who sometimes themselves converted to Judaism. More Jews arrived with the expansion of the Roman Empire to what is now Morocco with gravestones containing Hebrew found at Volubilis.

After the Islamic takeover of Morocco, the status of Jews varied depending on the ideas of the ruling dynasty. Nonetheless, Jews continued to live throughout the country, and after the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian Penninsula in 1492, the Jewish population of Morocco swelled.

The Jewish cemetary in Marrakech is very large and very different than what we think of as a Jewish cemetary with elevated, stone grave markers.

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We were somewhat surprised to see that there had even been a synagogue in the tiny village of Ait Ben Hadou.

In Essaouira, which had a large Jewish population, we saw two of the three synagogues in the city. In the Haim Pinto Synagogue (left photo below), the old woman who is the caretaker indicated to us that she was connected to the history of the synagogue, perhaps the daughter of its last rabbi (she did not speak English and our French is not good enough for us to have gotten details). 

We also visited the Bayt Dakira Synagogue (right photo below) along with a school whose caretaker showed us a list of Jewish students from the 1960-61 school year. Later in the 1960's, many of Morocco's Jews moved to Israel, and the school closed. Today, the Moroccan Jewish community in Israel numbers between 500,000 (2019 census) and 1,000,000 (estimate of the World Federation of Moroccan Jews). 

Bayt Dakira also houses a modern Jewish Museum with fantastic photos and artifacts from the history of Moroccan Jewery. A small library contains many books about Judaism, some of which we recognized from Shana's father's vast collection.

Although most cities contained Jewish sites, including large cemetaries, the only other synagogue we visited was the Aben Danan Synagogue in Fes, which we visited with our guide. He explained that during the Islamic period, the Jewish quarter (mellah) was often near the Palace as the Jewish population sought the protection of the reigning monarch.

As we were in Morocco during Passover, various sites were closed. We very much enjoyed learning about the extensive Jewish history of this majority-Muslim nation, especially as it relates to the history of the Jews of the Iberian Penninsula. 

Our final Morocco post coming soon.

Jeff and Shana