Well, after a few rolled ankles and a minor fall down the side of the Alps I can successfully say that I completed the San Martino Passo Rolle hike in the Italian Alps. Before I left for Italy I was talking to my brother about our potential hike and he kept insisting that I would need proper hiking shoes if I wanted to get anything done. Well, HA! My Nike running shoes got me all the way there. (However, hiking shoes probably could have prevented me falling off the side of the mountain)
We started the hike at 9 a.m. and got back down to our hotel around 3 p.m. I can definitely say that it was the most physically challenging task I have done in a long time (or ever) and I am very proud of myself for completing it. Even though I helped bring up the rear of the pack, I took my time and enjoyed the view (and stopped every 10 steps to catch my breath). It was definitely extremely rewarding! The hike was beautiful and had amazing landscapes. We even hiked so high we were able to reach the snow!! About 3/4 of the way through we cut through a farm and were able to hang out with cows for a little while on our journey. As we kept going we met our cow friends again out in the middle of nowhere and had a stand off of who was going to move to the side of the road first. (The cows won). We were battling the weather the entire time on our hike so the route changed a few times and we took some pretty treacherous trails. Some people were super excited about the adventure but others (like me) were a little anxious. Overall it was a great trip!
Disclosure: None of these pictures capture the actual beauty of the alps.
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| Italian Alps - San Martino |
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| Italian Alps |
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| The Dolomites |
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| Melanie, Me |
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| Garlande, Me |
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| Italian Alps |
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| Garlande, Melanie, Erica, Me |
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| Oh look! The Alps! |
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| Rest Stop at PART ONE |
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| Italian Alps |
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| We Found Snow!!! |
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| The Dolomites |
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| Italian Alps |
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| Hey Look, Cows! |
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| Me, Melanie |
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| Me, Melanie, Kate |
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| Oh, hello Mr. Cow |
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| Italian Alps |
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| The Dolomites |
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| Walking single file down the windy roads |
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| Italian Alps |
After we got back from the hike we had an hour to shower and get ready for our next activity. (Seriously, one hour for 3 girls in a room to shower? Nonsense). But the next thing we did was actually pretty cool. We went down to the kitchen of the hotel where the Hotel's Chef taught us how to make two of the regional dishes of San Martino. He didn't speak any English so we had to have our program director translate, but he seemed very excited to teach how to cook the dishes. Since the cooking involved our hands I have no pictures to share, BUT I do have recipes!! :) (well, one) The experience was awesome and definitely gave us an inside look at Italian cooking.
Canederli di Speck (Big Bread Dumplings in Broth)
200 gr. Stale bread (pane raffermo)
50 gr Browned Onion (Cipolla Rosolata)
100 gr Bacon or Speck (Pancetta o Speck)
Chopped Parsley (Prezzemolo Tritato)
3 Eggs (uova)
50 gr Milk (latte)
Salt and Pepper
20 gr Flour (Farina)
-Put the bacon and onion in a large bowl with the bread and mix with hands.
-Add parsley, continue to mix
-Crack the eggs in a plate and check for impurities, if none add them to the mixture
-Mix with your hands and crush all of the bread pieces to make a past like substance
-Add salt
-Add flour
-Continue to knead with hands until the paste doesn't stick to your hands
-Use water to damp your hands and make the paste in to medium size ball shapes
-Cook in either a broth or fry in a pan with butter
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