My Italian holidays

01 November 2016 Travel time: with 30 December 2009 on 07 January 2010
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My Italian holidays.

I became a skier recently, even very recently... right after the decision to join a group of friends who flew to Italy to celebrate the New Year in the Val di Fasa ski resort.

There are tickets, ski equipment was bought during sales and discounts at half price...

Hurrah!! ! I am a skier!!!

But the closer the departure date became, the more terrible it was in my soul, the most important thing I don’t know how: I never stood on skis!!!

"Deer School" in Protasov Yar.

Thanks to coach Alexey! Thanks to his efforts and patience, in a few lessons I got on skis and stood on them quite confidently, in a couple more lessons I was able to make (as Volodya Zelensky would say) “pasta-pizza” and... everything, the time is up !! ! And now I'm at passport control at the airport.


We approached the calculation of our route with all the seriousness of this matter. Before us was a difficult task - to celebrate the New Year and have a good rest in a foreign country. Therefore, at first, a plan was drawn up for our movement in Italy, then it was detailed with transfer schedules, fares and luggage, all kinds of maps of the area, and a brief description of the sights.

The first stage of our route was the flight Kyiv - Treviso. It should be noted that we bought tickets exactly half a year before departure, for the low-cost Wizzair, and they cost us less dirt, 800 hryvnia per person round trip. And now, hurrah!! ! Venice welcomes us! More precisely, not Venice, but Treviso, but in the end, what's the difference, the main thing is Italy.

We arrived in the evening. Naturally, there was nothing to think about the transfer to Vigo Di Faç a, where we decided to settle. Therefore, the second point of our route was a hotel in the center of Treviso, "Continental", we reached it without incident, very quickly , by regular city bus.

The hotel is very decent, and generally not expensive, and most importantly, it is located near the railway station and near the bus station, from which we had to hit the road to the Italian Alps early in the morning. . .

Having had a good rest after a tiring flight and evening-night walks around Treviso, on the morning of December 30th, we went by bus to the main point of our vacation.

I must say that my heart has been troubled by one thought all the time after landing. . . even two, but one more than anything. . . Where is the snow???? ? Neither in Treviso itself, nor in its surroundings, was there snow at all... that is, not an ounce... well, not a snowflake !!! ! And only as we moved inland, my anxiety about this gradually faded away, and when we climbed the next pass and the snow-capped peaks of the Dolomites opened up to our eyes, my thoughts were completely absorbed by the second anxiety, how I would feel on skis...

But in the meantime, while I was consumed by one anxiety after another, we reached our destination, and our eyes appeared in all their glory Vigo Di Fasa, Mount Ciampedi, and our hotel Latemar.


We chose a hotel for a long time, and before we settled on Latemar, we managed to go through a bunch of offers from a bunch of different sites, and even book one, but when we found this one, they canceled the reservation and stopped all searches. Latemar suited us both in terms of location and price.

We were met by a purely alpine, very nice, pretty, clean hotel. The staff is friendly and helpful, and when they found out that one of us speaks Italian very well, and at the very least I understand what they are talking about, and I can even support the conversation a little, mixing Italian and English words, they are not delighted. there was a limit (for the entire time of our stay at the hotel, we were often called for help when there was a misunderstanding with Russian-speaking guests).

We had a mansard-type room on the 4th floor. Clean, comfortable, simple - these are the three main words that characterize our room. But this clean, cozy, unpretentious room had one huge advantage, it was a balcony with the most chic!!! ! view of the mountains and the city.

The city itself was small, maybe that's why some tourists who counted on renting equipment had problems... I didn't have such problems. I don’t have my own skis, so on every trip I count on rental points, and as it turned out, not in vain. It should be noted that along with a cheap flight, Visara has an expensive transport of ski equipment. One piece of luggage cost 750 UAH. My rental cost me about the same amount, I paid 75 euros for 10 days of skiing. But! These were almost new skis and boots, and since I paid for everything from Kyiv, they were waiting for me polished, with sharp edges. So now I advise everyone, if you are not an advanced "skiboarder" and you do not have super cool equipment, do not worry, rent it. Moreover, everywhere in Europe the rental equipment is of very decent quality. Moreover, you no longer need to carry extra oversized luggage along airports, trains and buses along the entire route of your movement, and this, you see, is the most significant plus of the rental option.


But still it went easier, I determined my riding style and slowly began to gain momentum, after the third or fourth time I passed the track almost on a par with everyone else, and we decided to move to a normal blue track. The track was very beautiful, although it went along the northern slope of the mountain, but it was a pleasure to roll along it !! ! There were practically no skiers, we rode, talking to each other, under the centuries-old Italian firs, along the snow surface, although narrow, but well cleared by snow groomers, along almost “velveteen”.

Since New Year's Eve was still ahead of us, we decided not to go to that day, but to go to the local supermarket in order to buy groceries for January 1st. It should be noted that while still at home, we read the reviews of tourists celebrating the New Year in Italy that nothing works anywhere on January 1, so it’s better to stock up on groceries in advance so as not to be hungry.

Meanwhile, while we were shopping at the local Lidl supermarket, the sun went down behind the mountains and night slowly descended on the city... No, not night, but NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!!

The city shone with New Year's illumination, the local church called its parishioners to the festive service by ringing bells.

A crescent moon appeared from behind the mountains, the first star rose, the streets of the city were slowly emptying. Our hotel was filled with various smells coming from the kitchen, and sounds, mostly baritone and treble overflows of Italian speech (oh, and they are noisy !!! ), and trills of children's voices.

When our company went down to the restaurant, it turned out that everyone had already taken their seats. Waitresses in national costumes have already begun to deliver all kinds of Italian treats prepared by the skillful hands of Chef Tito.

Either we were so respected in this hotel, or the tips left on the table after our first dinner made themselves felt, but a table was waiting for us in the center of the hall. At first we felt uncomfortable under the attentive gaze of the local public, but after the first glass of good Italian wine, we all relaxed and began to enjoy ourselves. Having got used to it a little, we began to study our surroundings. In the restaurant, except for our company and a couple of Belgians who were sitting at the table next to us, there were only Italians. The noise and din was incredible.


There was no entertainment program, not even background music. It turned out that all their entertainment is to enjoy a good dinner. To be fair, the dinner was really great. Dishes succeeded each other, and each next was tastier than the previous one. Exactly at 23:00 excellent champagne was served. We were pleased to think that it was served exactly in time for our New Year, so we had everything at home, and making a wish and drinking champagne under an imaginary chiming clock, and congratulating each other on the New Year and... Shche not vmerl of Ukraine, neither glory nor....Ouch! Got carried away!! ! Well, of course, we did not sing the anthem of Ukraine, but I am a patriot of my country...

But still there was a small performance that evening. The entire small staff of the hotel entered the restaurant, headed by the chef and part-time manager, the son of the owners, Tito. He congratulated everyone on the upcoming New Year, wished everyone Felicity, Bella Vakanza, Tranqui… oh! , again skidded… in short, happiness, good holidays, and generally a pleasant stay. After that, he invited everyone to celebrate the onset of the new year with the old Neapolitan song “On the Swing”. But first he arranged a chant.

It was hilarious to watch how the whole restaurant, both old and young, howled in different ways under the strict guidance of Tito. But the chanting bore fruit, and now all as one, raising their hands with their napkins, and together, waving them over their heads, sang this cheerful, funny song. We sang along too. Yes, and you would sing along, having become infected with general fun.

We sat in the restaurant for a while, ate the most popular Italian dessert - "Tiramisu", which means "pull me up" in Italian.

When, at about one in the morning, the audience began to gradually move to the bar, to precipitate a plentiful dinner with popular Italian drinks limoncella, liquorice, grappa and others like them, we, tired but satisfied, dispersed to our rooms. Of course, someone will say: how boring!!! , but we do not belong to the number of immensely hanging out people, and we enjoy a normal, no-nonsense vacation.

The morning came without a hangover. After drinking a cup of coffee and eating a sandwich, we went to the empty tracks to enjoy riding. I already began to feel more confident on skis, I didn’t risk it in vain. The day passed in calm riding, without excesses and adventures.

On the morning of January 2, my friend woke up with a fever, and we decided that in order to avoid an aggravation of the disease, Tanya stays in the room with a supply of antipyretics, lemons, honey (which we wisely took with us), and tea.


The rest of our company went for a ride with me.

And then the most interesting began, one might say, the climax of my story.

But, I'll tell you everything in order.

On this day, Russian-speaking skiers began to appear more and more often on the slopes, and in order to somehow escape from their ubiquitous and irrepressible energy, we decided to climb the neighboring mountain. There were fewer people there. When we went up there, an even more breathtaking landscape opened up to our eyes.

After admiring the beauty, our group began to descend.

Everyone is already accustomed to the fact that I descend slowly on difficult sections, so no one waited for me, reasonably noting that they would catch up with me on the second lap... I began to slowly descend along the track. And then I noticed that along the route there are red badges, not blue, as I expected, but red!! ! I realized that I was alone gliding along a difficult track for me, which simultaneously had 2 slopes, forward and to the right, and that there was no my girlfriend nearby who would cheer me up with her mere presence, and that I was about to fly off the track !! ! I was so horrified!! ! I still think that I made the only right decision at that time. I took off my skis and slowly walked up the mountain. I expected to go down on the lift, but it was not there. It turns out that not all lifts can descend.


And now, I'm standing in front of the Italian uncle, all white with fright, like everything around, and I'm trying to explain to him that I'm afraid!! ! But, as luck would have it, the uncle does not understand English, and I did not know how the word “I’m afraid” would be in Italian. Thank God that the sign language is international, and that both our knees and theirs are shaking with fear, and the uncle was quick-witted. In general, he asked me a question that I understood without an interpreter: Señ ora Pauro?? ? Oh yes, I am a pauro, and more like a pauro!! ! Most importantly, the uncle did not laugh at my fear, he immediately called the lifeguard on the radio.

Men, you can skip this part of my story ; )

Girls!! ! It was necessary to see this: a handsome Italian 2 meters tall, with a charming smile, drives up to me, on a brand new all-terrain vehicle, and tells me that I can not be afraid that I am under his protection, and that he will take me to a safe section of the track . He put me behind him on his all-terrain vehicle and asked me to hug him tightly around the waist... he might not have asked, I would have hugged him anyway... And so we rush along the shortest path - along the black track - to the bottom. There is a whistle in my ears, my curls blown out from under my hat flutter in the wind. In general, the picture was cooler than in "Rescuers Malibu", it's a pity that no one filmed it.

In this way, I avoided the risk of returning home with a broken arm or leg.

But, for the first time on the red track, I nevertheless moved out on this particular trip, and repeated this feat several times... but that's a completely different story.

As an epilogue, I want to add that the rest was a success!!!

During the rest we tried many delicious dishes. We always had lunch on the slopes in various restaurants (there are a lot of them).

I want to note that even in fast food restaurants the food is very decent. There we first tried a cocktail called Bombardino,

I advise lovers of sweets, a very tasty cocktail, served hot, so it warms up well. And of course, try the local mulled wine.

It is best to take local cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes, olives from gifts... you can’t think of a better souvenir from Italy. I also found a spice mix for mulled wine with an attached magnet in the supermarket, a very cool souvenir. The spice mixture was excellent, the mulled wine was very cool.

On this note, I will end my lengthy story about the Italian holidays. For those who decide to repeat our route, I wish you a pleasant stay and vivid impressions.

See you soon.

Me.

Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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