La Nostra Avventura Inaspettata a San Candido

September 22, 2018

Witten Hiking Around Lago di Braies

The original plan for today was to spend the day hiking. We were going to do a moderate 8.4 mile hike along a spectacular mountain ridge at 2,300 meters, skirt the Tirana di Rozes, pass a derelict wartime hospital from 1917, and hike through a short tunnel that was used during World Wars I and II. The weather, however, looked questionable for the first time on our trip, and everyone was a bit taxed after two long weeks and a big hike yesterday, so we decided to call an audible and skip the hike in favor for a more relaxing day.

My dad and Kati were exhausted and wanted to sleep in a little bit, so my mom, Witten, and I got some breakfast together and then went hiking around the lake again. We did not, however, do the whole hike. Rather, we walked halfway around and then retraced our steps so we avoided the hills and stairs that we would have encountered had we done the whole loop. Witten thoroughly enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake, and my mom found her a walking stick that she quickly became obsessed with.

After a leisurely morning, we set out to explore a nearby town - San Candido a/k/a Innichen. San Candido is in the Puster Valley, on the Drava River, has a population of a little over 3,000 people, and hosts Italy’s International Snow Sculpture Festival each year. We went looking for wine, but stayed because it’s a great little town with a lot to offer.

Cemetery at the Collegiata di San Candido

For example, the Innichen Abbey (i.e., the Collegiata di San Candido) - a former Benedictine monastery - was founded in the 8th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries. Though the exterior and interior are both very plain and bare, it is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in the Eastern Alps. More impressive than the abbey itself, were the “cemeteries” within its walls. I’ve never seen graves quite like these. They were square plots with iron monument markers that had each been planted with beds of flowers that appeared to be well-tended. It was pretty neat, as was the nearby Chiesa di Santa Michele Arcangelo that exemplifies Austrian churches and religious architecture.

The town is really quaint and the center is lined with little shops and restaurants, which we spent most of the morning exploring before stopping into an Austrian-style restaurant at the end of the main drag. Kati was thrilled to have the opportunity to sample some of the local cheeses from a creamery in the next town over, along with a variety of local meats and salami.

On our walk back from lunch, my dad noticed a summer toboggan run standing above the town, so we went over to check it out. Kati and I had previously agreed that if we ever saw another summer toboggan run, we would do it, and we did. My dad wasn’t feeling great, so my mom, Kati, Witten, and I took the ski lift up to the top. Witten loved the ride up and was thrilled to find a kid’s paradise at the top. The lift was actually a lot higher than we had expected, so we didn’t have too much time to spend up there, but we did make time to jump on one of the built-in trampolines with Witten. Then it was time to take on the “Fun Bob.” The track drops 1,030 feet over the course of a mile-long track, and you can reach speeds of over 20 miles per hour! Witten 

Lago di Braies

Upon our return to Pragser Wildsee, we did some more relaxing, took pictures around the lake, and just generally enjoyed our surroundings. At 7:00 - following afternoon drinks - we sat down in the dining room for an extra special meal. As it turns out, the hotel has a larger, fixed menu on Saturday nights. We started with some prosecco and an enlarged salad bar, followed by consume with vegetables, risotto with asparagus and cheese, and Beef Wellington, all of which we paired with a very good 2014 Lagrein. Witten, however, did not make it past the consume. She exploded, so Kati and I rushed up to put her to bed before rejoining my parents for the close of our meal, which ended with a bang or, more appropriately, a flame. I asked our waiter (in Italian) what “Zuppa Inglese” was, and he described it (also in Italian) as being kind of like tiramisu without the coffee. That is not, however, how I would describe what came out. Another one of the waiters came out parading a giant, flaming cake-looking thing that they then proceeded to cut up and distribute. English Soup turns out to be more like a Baked Alaska than tiramisu. It was cake with multiple flavors of ice cream baked into it, along with fruit. I’d never had anything quite like that, but it was very good and marked a great exclamation point to a very unique experience in the Dolomites.