World War I Mountain Warfare

During our stay in Cortina we caught the cable car up to Mount Lagazuoi, a 2,800m peak in the Dolomites from which there are 360° views of the breathtaking mountains. However, beneath this beautiful landscape lies a labyrinth of tunnels which tell a more tragic story.

The cable car up to Mount Lagazuoi

Beautiful views in all directions

The Dolomites have always formed a physical and political border between Italy, Austria and Germany. One of the most tragic stories in the history of the Dolomites was the war for this border during World War I on the Italian Front. This was a series of battles between Austria-Hungary and Italy fought between 1915 and 1918. The front soon bogged down into trench warfare, but at very high altitudes, and thousands of soldiers died in futile battles on what the Italians call Il Fronte Verticale. Soldiers on both sides excavated miles of tunnels and galleries in the mountains, built temporary emplacements and fired at one another, without really changing the front line.

Look closely at the exit in the sheer cliff (bottom left of the picture)

Rifugio Lagazuoi is a starting point to visit the restored fortifications of the World War I Open Museum and it is possible to see reminders of the mountain warfare that raged for so long. We put on our hardhats and headlamps and descended on the via ferrata - a rocky descent which relies on chains for support - into the gallery of tunnels inside the mountain. Even at the end of June there were icy patches inside the tunnels; it's hard to imagine what it was like in the winter of 1916 when 10 000 men died in avalanches alone.

The first part of the via ferrata

The military 'highway' on the surface of the mountain

One of the staircases going deep inside the mountain
(It is pitch black inside)

The exit to a lookout post

The view from the lookout post

The tunnels we visited were made by Italian soldiers who tunnelled stubbornly through the mountain in order to surprise the Austrian troops stationed on the summit. With metal ropes, stairs and ladders still intact, these tunnels show an incredible feat of engineering.

A machine gun gallery

Fortifications and sandbags at a lookout post

An officer's room inside the mountain

Scraps of barbed wire and wood lying on the mountain

Many of the surrounding mountains are also riddled with the network of tunnels, and visitors can see bunkers, barbed wire, trenches, sandbags and other remnants of the war in the mountains. It is one of the most fascinating places we've ever visited - a challenging contrast of horror and beauty.

Cortina d'Ampezzo

The small town of Cortina lies in the heart of the Dolomites, or southern Alps, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. The Boite River flows through the alpine valley and the surrounding mountains have made Cortina a top destination for winter holidays. We went there in summer to enjoy the spectacular mountain scenery and for Daniel to do a race.

Cortina, nestled in its Dolomitic valley

A quaint mountain town

Daniel participated in the Lavaredo Ultra Trail, a 119km race with 5,850m of climbing in the mountains. It was Daniel's first mountain ultra marathon in Italy and he did an amazing job to complete it! The race started at 23:00 with the first 50km in the dark...

Just before sunrise at Rif. Auronzo. The course goes along the contour path.

Coming into the checkpoint at Cimabanche

Beautiful rolling hills at Malga Ra Stua

The landscape was similar to the Jura!

Passo Giau: last stop before the finish

While Daniel was out running, I was crewing for him. My job was to get up the windy mountain passes and meet Daniel at the various checkpoints along the way to help him restock his backpack. It was a lot of pressure, but I got to see some beautiful places and it was fantastic to see Daniel during the race instead of just at the start and finish line!

A scenic mountain pass

The aid station all set up for Daniel

Running down the finishing straight in the rain!

Italian road trip

Summer has finally arrived in Europe and with it the summer holidays! We started off our holiday with a great road trip south into northern Italy.

A map of our travels

The first stop on our trip was in Cortina, a beautiful village in the Dolomites where we had some amazing experiences.

A view over Cortina

The town square in Cortina

On our way further south, we stopped off in the historical city of Verona. Here we saw the Verona Arena, a Roman amphitheatre built in the 1st century CE. It is one of the best preserved ancient theatres and is still in use today for large-scale operatic performances. It could host 30,000 spectators in ancient times, but today holds half that number due to safety reasons.

The Piazza Bra in central Verona

Verona Arena built in 30 CE

We also visited the Casa di Giulietta, an early 14th century house in Via Capello, claiming to be the Capulets' house. It features a balcony which overlooks a statue of Juliet in the small courtyard. Many people write their names and the names of their loved ones on the walls of the entrance in a tradition which purports to make their love everlasting. Thousands of tourists each year also put small love letters on the walls, which are actually answered as in the movie Letters to Juliet.

Juliet's balcony

The statue of Juliet. It is believed that
if a person touches her right breast
s/he will receive good fortune and luck in love.

Our next stop on the journey was to Pisa, a city in Tuscany in central Italy, where we headed straight to the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Torre Pendente is actually the bell tower of the city's cathedral and is the third oldest structure in the Cathedral Square, after the Cathedral and the Baptistry. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed pulling some cheesy tourist poses with the tower.

Torre pendente di Pisa

The Baptistry, Cathedral and Bell Tower

The classic leaning-against-the-tower pose

The even more classic holding-up-the-tower pose!

Our final destination on our Italian road trip was in Santa Margherita, where we enjoyed a lovely seaside holiday.

The Santa Margherita port 

Tour de Suisse

Daniel won two VIP tickets to the ninth and final stage of the Tour de Suisse, the fourth largest professional stage race in the world. The last stage was a time trial around Bern and we went to the stadium in Wankdorf to enjoy the race. All the team buses were set up outside the stadium and we could watch the riders warming up and solicit free water bottles from the teams. It was cool to see how professional the riders were, and the set-up made it possible for their fans to see them up close and ask for photographs and autographs.

The VIP tent had special access to the finish line and so we enjoyed some delicious food and wine while watching the riders speed past. Tom Dumoulin won Sunday's stage and Simon Spilak won overall. It was a great experience and we're looking forward to watching more cycle races in Europe.

Enjoying the race in style in the VIP tent!

Mark Cavendish's bike. Daniel was loving all the gear!

We saw all the riders warming up before their time trial.
This is the Trek Factory Racing bus.

Mark Cavendish setting off for his 38km

Local hero, Fabian Cancellara, who led for 95%
of the final stage, but was pipped at the post
and finished third in the end.

Me and Daryl Impey, the South African champion!

Mont Tendre

Mont Tendre has the distinction of being the highest, most-isolated peak in the canton of Vaud. (We think this means that there are higher peaks which are less isolated...). It is part of the Jura Mountain Range, which stretches from Zurich into France, and it lies on one of Daniel's favourite running routes.

We drove up close to the peak on Sunday and then walked the last couple of kilometres to the highest point. The trails are grassy with rolling hills and an abundance of wild flowers and butterflies. It was a cloudy day when we were up there, but the views are spectacular. On the one side you can see across Lake Geneva to the French Alps, and on the other side you can look down the valley into a different part of France. It was well worth a visit and we'll definitely be back!

Rolling hills and grassy trails

The peak

The view north

Just beautiful!

SUNNY UPDATE (2 August 2015)

We've hiked up to Mont Tendre a few times now, but today was my first time when the peak was sunny and not shrouded in cloud! So, here are a few photos from today's hike, with blue skies and the top of Mont Blanc peaking out across the lake. We ran a gauntlet of cows to reach the summit and we saw a fox on the way down :)

Sunny summit

Rolling hills and blue skies

Mont Blanc making an appearance

There were lots of cows at the top. And lots of musical cowbells!

A fox!

Sunday Market, Divonne

On Sunday we drove 20 minutes to the border town of Divonne in France. Divonne is famous for its Sunday Market (and its big Carrefour supermarket!). All the stalls at the market have delicious meats, cheeses, breads, fruits, flowers, seafood, everything fresh galore! It's a perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday morning.