A coffee and sandwich later we were boarding our flight to Treviso, and as it was only around a third full we had plenty of space to spread out. Indeed, as we thought about it, with every passenger on board Covid tested within the previous day or so, it was probably one of the safest places we could be!
Around 2 hours later we were passing over the snow covered Alps and approaching Treviso airport, just north of Venice. Our positive experiences of flying continued on arrival – on time and an only slightly longer queue for us non EU residents ☹. And our bag was one of the first off the belt!
Car Rental woes
Our first destination was Cortina, in the heart of the eastern Dolomites, around 2 hours north of the airport so first stop after passport control was the car hire desk. An upgrade for a small additional charge was offered but declined and low and behold the larger car was given to us anyway!
A few more forms were completed and we were handed the keys to an almost new Citroen C5 Hybrid (but ironically in the week of COP26 with an instruction not to recharge the vehicle and to only use petrol!). It was a lovely looking vehicle but, in addition to the expected challenges of getting used to a left hand drive, Jim (our designated driver) also had the stress of getting used to very unfamiliar automatic controls and a slightly bewildering array of hi-tec buttons and lights. At this point, a little bit of instruction from the hire car company on basics such as how to start the engine, reverse etc., would have been of great assistance but they’d closed up for the evening so we were left to figure it for ourselves!
How many consultants does it take to start a car engine jokes aside, 20 minutes later we were finally on the road, heading from the relatively flat plains of the Treviso area towards the Province of Belluno and the mountains. Once the basic controls were mastered the car proved to be comfortable, even on the hair pin bends when we reached the Dolomites – although we never did have time to work out what all of the flashing lights and controls did.
Bellunese - where exactly is it and what’s it like?