A PEEP OF THE DOLOMITES
Buchenstein—Caprile—Alleghe See—Arába.
Near it a little road branches off to the south-east, which, leading through Italian territory and crossing a stream, leads to Caprile, just over the Italian frontier, descending on the left side of the Val Cordevole, with fine views of the Val di Livinallongo. The village of Caprile, at the far end of which is the short Venetian column, surmounted by a lion of St. Mark, a relic of the days when the Venetians ruled the district, is a somewhat straggling one, with many of the houses built upon arches. The church is ordinary, although there are some quaint decorations to the organ-loft worth seeing. But, disappointing as is the village itself, its beautiful surroundings, with the truly magnificent prospect of Monte Civetta, and the beautiful Alleghe Lake, tempt one to prolong one's stay.
From Caprile the road leads to the Lake, which lies at the foot of Monte Civetta. The high road, however, which is fairly level, leads first of all to the village of Arába at the foot of the Pordoijoch, 7355 feet.
Bruneck—Enneberg—Arába.
On the way to Arába one can also reach, direct from the Puster Thal station, St. Lorenzen, through the wildly beautiful and romantic Enneberg Thal, which forms the shortest route to the middle division of the great Dolomite road. One peculiarity of the Gader or Enneberg Thal, and other similar valleys of the district, is the fact that the peasantry speak neither German nor Italian (although in some valleys the latter language is gradually becoming more used), but the patois known as Ladin, which somewhat resembles the Romanche of the Grisons district, although each valley has certain peculiarities of dialect. No doubt these latter will in time die out, and German will become the common language of the more German valleys, and Italian of the more Italian.
The carriage-road, which is 45 kilometres (28 miles) in length, is not suitable for motors; it leads past Pedrazes, 4350 feet high, and Corvara, 5110 feet, to Arába. Near Corvara lies the way over the Grödener-Joch, 7010 feet, into the beautiful Grödener Thal, often sung by the poet Walther von der Vogelweide.
Waidbruck—Grödener Thal—Arába.
The usual starting-point, however, for the latter is Waidbruck, to the south of the Brenner road between Franzenfeste and Bozen. From Waidbruck, 1545 feet, which lies at the head of the Grödener Thal, with the Trostburg, 2040 feet, towering above it, the road goes to St. Ulrich, 4055 feet, distant eight miles, the chief village in the wide valley, prettily situated and surrounded by tree-clad slopes, beyond which rise some magnificent rocky Dolomite peaks. The church, dating from the end of the eighteenth century, has a beautiful interior, containing some excellent examples of the woodcarving for which the Grödener Thal has for ages been and still is famous.