We set out from the hut for our mostly downhill hike fairly early because we had a lot of different modes of travel today ➡️ foot – bus x3 – then a 3 hour drive.

I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t quite ready to leave the mountains for the oppressive heat down south and the floods of people. Unlike other long backpacking trips, the allure of “real” food wasn’t there since we’d had such great meals along the way! Nevertheless, we had a schedule to keep and more than five miles downhill to cover.

The plan was to hike down through the small town of Pozzale do Cadore and then catch a bus out of Pieve Di Cadore, sounds simple right??

Arriving in town just past noon, we found a cafe for lunch and spritz. It was a nice waypoint to transition from the solitude of the mountains to the bustle of a city. The host at the rifugio had given us a number for a potential taxi but with our eSIM cards none of us could make a phone call. We asked our waitress if she could make the call for us since getting a taxi would save us about 2 1/2 hours of travel. Unfortunately no taxis were available so we started our search for busses. Steve had done the research and read up on which busses we needed but the reality is always more difficult, especially since none of us are well acquainted with bus transport! We found a bus station but our first attempt to board was rejected since our Italian is nonexistent and we didn’t know the bus line, only the final stop we wanted. It turned out that we needed to be at another bus stop a bit further down and on the other side of the street. We boarded and tried to communicate where we needed to go. We made it but further down the road then the bus pulled into a transfer station and ushered to another bus. That bus dumped us at an unexpected station, not the destination we expected… we waited about 30 mins, watching several busses go past but eventually ours arrived. The third bus was the charm and got us to the end of the line, which happened to be at a huge tourist location. Here is where the plan broke down since we had no idea how to get the bus. A kind man at a tourist stand let us know that the tickets had to be purchased online. Steve and Josh managed it and another 30 minute wait ensured.

Stage two dropped us at a city center bus station and it wasn’t difficult to find and board the next and final bus. We arrived back at the car, right on the schedule Steve had planned, which was later than we hoped for when taxis were a dream!

Car packed and butts in seats we hit the road to Venice! Most of this was highway driving and not awful. The Autogrills (rest stops that are basically small Walmarts) were extremely busy though! We made it to our hostel on the outskirts of Venice with just barely enough time to have a quick shower before racing to Venice proper for dinner. We parked and then darn near jogged our way for about a mile to get to the canal section, getting waaay too hot as a result.