Day 6 – Exploring The Val Fiscalina

Sep 30, 2022

Today’s Adventure

For our last day in Innichen we made a return visit to the Val Fiscalina (Fischleintal in German) for a more detailed look at this beautiful valley. We had visited here earlier in the trip at the tail end of our hike from Kreuzberg Pass. It was rainy and overcast all day, but we knew that this would be a mostly wooded walk with limited challenges so we dressed appropriately and hit the road.

We took a Südtirolmobil regional bus to Sesto where we found the trailhead for Trail 1 just across the river. From there we walked through a farm (complete with a couple of less-than-social farm cats) up to the edge of the woods where we headed southeast through the forest towards the Val Fiscalina. The signs indicated that this section of the trail was part of the Alta Via 5 – it was a bit of surprise to learn that this rather bucolic trail was linked into that otherwise mountainous and challenging network.

Once we reached the valley we made a quick pit stop at the Fischleinbodenhütte and then headed south along the valley floor towards the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. This was a rather wide gravelled trail that obviously gets a fair amount of traffic in the summer months given the easy grade and lovely views. We walked until the trail started to turn more technical, which happily was right at the Rifugio Fondovalle (Talschlusshütte in German), a charming mountain inn with a lovely terrace looking further up the valley into the Parco Naturale Tre Cime and towards the peak of Croda del Toni.

We found a table on the outside terrace that kept us under the roof overhang so that even if the rain started again we’d be okay. Our outward-facing bench let us lean up against the building so not only did we have a nice view but we were sheltered from the wind as well. Stuart ordered his usual hiker’s lunch of eggs, speck, and rostkartoffeln while Cindy had the barley soup with smoked pork loin and a homemade samosa (turnover).

After a leisurely lunch we hiked back down trail to the small town of Moos, just up the valley from Sesto, where we caught the bus back to Innichen. We took some time that afternoon to get packed up for our move to Ortisei the next day. Cindy’s a firm believer in unpacking completely whenever we arrive at new lodging for more than just a few days, but this actually seems to make re-packing easier because things tend to stay more organized during our stay.

We had dinner that evening at the Cafe Senfter, the restaurant on the grounds of our hotel. Guests of the Zin Senfter Residence get a discount in the restaurant, which is a linen table cloth affair in spite of the Café moniker. We’re not sure if all customers are treated the same as the guests, but we were treated to a small charcuterie platter when our bottle of wine was delivered and they brought complimentary grappa with ‘die Rechnung’ (the bill). We then headed back to our room for one last look at the travel plans for the next day before turning in for a good night’s sleep.

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