Alpine Refuges

UNESCO, GLOBALISM, MOUNTAIN BIKES–RUINING THE DOLOMITES

by Socrates George Kazolias:

Like every Summer, we went hiking in the Dolomites and each year since UNESCO declared the Dolomites a World Heritage Site in 2009, we have watched our beloved mountains take a turn for the worse.

Along with UNESCO, Covid and electric mountain bikes added to the decline. Now global Capital is moving in to take over the tourist business.

The UNESCO FIASCO

When UNESCO classified nine regions of the Dolomites, the UN put the mountain ranges on the world map for package tours.

In anticipation of increased tourism, especially from the United States, valley hotels began building extensions to their establishments, despite UNESCO criteria against new constructions. How was this possible? Local, corrupt, officials backdated the building permits, Sud Tirol friends tell us. Yellow cranes  went up throughout the valleys.

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Over The Alps: Hiking from Munich to Venice

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Marienplatz – Munich at the start

If you are nearing retirement or have retired and you are looking for that great adventure which will take your breath away, both literally and figuratively, or just need to clear your mind to start a new life, then the Dream Trail from Munich to Venice is perhaps what you want. The trek, known in German as the Traumpfad München-Venedig, may sound awesome but if we could do it, so can you. All you need is a couple of months, a few thousand dollars in cash and a lot of determination.

It is late June and Sonja, 62, and I, 61, are off to one corner of Munich’s Marienplatz square having our photo taken while tourists crowd in front of the Gothic Revival Town Hall and wait for the colorful Rathaus-Glockenspiel clock to sound its 43 bells with 32 colorful life-sized figurines re-enacting a 16th century fairy-tale in a 15 minute show.

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