We take bus 360 with our free Gardena Mobile Pass — different than the pricey lift pass of same name — from the Ortisei town center bus station to Santa Christina and then a free white shuttle van — bit of jockeying to get into the van ‘cause many wish to board — up the steep, meandering residential road to the Col Raiser lift, which, essentially, takes people to the bottom of the famous Seceda hike.

Why are we going to the bottom instead of taking the Seceda lifts from Ortisei directly to the top of Seceda? Because so many people want this hike that the Ortisei tram this year requires timed entry tickets. Soooo, we’re taking the hike backwards, using some tricky trams in between to avoid some of the seriously uphill hiking.

We begin our hike on trail 4 to Firenze. It’s a lovely heavily shaded path.

To add to the bucolic feeling, there are cows and the gentle sounds of their bells (Eat your heart out Blue Oyster Cult).

Although we have not gone far, we stop at the Firenze Regensberger Hutte for an espresso doppio with whipped cream and a coke, and to plan the rest of our day’s hike because some of the maps on the trail and in our pockets have conflicting information.

We go back and forth trying to understand which map is correct about what trails exist and which lifts are operating since it significantly affects our trail selections.

We ask for the check and for trail advice. “Oh, well, yes, of course,” the waitress tells us, pointing to the large map posted at the hut’s entrance, “that one is out of date.”

We set off on trail 1 until we come to an intersection. To the right is an uphill climb to an overlook. To the left is trail 4a, which will take us to Neidia and the Fermeda lift to Seceda where we can ride down to Ortisei.

The views, of course, are fabulous: It IS a fairy tale here.

On the walk from the terminus of the Receda-Ortisei gondola back to the hotel, we see yet another blessed doorway.

And shower and change and sit outside for cocktails with the Aussie sisters on a nine-week jaunt through several spots in Germany and Switzerland.

Dinner is accompanied, as it was last year one night, by a harpist. Good, playing quite the variety of English and American pop tunes.

Dinner, as always, is a smorgasbord of textures and flavors with four courses.