TUESDAY 28 JULY 2015 THE HERALD

TRAVEL ROUND-UP

Summer sun from €332LOW Cost Holidays have some late summer deals left, includ-ing Gran Canaria, departing Dublin August 25, and staying a week at the three-star Carlota Apartments, from €332pp self catering. Or a week in Lanzarote costs from €374 (B&B), staying at the three-star Hotel Blue Sea Los Fiscos.

If you’re interested in long haul, it’s got a week in Cancun (departing August 26) from €950pp room only at the four-star NYX Hotel Cancun. Or there’s a week in Barbados (Au-gust 25) from €1,320 at the three-star Coconut Court Beach Hotel. For all-inclusive, try the Dominican Republic (August 27) at the four-star Tropical Princess from €1,290pp. Log on to www.lowcostholidays.ie or call 01 485 3835.

Late deal to ChinaSAVE €520 per person off a 10-day China Experience with Wendy Wu tours, taking in all the key modern and historic sights of a magical country.

With the discount, the tour, based on an August 29 de-parture, costs €2,420 per person on a fully inclusive basis. The tour takes in the contrasting cities of Xian, Beijing and Shanghai, including visits to the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Warriors. The price includes international flights from Dublin, domestic transport, accommodation, all meals, tour guides, entrance fees and visa fees for EU passport holders. See www.wendywutours.ie/china-tours/a-china- experience-125.htm

FACTFILE

I WAS 2,400 metres up a mountain in Italy when two guys dangling from a green, white and red parachute

floated past and wished me a cheery “buongiorno”.

A mirage in the Dolomites? I thought you only saw those in the desert.

“Tandem paragliding,” said guide Tomazo. “You strap your-self to the pilot and jump off the mountain. It’s very popular.”

Yeah – with lunatics.The alpine scenery of Val di

Fassa is breathtaking, which is why the hills were alive with the sound of wheezing.

Tomazo halted to give us a welcome rest and a little pep talk, but no oxygen, which I thought was a bit stingy. “This is the limit of—” he began. “Hu-man endurance?” I asked.

“No. The tree line. No trees grow above this altitude.”

Edelweiss does, and would do so in greater profusion if walkers didn’t keep bending to pick the delicate blooms.

In the valley floor far below, the ski resort of Canazei, devoid of snow in late June, had earlier appeared decidedly Aus-trian with a token nod to Italy during my after-breakfast stroll.

Beautifully ornate wooden chalets of all sizes, many of them hotels, some shops and others homes, had me expecting Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp gang to cycle past. One chalet

looked like a giant cuckoo clock that might have been carved by Pinocchio’s auld fella. On closer inspection it turned out to be an estate agent’s office, with the descriptions of properties for sale in Italian and German.

Moses-like, Tomazo led us out of the lofty wilderness and down a narrow goat track to a farmhouse-cum-inn where at noon the temperature was 20C on the terrace.

It was even hotter by the brick-built oven where our cheery host, in workaday le-derhosen, was extracting fresh-ly-baked loaves of rustic brown bread that would be served momentarily at lunch. Jugs of iced-water with a hint of Ama-

retto were plonked down on the tables and emptied in seconds.

Plates of cheese, ham and salami and big bowls of bar-ley and vegetable stew ap-peared, all made in-house and delivered by the inn- keeper’s charming children.

Then came grappa, the local firewater, to fuel our 6km down-hill trek to the Col Rodella cable car station from where we’d set out six hours before.

My hike was no stroll in the park, which was down to a lack of peak fitness, but it did show that you don’t have to be a skier or snowboarder to enjoy the delights of Val di Fassa.

Against a backdrop of soaring mountains and alpine meadows

and with a soundtrack of cow-bells, screeching eagles and the whistling of comical jack-in-the-box marmots, summer in and above the valley is special.

I was in Italy with tour operator Crystal, which needs no introduction as a wintersports spe-cialist. However, its middle-months Lakes and Mountains breaks are well-worth getting to know.

Having experienced the heights, it was time to take in lakeside sights. I headed south-west from Val di Fassa along diz-zyingly high winding roads with sheer, 1,000-metre drops (so I was told – I didn’t dare look) to Valsugana and reassuringly low-lying Lake Levico.

Compared with superstar lakes Como – where George Clooney has a villa that he’s reportedly selling – and Garda, Levico is a mere puddle, but in this case small is beautiful.

The Imperial Grand Hotel, where I stayed, isn’t small, but it’s beyond beautiful. A

former summer palace of the Habsburgs who ruled the Aus-tro-Hungarian empire, it’s the most opulent property in Crys-tal’s Summer portfolio.

Although my aching, sun-burnt legs were in need

of a good knead, I opted to skip a massage in the hotel’s renowned spa and spend the late afternoon by the pool,

where I got chatting with manager Ruggero Zanoni,

who was on his rounds.Apart from his native Italian,

Ruggero speaks fluent German, Dutch, Russian and English, the last with a Clydeside accent (his late wife was from Glasgow).

With his love of languages, it came as no surprise to learn he’s busy doing a YouTube crash course in Irish so he can wel-come clients as gaeilge.

Castel Pergine proved to be great too. Sitting on its own mini mountain high above the lake and looking not unlike Colditz, it’s a place to escape to, not from.

As well as eat-anything-and-keep-it-coming gluttons like

me, gluten-intolerant diners are well catered for and rave about the place, as do vegetarians and vegans.

I was loath to leave, and the idea of staying the night (the cas-tle has rooms) was tempting, but a last-night-in-town nightcap or two with Ruggero won the toss.

With a few hours to kill the next morning before heading to Verona airport, I passed on taking a dip in the lake and opted instead to visit Levico’s 19th Century hilltop fortress.

As I walked up the steep path, I stopped to catch my breath by an arrowed signpost that read “Colle delle Benne – 1km”.

Now, my Italian isn’t great, but three years of Latin under Brother O’Keeffe told me I was halfway up the Hill of Benne.

In other words, Benny Hill.I chuckled. I could hear the

late comedian’s theme tune. I pictured him chasing all those scantily-clad young women around a park.

And all of a sudden, the hills were alive with the sound of giggling.

VAL DI FASSACRYSTAL Summer has a week’s stay at the four-star Hotel Campitello, half-board, from €665pps based on two sharing, including flights from Dublin and transfers, departing September 5.LAKE LEVICOA WEEK at the four-star Imperial Grand Hotel, half-board, from €779pps, including flights from Dublin and transfers, departing August 29.l See crystalsummer.ie or call 01 433 1080

The hills are alive with the sound of giggling – and it’s Benny Hill’s faultTom Sweeney found his love of Italy reaching new heights in Val di Fassa and Lake Levico

Tom high in the mountains above Canazei. Below, Lake Levico lido. Inset above, Imperial Grand Hotel. Inset below, edelweiss