On this day, we were driving from Trento to Bressanone. Our drive was in the Dolomites, a specific section of the Italian Alps. It's also part of the Italian Tyrolean Alps and looks much like parts of Austria or southern Germany.

We definitely appeared to be off any major road, but we drove through the Val di Funes, an Alpine valley surrounded by the steep peaks of the Dolomites. The land was dotted with sloping mountain pastures, farmsteads, and occasional church spires.

We stopped in a restaurant in the small town of Santa Magdalena which has 370 people. We picked up a guide who is a native here. He took us for a walk up a rather steep hill up to the Santa Magdalena Church, perhaps the highlight of the town and the reason for its name.

Our guide's family's house is the one highest on the hill in the photo below. He told us that the town has more cows than people. But not big herds of cows, it's just that most families have a few cows for milk, butter, and cheese.

I asked our guide about the field across the roadway. He said it's farmed most of the year but after the snows come, it becomes ski slopes.

On our hike up the mountain, we did pass a few farmers with more than a couple of cows. Their cow operations appeared to be extremely well done with everything neat, clean, and able to easily withstand the winters.

These photos of the landscape are somewhat disappointing to me. IF you could see the same photos without the clouds against the mountains, it would really be something. The Dolomites are in the background, sticking high in the air with sharp peak next to sharp peak next to sharp peak. The clouds hid them from these photos but as we drove on we got to see them from other locations and they were spectacular.

We hiked up to the Santa Magdalena Church. It's a small church but quite colorful and nice inside. I would call this church small but elegant.

I found the cemetery right in front of the church interesting. At first glance, I thought it looked rather bleak with all the rocks. But after getting closer, I realized that each plot has live plants growing in it, not fake flowers.