Category — travelling

last weekend martin and i spend a night in the 25h goldman hotel in frankfurt. yes, sometimes we take some time off and just check into a hotel room when we need a vacation but don’t have time to go anywhere. and since it was our 3 year anniversary that was his present for me :-)

the 25h goldman is a design hotel where every room looks different. we could choose from all available rooms and ended up on the 1st floor with the nautical theme. the walls were covered with the most beautiful wallpaper and each room had a different name.

the inside of the rooms were set up with lots of nice details and effort. the decoration was very special.

the wallpaper in the bathroom looked hand painted.

do you love open air pools?

the walls were turquoise and blue which caused a very relaxed atmosphere.

even the dinner tables looked different…

and i had some fun in their lounge room :-)

if you should ever come to frankfurt i highly recommend you to check into this fabulous hotel. they also have free wi-fi, free bike and ipod rental and an exquisite restaurant and it’s really not so expensive. you can reach the city center within 10 minutes, the airport is 20 minutes away. find out more on their homepage where you can also find more pictures of the other rooms. unfortunately we only had one night and couldn’t explore more rooms.

We’re back from Portugal and I feel so blessed that we had the opportunity to make this trip. It was just a sneak peak but still it was amazing. We stayed in a beautiful little hotel in Cascais by the Atlantic ocean and though it poured there was nothing better than to look at the water and relax.

Fortunately the second and third days were better and the sun came out a bit so I could take some great pictures from around our little town and of course some of Lisbon as well.

Cascais is right by the ocean and has a little harbor and a little beautiful lighthouse. A mermaid facing the sea…

I loved this place. Everything was white, you had to cover your eyes from the reflection.

The view from the lighthouse was just breath taking.

There were some things that I really liked about Cascais and Lisbon. Many many houses were covered with hand painted tiles, they had park benches covered with tiles, they decorated the whole city with them. The old architecture together with the tiles cause a great atmosphere.

I have to find out why they arrange the floors like this. I’ve seen this in Manaus, Brazil already and now here they have it as well. There must be a meaning.

In Lisbon modern design elements meet traditional buildings.

The street art was amazing. You can discover graffiti, stencils and stickers everywhere. And not the normal style you already know. Really good stuff!!

We only saw a small part of wonderful Lisbon but enough to say we have to go back once more and check out the rest. The style of the city was totally different from what I knew. Mostly you have very old parts and buildings and other parts are very modern. Here you had both things united which makes sightseeing less exhausting. There are great things to discover everywhere.

That was our last trip for this year and I’m grateful for each of them. Now let’s be creative again!!

Some of you might remember my post about Sardinia where I wrote about our upcoming trip to the most beautiful island. We’ve just returned from a week of sunshine, delicious food, salty air… I’m still overwhelmed and can’t believe that I’m back in the city with all the noise and different smells.

The trip was amazing and I would have never thought that I could relax in only one week. Actually right now it feels like we’ve been away for months and still I don’t realize I have to go to work again. But I’m not sad or angry that the week is over and that we’re back. This time it’s different because we swore to go back as soon as possible. This little island was my love already but M fell in love head over heels, too.

I knew this island my mom comes from already and couldn’t wait to show it to M. But now that I’m grown I valued the beauty of this heavenly place even more. Everywhere it’s very clean and neat, the air crisp and the waters crystal clear. This was the first time in my life where I just looked around and wasn’t able to grasp the beauty and the magic that this place conveys. And it’s only a 1,5 hour flight from where we live.

Sardinia is worth every penny and I can only highly recommend it to everybody.

We stayed at Golfo Aranci which is located 15 km east of Olbia. The north-east coast of Sardinia is the area I personally like best but other parts are amazing too. The coast is like paradise. This was the view we had from our room. Due to the little island Tavolara right in front of the coast the water was calm and quiet.

In the caribbean you’ll find palms by the beach in Sardinia there are pine trees.

This is how they welcome you! :-)

Stella Maris church at Porto Cervo is just adorable. Overlooking the old port the building is kept very simple.

Yes and the food was heavenly. Normally we had this kind of lunch at the beach. Some cheese, salad and salami with a beer (or wine)…

… or a little bit of pasta… homemade and fresh…

… and the dessert… this is called Peretta and it’s  slices of peretta cheese on the traditional Sardinian bread, put in the oven for some minutes so that the cheese melts a little bit and then covered with honey. Delicious.

Sardinia became our favorite place to be. It’s easy (and cheap) to reach and it feels like a different world. I’m proud that my roots are there and can’t wait to go back again.

flickr * kohelian *

This will be my ode to the island my mother is from. So partially I’m from there, too :-). Just today we booked our summer trip to Sardinia that is too beautiful to describe. But I’ll do my best.

The picture you see above was not taken on some caribbean island or somewhere in the south seas. This was one of the first beaches I’ve ever seen in my life and I stood there, my jaw dropped and I couldn’t believe that this was just 24 (driving) hours away from Frankfurt. This small place (though it’s the biggest island in the mediterranean sea) has the most beautiful beaches in Europe. After being to the caribbeans as well I can promise you the only thing that’s different is that you will rarely find palms by the beach but pine trees. The water is crystal clear and the beaches are so white you need sunglasses. That’s why the northern coast is called “Costa Smeralda” – the Emerald Coast. That’s the place where hollywood celebrities have their huge luxury homes.

flickr * albertobizzini

I don’t want to write about things that you can read over at Wikipedia as well. Since I’ve been there so often I’d rather tell you about the things that you will not read anywhere.

Should you decide to travel to Sardinia be prepared that this island has more sheeps than people and you will meet them everywhere you go. When you rent a car and you’re on a curvy street – which will happen very often – be careful, a herd can be just around the corner. I cannot count how often that happened to us and how shocked I was everytime that happened. And how annoyed I was because it can take quite a while to get out of the middle of a sheep herd. Because of all these animals you’ll find the BEST CHEESE ever. Sardinian Pecorino is terrific and tastes so good. And together with the traditional bread (you can compare that with a very flat pita) and a glass of wine… aaahhhhh. Delicious.

The little village where my mom comes from – Benetutti – is literally in the middle of nowhere. 1000 inhabitants and everyone knows the other. We’ve been there a lot when I was a kid and STILL I don’t understand a word in that language (except of casu = cheese). Though it’s a part of Italy (don’t say that to a sardinian!! they’ll be highly offended.) they have their own language which is a mixture of spanish, french, arabic, latin and a bit of italian. Since my dad is from the south of Italy my parents spoke common italian to us kids and with each other so we didn’t learn it. It sounds so weird and funny and even if you’re fluent in italian you’re LOST.

Benetutti, Sardinia

One thing that made me go nuts as a kid was sardinian pastoral songs. Holy Sheep! My granddad was a huge fan of this. Listen here… you’ll get it. My thought was “they must be hurt…!” (ah… and that is their language)

But on the other hand what I always liked and still think is fabulous is the sardinian folk dance. EVERYONE knows it, everybody dances it and even I can do some moves. Or better… everytime we’re on a family wedding or some kind of other party my mom and her 4 sisters insist on a “Ballo Sardo”. It’s looks a bit like feet of flames just not that quick. And as a kid you can’t just stand around and watch. You have to join in. And since you’re in line anyway you just move. The motto is MOVE YOUR FEET (“and shut up! there is nothing to be afraid of!” <- that said my mom). I’m just so glad they didn’t put me in such a costume yet. I remember my mom always saying it’s one of her biggest wishes to see me once in the traditional costume. *sigh* Yes.. maybe one day I’ll do it. But NO pictures!!

Yes Sardinia is such a special place for me. I LOVE the beaches, the food, the oddities. When you’ve been to Italy you think you know what to expect. And none of that happens. It’s hard to describe. Life is slower and more cheerful. There is one Wikipedia fact that I’d like to share to make that clear: “Sardinia shares with the Japanese island of Okinawa the highest rate of centenarians in the world (22 centenarians/100,000 inhabitants).” I believe you don’t become that old in a world that is hectic and chaotic, where the food is bad and the weather sucks (they have 300 sunny days per year!!)

If you’re in Europe and don’t want to travel far to visit one stunning country I can highly recommend this place. You would not regret. I hope I could give you a small impression of my culture and leave you with some eye candy of the country. Enjoy!

It’s carnival time. In Germany and in Rio. Today the famous parades in Rio de Janeiro start. I’ve been there in 2008 and it was the most amazing trip I’ve ever done. A 3 week round trip through the whole country visiting most hidden places.

I dedicate this post to a beautiful city that I miss a lot and that I definitely have to visit again. And again. Please have a look.

And just to come back to the subject one more picture for you to crack up a bit. We visited the sambadrome where the big parades take place every year. It’s actually a street, 800 m long and the audience sits on the left side with full view over the happening. There is a little booth by the entrance. It’s a museum that displays some costumes and where women work handcrafting costumes for the next year. It’s a big business in Rio. For a handful of coins you choose a costume and you can go outside and take a picture. The outfit is super heavy and I cannot imagine a woman to wear that and dance the samba at the same time without looking like a bobble head. I chose the TREE costume :-)