Parks and gardens of Darmstadt
One of my favorite ways of spending free time is walking in nature. It is not always possible to go to remote places or natural parks. City parks and gardens are a nice alternative. This time I would like to take you on a journey through the green corners of Darmstadt. Darmstadt is often considered grey and ugly. I don’t think so! In this post, I prepared a selection of different garden types. So no matter what your garden preferences are, I have you all covered. I found a typical rose garden and another one with more tropical plants. I have been to parks of princes and ones of artists.…
Gardening trends 2018 – Landesgartenschau in Bad Schwalbach
Are you planning to build a new garden or just looking for an inspiration to make small changes in the current one? Visit the Landesgartenschau (State Garden Show) in Bad Schwalbach and get plenty of new ideas. This year is definitely my year of gardens. I visited already plenty of Botanical Gardens and rose gardens. Going to Landesgartenschau brought it to another level. Every year different cities in German lands organize Garden Shows. One of them is in Bad Schwalbach, which is a spa town in Taunus, 20 km from Wiesbaden (Hessen, Germany). Just in Hessen, there are around 30 spa towns! To rich Bad Schwalbach, I took a direct…
Fall in love with Bieszczady – 24 slow travel ideas
Are you not tired of busy touristic locations full of people taking selfies? Fortunately, a new trend is being born that goes against that – slow travel. There is no clear definition of what slow travel is. Everyone understands it differently. However, there are some common ideas. It includes visiting a new site with an open mind, no planning. Quality of experience is over quantity. It should help you embrace a moment. For some people it’s their natural traveling style, others still need to learn. And I think I found a perfect place to practice slow traveling – Bieszczady. Bieszczady is a mountain range in the south-east of Poland. Wild…
Looking for a sand in SANDomierz
Do you remember Don Matteo cycling on the roads of Gubbio? Poland has its own priest-detective, who solves crimes. Ojciec Mateusz (Father Matthew) rides a bike in Sandomierz. Together with the local police unit, he became one of the famous TV stars. Sandomierz is a small town in Eastern Poland with more than 1000 years of history. It is located close to where the river San meets the longer polish river – Vistula (more than 1000 km long). Recently it is frequently visited by fans of “Ojciec Mateusz”. Here are my 10 tips on what to visit and do to have an unforgettable time. 1. Explore the Old Town…
Sankt Goarshausen and the song of Loreley
It was a stormy summer afternoon on top of Loreleyblick. While dark clouds were accumulating and sounds of thunder were getting louder and louder, I heard someone singing. It was in a distance, a bit quiet, but melodic. The closer to the edge of a cliff the better the sound was. Who was singing? Was it a famous Loreley? An old legend from the Middle Rhine Valley talks about a sirene, who deceives sailors as a revenge on an unfaithful lover. Therefore the voice of Loreley was misguiding them and a lot of ships got drowned in this deepest part of Rhine river. Nowadays, due to noise from boats, trains,…
Cherry blossoms and “white gold” in Schwetzingen
Pink petals were slowly falling from trees and “just married” were posing and smilling to their photographer. A group of Chinese students made a picnic among daffodiles. Plenty of tourists came to Schwetzingen to see cherry blossoms and enjoy this special time of year. One of the prettiest seasons is early spring with all the blossoms around. Cherry blossoms are one of the most picturesque. Every year plenty of tourists go to Japan to participate in Hanami. But also in Germany there are some places to look at the flowers. Many people visit Heerstrasse in Bonn. Another beautiful place worth visiting and definitely less crowded is Schwetzingen and its palace gardens. …
Vortex Garden in Darmstadt
One of the mostly visited sights in Darmstadt is the Mathildenhöhe complex. It is where the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony was located and where you can still see the exhibitions’ buildings. Part of experience is a visit in the Vortex Garden. Usually people find the place just by chance, or can’t find it at all (like me). It is on a private possession, so it is not so obvious that you can freely enter. The address of the garden is Prinz Christian Weg 13. With that in mind it should be way easier to find it. The gate is always opened, so you can just enter. Next to the entrance…
Luisenpark in Mannheim – Chinese Tea Garden and daffodiles
After my visit in Chinese Garden in Frankfurt last spring I was very inspired by the combination of the oriental architecture and subtlety of early spring nature. This year I was looking for similar places close to Rhine-Main area I found that Mannheim has the Chinese Tea Garden, so I was really excited to see it. On a map it looks like it is just a part of a huge park. It is true, however it is not a regular city park opened to everyone, but a whole entertainment complex – Luisenpark. You need a ticket to enter and it is a bit pricy, but definitely worth the money. The very…
Tropical Butterfly Garden – paradise in Sayn
How do you imagine the paradise looks like? If it is green, warm, full of creatures, with birds singing and colourful butterflies flying around you, I think I found one! Butterfly Garden in Sayn is all of it or even more. Long winter which we experienced this year was quite depressing, so I was looking for any place, where the plants are green and it is warm, but not too far. And I found one – Butterfly Garden, much closer than expected, even within the same country. Sayn is located 10-15 km from Koblenz (Germany). It lies close to the Rhine river, but not directly. Butterfly Garden is…
3 hours in Bonn
I went to Bonn to see the famous cherry blossoms, but I was one week too late, and I missed it. However, I still had around 3 hours to explore the city and I tried to make most out of it. Normally, if you visit a new place it is good to “get lost” and just wander around. But since I had so little time, I couldn’t afford loosing any minute. So as always I recommend starting at tourist information, get some maps and a guide to know where to start. On my way to the Tourist Information I found an antique market with a lot of furniture, old albums,…
