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Mainz – the pink queen of the Rhine
Mainz is the largest city of Rhineland Palatinate, Gutenberg’s home-town and Germany’s wine capital. Some people call it a pink city. What is the reason for this? In this post, I will look at Mainz through rose-colored glasses to find out. Old Town Let’s start on one summer Sunday morning. Cobbles under my feet don’t make it easy to walk the streets of Old Town, especially in hills. The bells from church towers scare the pigeons. Apart from them, there is almost no one around. All shops are closed. Only cafes and restaurants have open doors and tables outside. Now there is only a queue in front of a bakery,…
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Bieszczady – 4 easy hiking trails
It is another rainy night in Kalnica. The water drops hit the metal roof. It is so dark that there is no difference if your eyes are opened or closed. As every other evening, we think about the next trip, but with a storm expected next day it is hard to plan long hiking high in the mountains. Luckily we have plenty of alternatives, suitable for worse weather, for when we are tired or when we feel like cycling instead of walking. Below I present 4 easy hiking trails in Bieszczady. 1. From Kalnica to Dolzyca The first trail leads from Kalnica to Dolzyca. It is a biking path through…
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Relaxing weekend at the Baltic Sea
Every now and then we all need a break. The best way to rest and forget about everyday issues is to go somewhere far from home. The farther we go the smaller our problems seem to be. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to take a few weeks off and fly to another continent. However, already just a weekend spent on recharging batteries can do wonders. What if we combine a short holiday with practicing mindfulness? It is not just a meditation, but trying to be present in the moment and live life more consciously. It helps to be more focused and ignore distractions. Such holidays, although short, will stay…
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My places – 2018 – travel destinations of the year
This time of the year everyone makes some kind of summary and resolutions for the next one. It is a perfect moment to wrap up all my travels. They may serve you as an inspiration for summer holidays or weekend trip. Some of the places have been already described on the blog, so I attached links to older posts. Others are coming soon. And if it is not enough, have a look at summary from one year ago: “2017 – travel destinations of the year”. Botanic gardens and butterflies 2018 was definitely a year of gardens for me. I started with visiting the “Paradise Garden” in Sayn (near Koblenz) full of…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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 Walk…
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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, and…
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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. …
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