Hi! I'm Elena! Welcome to my travel blog Creativelena.com.
For me, it is all about “life-seeing instead of sightseeing”: Join me as I create, eat & live my way around the world. Curious?
*Check out my book, “The Creative Traveler’s Handbook”, for learning more about what we mean by creative travel. Travelling means the world to me, makes me fit for everday life and sometimes, I trust, also calmer on the inside. Read this blog with a smile, share what you love and remember to check back regularly: After all, when was the last time you did something for the first time?
For the second time this year, Europe’s largest photo festival “La Gacilly” is currently held in the city of Baden near Vienna. This year’s topic is called “Hymn to the Earth”, promising a truly spectacular series of images: People, places, landscapes, and animal worlds from all seven continents. A total of almost 3,000 photographs await you […]
What we could have done: A pregnancy belly cast. A pregnancy belly painting. A pregnant belly show-off each day on Instagram Stories (really … some do exaggerate). What Georg and I did do instead: A pregnancy photo shoot. So after telling you all about #Babymoon before, I’m telling you to add a professional […]
“It all started with our original pub and a simple bed & breakfast that my grandparents opened way back when. Many regular guests continue to come for the local fare we serve in the restaurant, as well as the location of our hotel as an ideal hub for nature excursions around Kirchschlag. With the newly […]
With so much commitment shown by the (young) winegrowers of the wine village Strass, my small little hometown in the Lower Austrian Kamptal, I find myself really really proud today. Wonderful to see what the “young creatives” are capable of achieving. Because “Gaisberg Uncorked“?! I mean, really … What is that supposed to be? Well, the […]
“Am Brunnen vor dem Tore, da steht ein Lindenbaum …” Gently, I recall the famous melody to this traditional Austrian folk song written by Franz Schubert, Austria’s famous 18th century composer. We follow in the footsteps of our host, Irene Moser, who leads us around the historical Höldrichsmühle hotel. A property close to Vienna, yet still […]
Imagine yourself time-travelling. Travelling to a distant century, in a different rhythm, on a journey before our time. When I stood in the midst of all these ancient books in the “secret library” of Heiligenkreuz Abbey, I suddenly felt like I was somewhere else. Someone else. And completely … one with the book worlds that […]
Lilienfeld Abbey. You may easily find this gem of a medieval Austrian Abbey (the largest in all of Austria!) only about half an hour’s drive from St. Pölten, or a good hour’s drive from the capital city, Vienna. Coming into the small town of Lilienfeld, you can’t miss the abbey against the backdrop of the […]
Imagine visiting the town of Baden near Vienna. The sweet scent of thousands of roses, the fairy-tale like Doblhoff park, the historic little streets of the old town. And all of a sudden … the roar of a lion. The glaring stare of a white tiger. The intense look of an exotic pair of birds. The […]
Arrive. Revive. For some time, the Austrian National Tourist Board used this slogan to describe the feeling of arriving in Austria. Recently, I have felt just the same when travelling near the border to the Czech Republic, past the wine town of Retz, and into Thayatal National Park: Arrive. Revive. Taking that deep, wonderful, fresh breath […]
Just near my little home town Straß im Straßertal, you will find a true gem of a place in Rohrendorf near Krems: The Bed & Breakfast of the Krappel family. Stay here if you prefer a home-cooked meal, as well as home-made brandies, to the often impersonal service of a hotel. Gerda & Christian really know […]
