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?
Did you know that the earliest signs of spring can be found in the very (north)East of Austria, in the Pannonia plains of northern Burgenland, near Lake Neusiedl? That as you travel here and stay in one of its cozy accommodation units (either B&B or hotels), you will receive the so-called Neusiedler See Card offering you many attractive […]
Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria at almost half a million inhabitants, is a Balkan star rising. Forming part of a trend that sees “Europe’s second cities” gain in popularity, it may well steal the show off its capital neighbour to the West, the city of Sofia. In my last post about Bulgaria, I […]
Going for a morning walk right by the river Sava, looking downstream just as it joins up with the Danube. Not too much of a difference with my home town near Vienna really, judging from some of the scenery around here. All too often, I feel reminded of the “great history” that separates as well […]
This town. Great vibes and good food. Plus the odd corner, district or street that has yet to see its “coming of age”. Novi Sad, you’ve honestly fascinated me in a way that I haven’t felt for a long time. And who would have thought: Discovering a creative (wool) art studio inside the town’s main fortress?! Glancing at […]
Attending TBEX Travel Bloggers Exchange conference in the small town of Killarney, about an hour west of Cork? Honestly, “a good excuse” to finally add an independent road trip around South-Western Ireland again after what has been more than twenty years! I remember last leaning over the Cliffs of Moher as an eleven-year-old, travelling there with my family. This time, […]
Morning mist lifting, we can see Admont Abbey rising like a beacon from the dark forests surrounding it. Some of the best views of this precious Baroque jewel in Austrian cultural history, including the world’s largest monastic library at well over 70.000 books on display, is from Hotel Spirodom in Admont. Would you believe that some […]
What comes to your mind when you see the hashtag #EuropeTour ? Social Media tells me that more often than not, people get back to us thinking that our European project for the sustainable development of cultural tourism in rural areas is more like a travel agency. Funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme, our aim is, however, […]
It’s this thing with “little hideaways”, that you first have to go out and really find them. It’s in a place called “In der Spitz” for instance, a place where local wine estate, Heurigen & the recently opened Boutique Hotel “WeinSpitz” join up to create a unique piece of local, Lower Austrian wine culture, that you […]
Wine, food & the “longest bar in the world”. That’s how the so-called “Genussmeile” in the Vienna forest district likes to be known, itself both a #winelover & foodie stretch of about ten miles between the local towns of Baden & Gumpoldskirchen. Essentially, it is made up of all different kinds of stalls, selling local […]
Greece. “A travel tale in the (spiritual) traces of humankind“, is what I wrote about my first real visit to Athens in February this year. Those feelings of awe still ring true today. If anything, my understanding about Greece, the current plight of its people due to the crisis, has all but deepened. Perhaps despite […]
