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?
There is always so much to learn from each other “when Europe meets”. I love our #EuropeTour project meetings on cultural tourism development in rural areas of Europe, such as the one we organised in Austria last year, or the one that had me travel to (and get to know) the culture of North-Eastern Romania for […]
“Vorarlberg is ‘the most urban village in Austria’”, says Hans-Peter Metzler, his warm smile betraying the pride in his voice. “The combination of a living, rural tradition and the promotion of innovation, architecture, art and culture at a high level is unique in Austria. Here, in the Bregenzerwald, I believe we have taken the right […]
Each and every year, I am amazed at the openness of the monasteries & abbeys in Austria. “Kremsmünster accommodates the oldest public school in Austria”, says Father Daniel, and smiles. “It was opened in 1546, almost 800 years after the foundation of the monastery in 777!” Fascinated, Angelika Mandler and I have been listening to […]
Taking the car across Greece, i.e. travelling from Thessaloniki to Athens, even caused “my Greek” to raise an eyebrow (or two): “You’re driving all this distance by yourself? You’re not afraid?!” Well, yes. And no, of course not! It has been easy, really easy, if not to say truly fascinating, to drive around Greece – […]
“Ragazzi .. L’ozio è molto importante .. Questo dolce far niente che practicamo tanto chi nello sud dall’Italia ..!” Smiling, I can still hear the words of my dear Italian language teacher Pina, thinking back about my Italian language course in Salerno. With her typical South-Italian charm, she emphasises the “importance of doing nothing” – without remorse, […]
“Welcome back home, Elena.” The man sitting next to me on the plane bound for the “Mother City” smiles. We have just left Johannesburg and Kruger National Park behind, both bucket list destinations that I have finally managed to see! The city of Cape Town, however, does feel more like “coming home”: My third time back in […]
Seven days of pure South Africa. Altogether, we would have travelled more than 30.000 kilometres, spent hundreds more in jeeps & buses, and seen dozens of the most exotic animal species in the world. Crazy, really. If it had not been for the outstanding beauty of it all. “Well Elena, what did you expect?”, I can […]
Porto. No longer do I feel like a visitor there. Rather, like a “temporary citizen“. “Bem-vinda em casa, Elena!”, my Portuguese friends call out to me and welcome me home in their typical, heartfelt hospitality. If, like me, you care for the country and its people, even learn (some of) the language, you stand to […]
“At times, you know, it is not just the current situation of the economy … but also the weight of a glorious past that Greece today finds simply impossible to bear”, my friend & colleague Ioannis Poulios tells me, as we both stand in awe in front of Athens’ Olympic Stadium, well over 2.000 years old. […]
Greece in foodie terms is one big travel dream come true! If you’ve ever sighed to the creaminess of real Greek yoghurt, tasted juicy Kalamata olives or bit into tangy Feta cheese, you will never want to opt for the industrially manufactured counterparts again. Incredible just how good the food tastes out here, at the very source of […]