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?
“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 […]
Latvia. A true “tabula rasa” in terms of travel experiences for me. I have never in my life been to either of the three Baltic States Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia, but have been given a great deal of (positive) recommendations before. Thanks to my participation in the #NBEFinland Nordic Bloggers’ Experience, I have now been to Riga, […]
#myBanff, I love you. “What a beautiful story, Elena. So glad you came back to Canada. I can tell from our past conversations, and this article, that Western Canada really spoke to your heart. So so so wonderful! Are you still out there? You know the door in Toronto is always open if you need […]
For more than 300 years, the city of Stuttgart has hosted their traditional Christmas markets as one of the oldest markets in the whole of Germany. A fascinating fact for someone like me, who has been growing up to the splendour of similar Christmas markets back home in Austria. Whether it’s a creative workshop in Stuttgart’s ginger bread factory, an evening concert […]
“Dear Elena. I told them I want you to speak at our cultural heritage tourism conference in Vicenza later this year. About the power of community building, digital communication strategies, and the use of Social Media. Why? Because I believe it is important – even, or especially, in the context of religious cultural heritage. I believe even the Vatican will […]