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?
The landscape around me has changed. I can no longer see the “Romantic Road” stretch as far as the horizon, flat as it was before in Nördlingen, around Augsburg or Landsberg. Rugged mountain ranges have given way to straight lines. The gently rising Alpine foothills bring a smile to my face. Mountains always make an […]
Würzburg, Wertheim, Weikersheim. The names of the first towns on the Romantic Road in Southern Germany are catchy. The Tauber Valley, which connects them, deserves to be called the “Lovely Tauber Valley” thanks to its beautiful river meanders. It is also well signposted, the “Romantic Road”: From Würzburg to the Allgäu, it is one of the […]
“Würzburg is sooo beautiful … Enjoy Würzburg and the wines of Franconia”, my travel friends advise about my short stay in Würzburg. As part of the “Romantic Road“, the Franconian town is surrounded by countless romantic vineyards on the Main river. I take to visiting “Vinothek Wohlsein Weine” with their goal to introduce younger, smaller […]
There’s an old saying in German: Alles neu macht der Mai. (“April showers bring May flowers.”) In my case, it’s a flourishing of fresh ideas about the range of hiking options in Eastern Germany. Spoiled as can be, you don’t easily expect to impress an Austrian by suggesting a hiking trip in (Eastern) Germany. However, […]
I just literally “came across” something. The border between Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg that is, right inside the city of Ulm in Southern Germany. Ever since I’ve set out on a journey to trace the German part of the Danube river upstream, I’ve really come to look at it with different eyes. But instead of just […]
“The so-called ‘Donaudurchbruch’ is the narrowest point of the Danube river in Bavaria. It is just 80 meters wide”, Monika Hummel explains, pointing to the rugged cliffs between which our excursion boat glides almost silently. In my head, the “scenic symphony” written by the Danube river (see my travel video immediately below) swells again like […]
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 […]
Eine Tüte Urlaub – One bag filled with vacation. I turn over the little bag on my lap, smiling as I can feel the soft sand through its plastic cover. A small yellow paper umbrella throws a hint of shade on two tiny shells, all sealed with the letters: “Eine Tüte Urlaub”. As well as the […]
The magic of travelling to the Baltic Sea Coast. Ever so attractive to us travellers from Austria or Switzerland. Ever so attractive to me. It is my third time up here along the Coast between Rostock & Rügen, and the travel bug has bitten me again. Baltic Sea Coast Blues … “North Sea or Baltic […]
In love with “The North”. “Are you still?”, a friend of mine asks me on Facebook, teasing me about my recent emotions from travelling to the North Sea as well as Lüneburg Heath. “Yes”, I answer with a sigh, happily boarding the so-called “Heidesprinter erixx” train in a town called Buchholz. That’s way out in the countryside, located […]