Tag: europe

  • A Journey Through Austria’s Enchanting Christmas Markets

    A Journey Through Austria’s Enchanting Christmas Markets

    This December I was lucky enough to visit two Christmas markets and one Advent Trail (Adventweg) in Austria. They really know how to put the spirit in these places.

    The first one I visited in Mauterndorf, which was situated in the Burg Mauterndorf. It was on for very limited time and it was tiny, but it was cute. There were only a few huts with gluhwein, gluhmost, maroni and wurst of course. Inside the castle there were artisans placed all over, selling their crafts and products.

    Mauterndorf
    Taurach creek
    Taurach creek
    Burg Mauterndorf

    Besides visiting Christmas market, I also did some skiing in the area – Grosseck-Speiereck, Obertauern and Aineck.

    The other Christmas market I visited was in Graz with my friend. There were many smaller ones, some nicer than others, but very enjoyable. Although they all had many crafts and products, drinks, there was not much food choice unfortunately. My friend and I rather found some Austrian restaurants to have proper meals.

    Schweinsbraten at Glöckl Bräu
    Wiener Schnitzel at Gösser Bräu
    Apfelstrudel at Gösser Bräu
    Gluhwein at one of the markets
    Breakfast at Weitzer

    Another Austrian highlight in December is also Katschberger Adventweg. It is an advent trail, where you pay the ticket and receive a thermos cup. On the way you get free tea refills, as much as you want. I visited it on the last day, on Christmas. It was magical, crispy cold and snowy. If you walk the whole way, you make 12 km there and back. There are beautiful lanterns along the way. There are also shuttle buses and horse carriages for some part of the way.

    You hike between rustic hay barns and huts, enjoy contemplative stories, music and warm tea at various stations. 

    Musicians playing alpine horns, creating festive atmosphere.

    The rest of December I got to ski some more and explore Mauterndorf. It is a cute little town, where it actually snowed so now and then, giving a very wintery feeling.

    Spent our New Year’s basically up on the mountain. Seeing all those fireworks going off at once was really magical. Let’s hope this good magic continues in 2026! ✨

  • First Time Hiking in France: A Short Van Trip Adventure

    First Time Hiking in France: A Short Van Trip Adventure

    We went with our MinionVan for a short but sweet trip to the border of France. It was actually a boys’ trip, but I decided to come along as well. And I’m glad I did!

    Our first lunch stop in France already had beautiful views of larches changing the color of their needles.

    But before we went to France, we had another stop in Pontida, Italy. We went for a short bike ride, where we stumbled upon a funny barbecue in front of the church.

    Anyway, the biking was a bit too cross country for me, but fun enough. The trails we did are called Uccellaia 2 and Guendalina Basso.

    Let’s return to France. It was still raining the first day. We checked out some waterfalls in the area of La Grave. We also visited my favorite French shop, E.Leclerc in Briançon.

    The second day the boys did some canyoning, I hiked up to Lac Lauvitel. Lac means lake in French. Beautiful, easy hike – 10 km, 2 hours up, less than 1.5 hours down, 750 m height difference. This was my first proper hiking in France.

    On the way to the lake:

    The views of the lake:

    The next day we were exploring a different part of Le Parc national des Écrins. I went for a nice walk to Cascade de la Pisse, along the Le Veneon river. I did this while waiting for the boys to return.

    The next day, Rick and I went to Les Deux Alpes, Venosc. Since it was a school holiday in France, we were lucky that the trails and chairlifts were open. Also the ticket was super cheap. There was snow on the top and wet further down. Still worth it!

    The views were magical!

    I was in love with this part of the trail! Photo by Rick.

    For the last day I had my morning coffee with the nicest views.

    After that I went for a stroll around La Grave. It was out of season, the town was very quite. All the locals were looking at me funny. The town is quaint though.

    This was it for our short, but magical French adventure!

  • A Short Paris Getaway: Concert, Sights and Cuisine

    A Short Paris Getaway: Concert, Sights and Cuisine

    Paris was not on my bucket list, at least not anytime soon, honestly. I got an email with concert dates from Beyoncé for her Cowboy Carter Tour. Going to Paris made the most sense for me to actually make it. After that my mom and I decided to make a short trip out of it. It was fun, hot and the concert was out of this world. Also very tiring for me, but worth it.

    We stayed in a cute b’n’b in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine. It had good metro connections to the famous sights and to the concert location. We had a bakery with delicious treats just around the corner.

    We only had 2 full days, so we were on the roll. The first day we made around 15.000 steps. We’ve seen all the major sights. We explored Avenue des Champs-Élysées and everything it has to offer. We visited Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde. We saw Musée du Louvre from outside only. On the way we had some lunch and macarones from Pierre Hermé.

    After that we slowly made our way to Montmartre. On the way we stopped at the rooftop of Galeries Lafayette, where the view is amazing. After we finally came to Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. We had some coffee and continued to lose our way around Montmartre.

    Galeries Lafayette
    Galeries Lafayette
    Galeries Lafayette
    Galeries Lafayette
    Galeries Lafayette
    Galeries Lafayette
    Montmartre
    Montmartre
    Vigne du Clos Montmartre
    Montmartre
    Montmartre
    Montmartre
    Escalier du Mont-Cenis
    Montmartre
    Basilique du Sacré-Cœur
    Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

    That night we have booked Moulin Rouge. It was my mom’s wish to have a dinner with a show. Honestly, I was excited to go too. So, after a long day out it was nice to sit down in the most famous French cabaret. Obviously, you are not allowed to take photos of the show. But here is the setting and delicious dinner.

    The next day we visited Tour Eiffel and went on a cute boat ride on la Seine. I only had a sweater because I got sunburn the day before. It was very hot.

    Breakfast at our bakery
    Escargots at De La Tour
    Duck breasts at De La Tour

    Finally, the time has come for Beyoncé. I was excited. But again, it was very hot. Luckily, my seat was in the shade. The daylight was also extremely long. At 22.00 was still not completely dark. The concert was amazing! Here are some photos and a few shorts. Enjoy!

    Paris was the only location where Miley Cyrus joined, you can imagine my excitement.
    Blue Ivy killing it.

    Wouldn’t mind going back to Paris for her concert again.

  • A Short Trip to Malta: Your European Getaway

    A Short Trip to Malta: Your European Getaway

    My friend and I wished to travel somewhere for “potato” holiday as we call it in Slovenian. We both wanted to go somewhere warm, not too far and somewhere different. In the same breath we decided for Malta.

    Malta is an interesting mixture of European and African, which I have not encountered anywhere before. We did not rent a car, but rather used public transportation and it is totally doable. We decided to stay close to Valetta, in St. Julian’s area. We chose it because of variety of restaurants, bistros and bars. Our first night we started off with a dinner in a One Star Michelin restaurant – Rosami. The building itself is grandiose when you arrive. The simple, elegant but cozy ambiance on the inside makes you feel comfortable. And the food was just superb.

    St Julian’s at night
    St. Julian’s at night

    The next day we went on a free walking tour of Valetta. I believe this is the best thing to do in capitals or cities. You see and learn much more than on your own. Maybe also see some secrets you wouldn’t have otherwise.

    After the tour we continued to walk around by ourselves. Filigree is a Maltese craft, where artisans weave silver wires into stunning patterns, making all kinds of jewellery. I bought myself a pair of earrings.

    Filigree
    Lots of movies filmed in Malta
    Triton’s fountain at sunset

    The following day we went on a boat trip. We visited Comino and Gozo. It was a lovely day with some swimming and exploring.

    On the way to Comino.

    Comino.

    Our boat

    After we visited Gozo, where we had time to explore around.

    They drove us to the main sights on Gozo with a shuttle bus. Have to say there was enough time to see and even eat some traditional pastries – very yummy.

    Pastizz
    Imqaret

    On our boat ride back we had some more beautiful views of the island.

    In the evening we returned to St. Julian’s and went to Gululu, because I wished to try Fenek Imtektek – traditional Maltese rabbit stew. We also tasted Fwied tal- fenek moqli, which is rabbit liver with gravy.

    Fwied tal- fenek moqli
    Fenek Imtektek

    Our last day we went to see Marsaxxlok – Malta’s little fishing village. Very quaint. We had some fishy lunch there of course.

    Our next and last stop was Mdina. We saw the Game-of-Thrones famous Mdina Gate. We also visited St. Paul’s Catacombs – which are a must to visit.

    Mdina Gate
    Mdina Gate
    Basilica of St. Paul
    St. Paul’s Cathedral

    Malta is definitely worth a visit with lots to see and explore. One day I can go back and also do some diving. It was short and sweet, with many delicious foods.

  • Exploring Puglia: Highlights of Our Short Italian Getaway

    Exploring Puglia: Highlights of Our Short Italian Getaway

    Another short girls’ trip with my mom. I’ve been seeing all these photos of trullis on Instagram, people visiting and I fell in love with it. My mom also had it on her bucket list for a while. At first the plan was to go with the car from home and do a road trip. But then due to good connecting flights, we made it a short trip. We spent a couple of days in September when I didn’t have to work.

    The trip started rather funny. I booked a rent-a-car at Felirent. Without a rental it is impossible to get around Puglia. It was one of the rare agencies, where you didn’t need a credit card. No, I don’t have one. And I think rental agencies should really change their game. Anyway, the place was filled with Fiat Pandas and really sketchy looking. It took us probably more than one hour to get a car. Of course, they charged us something extra, just because they can. Luckily, everything was good, also upon returning the car.

    Anyway, let’s start the trip. We arrived early, so our first stop of the day was Polignano a Mare. We have prebooked a boat tour of the caves. We were more interested in seeing the place from the sea than from land. They took us to see many different caves – grotta.

    Ponte Borbonico
    Photo by our guide

    After the boat ride we continued our journey. We had a short stop in a quaint town – Locorotondo. We had a snack stop at Il Re dei Panini – the King of Sandwiches. It was so big, the two of us only ate half.

    In late afternoon we finally arrived to our home away from home – B&B Salita Delle Pere. The cutest place with the nicest lady host and delicious breakfast. You actually stay in a trulli, if you book so. For an affordable price and with a great location.

    Breakfast at B&B Salita Delle Pere with many different home-baked pastries.

    The next day was the most exciting one – we visited Alberobello. We were just wandering the whole day around, getting lost among all the trullis. My one thing to do beside visiting Alberobello, was to try orecchiette in Coppino. I would go back just to eat that again!

    Photo by stranger
    Photo by mom
    The most delicious orecchiette.

    I really enjoyed Alberobello. But since we still had some time in the day, we decided to check out Ostuni.

    Finishing off the day with a proper Italian dinner.

    Our last day we saved for Matera. It is around one hour drive from Alberobello, but a must to visit. Matera is a UNESCO World Heritage site with its rich history and interesting architecture. In modern times, it was used as a filming location. It served as a backdrop for films such as The Passion of the Christ, Wonder Woman, and many others. We joined one of the walking tours to find out more about its history. On our own it would be very difficult to actually find the Sassi cave dwellings.

    Air vent – functional and decorative

    After many steps we treated ourselves to a panini at L’Antica Credenza – La Paninoteca.

    After refueling we decided to visit Palombaro lungo – the largest public cistern in the city. It was brought to life during the construction of Piazza Vittorio Veneto in 1991. Being roughly fourteen meters deep and fifty meters long, it had a capacity of over five million liters of water.

    We finished our visit to Matera with a view point spot.

    Found some more orecchiettes and called it a day. The next day we returned the car, they took us to the airport and said ciao, bella!

  • Jalovec: The Majestic King of the Julian Alps

    Jalovec: The Majestic King of the Julian Alps

    Jalovec (2,645 m) is often called the king of the Julian Alps and it’s easy to see why. Rising sharply above the valleys, its pyramid-shaped peak dominates the skyline. It captures your attention long before you ever set foot on the trail. It’s a mountain that feels powerful and elegant at the same time.

    The routes to the top are demanding and exposed in places, making it a true challenge even for experienced hikers. This isn’t a casual walk; it’s a mountain that asks for respect.

    For many mountain lovers, Jalovec is more than a destination—it’s a symbol of freedom and endurance. It reminds you how small you are, but in the best possible way. Standing beneath it or on its summit has a way of quieting the mind and grounding you in the moment.

    Photos by Rick of me starting the climbing part.

    The glorious view of Jalovški Ozebnik.

    Walking the main ridge just before the top, photos by Rick.

    We made it to the top.

    The King’s crown
    Recap of the activity.

    From the summit, the views are breathtaking. On a clear day, the Julian Alps stretch endlessly in all directions, with Triglav standing proudly nearby. Below, you can spot valleys carved by time. There are alpine meadows and rugged rock faces. These features make this part of Slovenia so special.

    Having the top to ourselves, what a reward.

    Jalovec has always stood out to me — powerful and impossible to ignore. Making it up there was far from easy, humbling and incredibly rewarding. I was proud, tired and completely in awe.

    Now, every time I see Jalovec again — before or after — it feels different. It’s no longer just a mountain in the distance, but a reminder of effort and respect.