Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The river Garte is a small, approximately 23-kilometre-long tributary of the Leine in Südniedersachsen. Its name gives the Gartetal – literally the Garte valley – its identity, and the river is one of the defining features of the landscape around Gleichen, east and south-east of Göttingen. It rises near Weißenborn, close to the Thüringen border, and flows westwards before reaching the Leine south of Göttingen, near the area east of Rosdorf.
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After completing three Mammutmarsch events earlier this year – in Leipzig, Hamburg and Nürnberg – I was already familiar with the particular mixture of endurance, organisation and camaraderie that defines the series. Those walks had been useful preparation for climbing the Brocken later in the year, but the Nachtmammut Ruhrgebiet offered an entirely different experience: this was the only genuine night walk among the events I had attended.
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A Taxiteller is a substantial German takeaway dish, usually consisting of chips topped or served alongside currywurst, a portion of gyros, tzatziki, onions and often mayonnaise. Recipes vary from one snack bar to another: some replace the gyros with döner meat, while others add extra sauces or salad. It is best understood as a generous combination of familiar Imbiss favourites rather than a strictly standardised recipe.
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The Cyclassics in Hamburg are one of Germany’s best-known road-cycling events, combining a WorldTour professional race with mass-participation rides through the city and its surrounding region. The race began in 1996, quickly gained prestige, and has since become a major fixture in Hamburg’s sporting calendar.
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The Velorace in Dresden is a city-centre cycling event that has been held since 2013 and has become a fixed part of the national racing calendar. It grew out of the wider Saxon cycling tradition and has steadily developed into one of the best-known mass-participation races in eastern Germany.
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Along the quiet rural road between Böseckendorf and Immingerode, memorial stones stand with a restrained yet powerful presence. They are arranged in a simple formation beside the roadside, modest in scale but unmistakable in meaning. Rough-hewn stone slabs bear an inscription and dates. The surrounding landscape – fields, hedgerows, and the gentle undulations of the countryside – creates a stark contrast to the heavy history these stones represent. Nothing about the site is ostentatious; its strength lies in its stillness and the way it invites reflection.
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Our journey did not begin in Italy, at least not in spirit. It was meant to take us far beyond Europe, across continents, towards Sri Lanka via India – a trip we had carefully planned and eagerly anticipated. Yet, as so often happens in travel, events beyond our control intervened. Air India abruptly cancelled our return flight to Europe, citing kerosene shortages and price surges linked to escalating geopolitical tensions following Donald Trump’s confrontation with Iran. The airline’s decision was shrewd: by cancelling only the return leg into the EU, they avoided compensation obligations, while effectively forcing us to abandon the entire itinerary.
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Alto Adige, or South Tyrol, is a fascinating region where languages and cultures overlap in a way that feels both Alpine and distinctly Mediterranean. Three languages are officially recognised: German, Italian, and Ladin. German is by far the most widely spoken in everyday life, especially in towns and rural areas, while Italian tends to dominate in the larger cities such as Bolzano. Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language, survives in a few Dolomite valleys and adds another layer to the region’s cultural richness.
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San Gimignano is one of Tuscany’s most atmospheric medieval towns, and its appeal lies in the way it has kept so much of its old character. It grew from a small settlement on the Via Francigena, the great pilgrimage and trade route, and became wealthy through commerce and its strategic position between key Tuscan centres.
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The strade bianche of Tuscany are so called because the term literally means ‚white roads‘, a reference to the pale colour of the region’s unpaved lanes, made up of limestone gravel, dust and small stones that can look almost chalky in the summer sun. They run through vineyards, olive groves and hill towns, giving the countryside its distinctive, timeless feel.
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