Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The city of Lübeck, Germany is a very old town that became rich by trading goods. The old city center which looks like an island and is surrounded by arms of the river Trave became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987. Famous is also a small town belonging to Lübeck: Travemünde. It is a well-known beach with a very high and ugly hotel complex directly at the shore.
The Holsten gate (“Holstentor“) is a city gate of Lübeck, Germany. It is located in the west of the old city center just across the river Trave. Holsten in that case means the region of Holstein, an area forming part of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. The city gate is four levels high and contains today a museum about the history of the city.
Finding a good away home isn’t that easy. Even as the Internet has made it much simpler to search for landlords you won’t always get what you expect and need; and most times you’ll have to book almost a year in advance. The Kailua Lodge in Pelzerhaken, Germany is a very recommendable place if you want a high-class away home directly at the shore. The place consists of several houses and flats which are 80 to 150 meters away from the beach – one of the facts why a lot of surfers tend to rent these houses.
Northern Italy is always a wonderful place to be, but it is especially great during the time of Santa Lucia, when the towns are enlighted and the falling snow mixes with the fragrance of mulled wine. In Verona there is a huge christmas market on the Piazza Brà (including a giant metal shooting star leading out of the Arena) and a traditional German christmas market at the Piazza dei Signori. Maybe it is the best time of the year to pass by and enjoy a prolongued weekend at this share of the country.
Continue reading “Northern Italy at the time of Santa Lucia”
I’ve got ambivalent feelings about Venezia, Italy. I really love the concept of living with water, of having a city in a laguna. I like the idea to travel by boat instead of a bus. I appreciate standing at places with water masses surrounding me. But most times of the year Venezia is simply overcrowded and the city feels much to artificial. That is why I tend to go there in autumn and winter times when – apart from San Marco – you also have the possibility to roam through nearly empty streets.
The church Santa Maria della Salute is a nice sacral building in Venezia, Italy. It is located on the other side of the Canale Grande in front of the Piazza San Marco. It’s name refers to its purpose: to improve the health of the citizens. Continue reading “Santa Maria della Salute”
“If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
– William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (act 3, scene 1)
A campanile is a singular standarding church bell tower – and this one belongs to the Basilica di San Marco in Venezia, Italy. It is standing on the famous Piazza San Marco and is a town’s landmark of Venezia. Continue reading “Campanile di San Marco”
The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo is far away from the normal tourist streams in Venezia, Italy. It is a gothic style palace from the 15th century and belonged to the family Contarini. Continue reading “Scala del Bòvolo”
I’ve been in Venezia, Italy multiple times but I was mostly enjoying the surroundings and the atmosphere in San Marco – I never entered buildings like the Palazzo Ducale, the main government building of the Republic of Venezia. And like every tourist I was taking a picture of the Ponte dei Sospiri, the enclosed bridge of sighs that connects the palace with the old prison – but I never thought that you could walk across it.