As much as I love Berlin, there is one thing I love even more: travelling! When I look back I think this year was the one with the most amount of travelling in my entire life. I feel truely lucky to live in a time and place where international travel is so easy and comfortable. I grew up in the GDR so for my parents this was a completely different story. Lucky for me the wall came down when I was seven so from that time on I already made trips with my family to the Canary Islands, Scottland and the US.
Those of you who follow me on Instagram must have been wondering why I call my account iheartberlin at all, because I think I posted more photos from my travels than I do from Berlin (shame on me!). But in the end just because I cherish the opportunity to discover new places doesn’t mean I heart my own city any less. A few of my travels I already featured here on the blog such as my ski trip to Hovden, the visit to Buenos Aires Fashion Week, our art tour to Luxembourg and our amazing week in New York. But there were so many more trips I haven’t spoken about yet that I want to do it here before the year ends.
I think all of the places I chose for this round-up are beautiful and worth a visit. Some of them are great to escape the cold winter in Berlin, and some will be perfect for the pre-season in Spring to enjoy some early summer sun. Enjoy some of my photos from trips to Turkey, Brazil, Austria and Italy after the jump.
Antalya – Turkey
The trip to Antalya was the most recent one that I did. My professional travel friend Katja from Travelettes took me to this beautiful place with Condor along with her newborn baby Atlas. We stayed in a lovely design hotel called The Marmara Antalya which was directly at the sea. They had pretty much everything that you needed on their grounds: a nice park to take a walk in, a huge pool, a spa, their own beach with the most amazingly blue water, and on top of that our apartment building was rotating (apparently the only hotel in the world that does that) – so sea views for everyone! In fact it was so relaxing and beautiful there that I ended up almost never leaving the place while Katja made more of an effort to explore the city. Sometimes a vacation should serve only one purpose: relaxation!
Lago di Garda – Italy
The Lago di Garda in the North of Italy is a place that you will probably mostly hear from through the older generations. I totally understand why, because it’s just a picture-postcard perfect place. All the little towns and villages along the coastline of this huge lake are more beautiful than the next and – this applies to Italy in general – the charme of these places and their inhabitants is unbeaten. We went pretty early in Spring which is a season you will already be able to enjoy some sunny warm days, but also still get some mysterios and misty views over the lake which looks perfectly romantic.
We stayed at the stunning Lefay Resort and Spa which is on top of a mountain facing the lake and up there the weather was really special. Despite the early time in the year the sun warmed this place up real good so you could go out and swim in the outdoor pools and get a tan already in March and April.
Obervellach – Austria
I think for most people the Alpes, and especially the region of Carinthia in Austria is mostly known for its ski slopes. But also in the summer it is a perfectly beautiful place to go to, especially when you are into mountain climbing and hiking. For me the Alpes are one of the most beautiful things in Europe and it’s such a shame that our generation rarely pays attention to them even though they are so close by. But maybe it’s exactly that, they are too close, too obvious. We would rather travel all the way to Asia or South America for our vacations to experience something different and unique, completely forgetting something so close to our home could serve just the same. Well, I’m all for the Alpes and my hikes around the areas of Obervellach served some of the best views that I’ve ever seen… 😉
Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
Rio is stunning!!! You hear that from everyone who has been there, but you have no idea how stunning it actually is. I was there for the firt time in March this year and it was my mini-vacation during my month in Buenos Aires. And I was the most tourist I have ever been in a while in this city. It’s so embedded into nature that you sometimes will hardly feel like you are in a big city in Brazil. The beaches are a dream, the best sights are the natural ones like the sugar loaf or the various parks and gardens. The old mansion with the pool in the courtyard at Parque Lage is the most breathtaking place you’ll come across! And my whole trip was already worth it when I encountered the cute little marmoset monkeys on the backside of the sugar loaf. Soooo adorable!
South Tyrol – Italy
Last but not least I want to give you a little preview of my trip to South Tyrol. I have a little bit of a love affair with South Tyrol. This German-speaking region in the North of Italy is really quite something. It’s hard to put it in words, but somehow the people there are a good mix of the best qualities of Austrians, Germans and Italians. It feels traditional and modern at the same time. Every city, town and village is really well maintained and cute looking, always surrounded by prestine mountains and so many fun activities to do, it’s an amazing and youthful place. Literally every stretch of land between all the villages and cities is covered either with apple orchards or vineyards, so you already get an idea of what you gonna get served there for sure! We have a more detailed travel review with some recommendations coming out in the Spring so stay tune for that one and I hope the photos below already give you a bit of an idea about the sweet taste of South Tyrol.
