Strasbourg in Pictures

Hello everybody,

last week I spent some lovely days in Strasbourg, France together with my mum for a little mother-daughter-vacation. :) Here are some impressions from our trip to the beautiful Alsation capital.

We took the train to Strasbourg and arrived at its very cool train station, which in my opinion is a great combination of old and new architectural elements.

Strasbourg's major sight is its famous cathedral - the Münster - which is really an impressive building from the outside as well as from the inside.

I don't know if you have seen Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris". It's one of my favourite movies and there is this wonderful scene when Adriana (Marion Cotillard) shows Gil (Owen Wilson) this beautiful carrousel from the Belle Epoque. Well, you can imagine my joy when we found a very similar one in the middle of Strasbourg... :)

La Petite France is a small and lovely Strasbourg district, where the Ill river splits up into a number of canals and you can watch the boats come by.

If you prefer the modern to the medieval architecture you should check out the Museum of Modern Art, a very cool and colourful building next to the river.

 The European Parliament is also worth a visit.

To relax a bit after our sightseeing tour to the "European district" we went to L'Orangerie. This is Strasbourg's biggest park, where you cannot only find the most beautiful flowers, buts also two small lakes and a stork breeding station. Beautiful!

  
But the Orangerie is not the only green spot in the city. Opposite the Palais du Rhin at the Place de la Republique you can also find a lovely small park with beautiful flowerbeds.

  
A fire flower for the "Fire Street".

Strasbourg is the perfect place for food lovers and fans of meat in particular. One national dish is choucrote, which is basically a plate full of sourcrout combined with differents sorts of bacon, sausages and potatoes. It's actually really tasty, altough I wouldn't recommend it on a daily basis (unless you want to get a heart attack at a young age)... ;) A great alternative to  choucrote is the tarte flambeé, a kind of very thin pizza with sour cream, onions, bacon and/or vegetables. Yummy!

If you have a sweet tooth, Strasbourg will serve you too.

Have a wonderful day!

Yours,
Tulip

All images by Stefanie Reichl/Veronika Reichl

La Dolce Vita - Ischia Part II

Hello blog-friends,

as promised, here comes the second part of our Ischia travel story plus traveling tips. :)

Accomodation in Ischia

To find accomodation in Ischia shouldn't be that difficult. The island is very well prepared for tourists and there are many hotels. David and I booked over airbnb and are really lucky we did, because we found the lovliest Bed and Breakfast and that for a reasonable price. The B&B La Cycas di Giannina lies between Ischia Porto and Casamicciola Terme along the old road on the hill (we had the best view over the sea from our room) and our host Isabella was very caring and helpful. She answered all our questions with patience and gave us many great tips for the island but most importantly she made the best breakfast which filled us well into to the afternoon every day (She is my personal Queen of Cakes! ;) ). Another advantage is that the B&B is close to the port in Ischia Porto. Most probably you'll arrive via ferry from Naples or Sorrento (unless you can afford to get there via helicopter which might be an alternative as well ;) ) and probably won't like to drive for another 30 minutes to an hour to get to your final destination.

The view from our room

Transport

As Ischia is bigger than you probably expect you should think about transportation on the island in advance. Of course it's possible to rent a car (if you do, make sure it's a small one - the streets are narrow) but personally I think the more authentic way to travel the island would be with a motor scooter. As unfortunately neither David nor I are able to drive a scooter we used the public transport system with busses and that worked quite fine. There are a number of busses which take you all around the island and I totally recommend a drive with the CD or CS busses which go all the way up to Serrara Fontana (from there you can walk up the Epomeo as well) and travel the small Ischian mountain villages. The view up there is gorgeous and you'll almost feel a little adventurous as you'll always be wondering if the bus hits the next oncoming car on the narrow mountain road... But no worries! The Ischian bus drivers really know their craft, so this is extremely unlikely to happen. ;)

Waiting at the main bus station in Ischia Porto

Food

Concerning food, I don't even know where to start with my storm of enthusiasm. I'm totally in love with the South Italian cuisine! Actually I think I want to marry it and get some beautiful pasta babies...
Most of the Ischian restaurants offer a great variety of pizza and pasta and of course seafood (Spaghetti alle Vongole! Yummy!), but one major Ischian classic is the Coniglia all' Ischitana (Ischian rabbit), which you totally shouldn't miss in case you eat meat. And of course you'll have to eat Pizza Margaritha which got allegedly invented in Napoli, preferably with the wonderful mozzarella di buffala. Furthermore I can also really recommend the great variety of sweet delights that are offered: of course you get wonderful ice cream but in my opinion even greater are the Neapolitan pastries. I fall especially for the sfolgliatelle ricce, a kind of Danish pastry with a ricotta and lemon filling. Mhmmmm... Our new French friends Antoine (Tom) and Antoine also highly recommended the caffè del nonno, which is a kind of coffee frappé.     
Now, after I've hopefully whet your appetite, you probably want to know where you can get als these beautiful dainties. ;)

Good restaurants/bars:

• Le Ventarole: There I had really good Bruschetta and (really good) Buccatini con coniglio all'Ischitana.
• Pane & Vino in Via Porto in Ischia Porto and is a really good fish restaurant and is right beside the sea.
• Cocó is directly on the bridge which connects Ischia Ponte and the Castello Aragonese and offers really good pasta and seafood dishes. There you can also get the Caffè del Nuno
• At Da Ciccio in Ischia Porto you'll get really good pastries and ice cream.

Bruschetta

Bucatini con coniglio all'Ischitana

Neapolitan Pastries

Shopping

What I totally liked about Ischia in terms of clothes shopping was the fact that you hardly find branches of international brands but mostly small boutiques which reflect the personal taste of their owners in some ways. I didn't shop around the whole island but my favourite store in Ischia Porto was called Annasofia at Via Alfreddo de Lucca, where you can find many beautiful dresses and handbags and accessories (I helped myself to a beautiful white dress and some earrings). Furthermore I can recommend the Grifo Girl store near and the Silvian Heach shop on Via Roma. In addition there is one local brand called La Caprese Più which you will find all around the island and offers really beautiful clothes. However, I would only enter one of their branches if you calculated a generous shopping budget.
If you are a book lover you should definitely enter the Libreria Imagaenaria in Ischia Ponte, where you can also get really beautiful vintage postcards from the early 20th century.   

Have a great day everybody!

Yours,
Tulip

La Dolce Vita - Ischia Part I

Ischia Porto from above

Ciao everybody,

as I already mentioned in my last post I spent two wonderful weeks in Ischia in the Bay of Naples. And wow, there is actually a lot to discover on this beautiful South Italian island! Therefore I decided to dedicate the two upcoming posts to this wonderful place with its turquoise sea, the mediterranean vegetation and hot springs that partly spring up directly into the ocean. :)
The first post will deal with Ischia in general and which sights we explored there and the second one with topics such as accomodation, transport, shopping and most important: FOOD. ;)

Things to know about Ischia

Ischia from the ferry

With 46 square kilometres Ischia is the biggest island in the Bay of Naples before Capri and Procida. The island is of volcanic origin and until today hot water fumeroles raise to the surface, in some places directly into the sea. The volcanic origin is also the reason for Ischia's rich biodiversity. The highest elevation is the Monte Epomeo with 789 m. It can also be crest with the help of mules if anybody is interested. :)
Ischia is divided into six different communities (Ischia (with Ischia Porto and Ischia Ponte), Casamicciola Terme, Lacco Ameno, Forio, Serrara Fontana and Bario d'Ischia). Each of those has its own mayor and in total there live about 60.000 people on the island (although I guess it's a lot more in summer ;) ).

Sights & Events

One of the main attractions on Ischia is definitely the Castello Aragonese in Ischia Ponte which exists in its current form since 1441. The castle flourished especially in the 16th century when it hosted more than 1800 families, an abbey, a bishop's see, the ruler and his family, many important rennaissance artists as guests as well as a kind of eccentric bunch of Clarissines who entombed their fellow sisters in a seated position in a special chamber and prayed there every day until the dead bodies had completely putrefied. Brrr...
However, the Castello is a really impressive building and definitely worth a visit! Just a tip: Don't go there in the midday heat - we did that and it was not our best idea...;)

Castello Aragonese

If you come to Ischia in July you definitely shouldn't miss la Festa di Sant' Anna which takes place on July 26th in front of the Castello. The main attraction of the event is the judging of specially built floats. They are built by the different Ischian communities and represent themes which are somehow related to the island and its history. After the judging of the boats there is a firework and in the end the Castello gets symbolically wrapped in flames with the help of Bengal lights. This is really an impressive sight!!

Festa di Sant' Anna

Concerning sights my absolute favourite were the Giardini La Mortella, the botanical garden of British composer Sir William Walton and his wife Susana near Forio. This beautiful and grand garden (designed by British garden architect Russell Page) with its great and colourful variety of plants from all over the world is an oasis of peace and contemplation where you can stroll around for hours without getting bored. In the centre of the garden you'll also find a lovely little tea house where you can enjoy a cup of tea and indulge in super tasty Torta Caprese. Lovers of classical music can also come in the evening and enjoy one of the concerts which are regulary offered throughout the summer.

Drinking tea at Giardini La Mortella

If you are a movie fan you shouldn't miss out on the Villa Colombaia, the former mansion of Italian director Luchino Visconti. It's well hidden in the woods and not too easy to find but it's a nice small film museum and still worth a visit especially if the weather is not as good as it could be.
In July there also takes place the Ischia Global Fest, an international movie festival. One of the festival venues is the Albergo della Regina Isabella, a very fancy hotel in Lacco Ameno, where the movies are shown outdoors next to the sea. Not all of the movies, that are shown there, are open to the public, but the ones that are, are all shown in original language with English and Italian subtitles and the venue is definitely worth a visit. 

Movie screen next to the sea at Albergo della Regina Isabella

Another museum which is supposed to be interesting (also we didn't go there) is the Museo Archeologico Pithecusa, an archaeological museum in the Villa Arbusto in Lacco Ameno.
Apart from these sights you should definitely check out all of Ischia's communities, which I mentioned above plus the little and car-free fischermen's village Sant' Angelo.
In any case you should ever get bored in Ischia (which won't happen) you can always visit one of the neighbouring islands Procida and Capri or make a trip to Naples or the Amalfi coast.

Procida

Beaches and Thermal Parks
  
In terms of water Ischia has many beautiful beaches all around the islands! The longest one is called Maronti and located in the South of the island. Our favourite was the Spiaggia degli Inglesi, a small beach with black sand in Ischia Porto which you will only find if an actual Ischian inhabitant describes you the way, so make sure to make some Italian friends... ;) 
What I also recommend is a visit of la Baia di Sorgeto. That's a lovely small bay near Forio where hot thermal water springs directly into the sea. The thermal water mixes immediately with the sea water: the nearer you are to the spring the warmer the water, the farer the colder.

La Baia di Sorgeto

If that is too much nature for some of you, you can also check out one of the many thermal parks on the island. We went to Castiglione Thermal Park near our B&B twice and really loved it there but of course there are many more, such as the well-known Poseidon Giardini Terme.

Hope you got a little wanderlust! :)

Have a great evening,
Tulip

All images by Stefanie Reichl

Holiday Time

Hello everybody,

we are packing our bags and leaving for the South! :)
While Katja chills in Sardinia I'll be heading to Ischia in the Bay of Naples. Our blog will be on vacation too, we'll be back with a lot of beautiful pictures from Bella Italia and travel tips at the end of July. Until then you can follow along on Instagram.

Have a great summer so far! I'm already looking forward to meeting you again! :)

XOXO,
Tulip