Since very youth I have liked to travel. Traveling gives me a feeling of freedom, filling my life with new and interesting events and impressions, meeting new friends, absorbing the beauty of Nature.
When I was a student we liked backpacking, mountain skiing. There were not a lot of opportunities to travel abroad from the USSR, so we crossed the country from south to north, from west to east. We lived in the camps, tents, caves and youth hostels. Our favorite place was a huge cave in the rocks of the Crimea, 10 metres from the Black sea edge. I was happy to see the polar day in Kola Peninsula in the far northwest of Russia, where me and my friends went to ski in May (!!!) We went skiing in the Carpathian Mountains, ascended and descended Trostyan mountain and Mezhgorje hills multiple times. We saw the "two-headed" Mingi-Tau, widely known as Elbrus, from the point of 3070 metres above the sea..
.
I am very lucky that it happened in my life...
When the iron curtain of communism was torn and fell down, it became possible to see the whole world. At that time I had a family and we (me, my husband and children) preferred to travel with more comfort.
Anyway, traveling remains one of my beloved hobbies. It changed but it stays a part of my life.
I would like to share with you some information about three places I visited last summer and which are strongly recommended.
We combined two trips in one twice.
The first trip was to Venice. I booked an apartment in the ancient centre of the city in a very small and silent street. It is very important when you come here for the first time to live in the neighborhood of the main sightseeings (next time I will book a room in some of the surrounding islands). We lived within 5-7 minutes walk from Piazza St. Marco. So, during four days of our staying we could see many museums, palaces, monuments, bridges which are a must: St. Mark Campanile, Doge's Palace, Basilica, Venetian Ghetto, Rialto Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs, La Fenice opera house, the Grand Channel, Guggenheim museum. If you are lucky to have more time it will be a pleasure to visit Murano island (by vaporetto - waterbus) and to enjoy glass masterpieces. Leaving magic Venice with its delicious cuisine and wonderful gondolas, we took a Flixbus to Ljubljana through Trieste (4,5 hours and only 16 euro). In Ljubljana we spent one night (there is what to see), rented a car and drove to the southwestern Alps of Slovenia to a small village Ciginj in the suburbs of Tolmin. Triglav National Park, the Socha river, Lake Bohinj, Lake Bled, Kobarid historical museum, Planika Dairy Factory and museum, delicious local food, friendly people and silent beauty of Nature: forests, fields, green meadows and mountains - all these made our staying in Slovenia a real miracle!
I planned my second trip to Vienna and Prague in August. I had a certain goal of my visit - to see... what? - I will tell you a bit later. This is not my first visit to this wonderful, as the Italians say, grande, city. I feel very comfortable and free here, the spacious avenues and streets, multi-storey buildings of different architecture styles of the past, royal swing of the palaces, amazing parks, the blue Danube, horses, very friendly people encourage and inspire me to creative life, as if I have a deep breath of fresh air. And... my goal was to see Klimt and, especially, Schiele exhibition. They have a permanent exhibition of these outstanding artists (and Kokoschka) in Belvedere. But last year the Leopold museum dedicated a comprehensive exhibition to the 100th anniversary of Klimt's and Schiele's deaths. Masterpieces of the "artists of the century" were represented by their paintings, watercolors, drawings and sketches. And not only. Letters and photographs, poems written by Schiele, models of Klimt's dwelling afforded the visitors extraordinary insights into their artistic oeuvre.
At the same time there was one more interesting exhibition in Albertina "Monet to Picasso", focusing on masterworks of Impressionism (Renoir, Sisley, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Cezanne), Post-Impressionism and Fauvism (Signac, Matisse, Braque, Modigliani), Expressionism (Munch, Kirchner, Jawlensky, Kokoschka) and Surrealism (Miro, Magritte). There was also a big hall, dedicated to Russian avant-garde (Larionov, Lentulov, Suetin, Goncharova, Chagall). And two large separate rooms - for Picasso. Worth of visiting Vienna at that time, eh?
Unfortunately, the Kunsthistorisches Museum exposition of Bruegel's chef-d'oeuvres was opened after my departure. But I compensated it by visiting concerts in Vienna Opera House and Kursalon concert hall, enjoying the wonderful familiar and unknown tunes of Mozart and Strauss. I also visited Vienna forest and some castles in Baden (Baden is apprx an hour from Vienna by tram), Beethoven houses in Baden and in Vienna, very interesting and rich exposure of Jewish museums (there are 2). By the way, jewish museums are the only ones in Austria, guarded by the soldiers. Then, as usual, I took Flixbus and went to Prague - to meet my best friend and her family, to walk together in this Museum under the sky, to enjoy the views and the castles in the suburbs of the city.
To be continued... (I hope) :)
Venice
When I was a student we liked backpacking, mountain skiing. There were not a lot of opportunities to travel abroad from the USSR, so we crossed the country from south to north, from west to east. We lived in the camps, tents, caves and youth hostels. Our favorite place was a huge cave in the rocks of the Crimea, 10 metres from the Black sea edge. I was happy to see the polar day in Kola Peninsula in the far northwest of Russia, where me and my friends went to ski in May (!!!) We went skiing in the Carpathian Mountains, ascended and descended Trostyan mountain and Mezhgorje hills multiple times. We saw the "two-headed" Mingi-Tau, widely known as Elbrus, from the point of 3070 metres above the sea..
.
I am very lucky that it happened in my life...
When the iron curtain of communism was torn and fell down, it became possible to see the whole world. At that time I had a family and we (me, my husband and children) preferred to travel with more comfort.
Anyway, traveling remains one of my beloved hobbies. It changed but it stays a part of my life.
I would like to share with you some information about three places I visited last summer and which are strongly recommended.
We combined two trips in one twice.
The first trip was to Venice. I booked an apartment in the ancient centre of the city in a very small and silent street. It is very important when you come here for the first time to live in the neighborhood of the main sightseeings (next time I will book a room in some of the surrounding islands). We lived within 5-7 minutes walk from Piazza St. Marco. So, during four days of our staying we could see many museums, palaces, monuments, bridges which are a must: St. Mark Campanile, Doge's Palace, Basilica, Venetian Ghetto, Rialto Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs, La Fenice opera house, the Grand Channel, Guggenheim museum. If you are lucky to have more time it will be a pleasure to visit Murano island (by vaporetto - waterbus) and to enjoy glass masterpieces. Leaving magic Venice with its delicious cuisine and wonderful gondolas, we took a Flixbus to Ljubljana through Trieste (4,5 hours and only 16 euro). In Ljubljana we spent one night (there is what to see), rented a car and drove to the southwestern Alps of Slovenia to a small village Ciginj in the suburbs of Tolmin. Triglav National Park, the Socha river, Lake Bohinj, Lake Bled, Kobarid historical museum, Planika Dairy Factory and museum, delicious local food, friendly people and silent beauty of Nature: forests, fields, green meadows and mountains - all these made our staying in Slovenia a real miracle!
I planned my second trip to Vienna and Prague in August. I had a certain goal of my visit - to see... what? - I will tell you a bit later. This is not my first visit to this wonderful, as the Italians say, grande, city. I feel very comfortable and free here, the spacious avenues and streets, multi-storey buildings of different architecture styles of the past, royal swing of the palaces, amazing parks, the blue Danube, horses, very friendly people encourage and inspire me to creative life, as if I have a deep breath of fresh air. And... my goal was to see Klimt and, especially, Schiele exhibition. They have a permanent exhibition of these outstanding artists (and Kokoschka) in Belvedere. But last year the Leopold museum dedicated a comprehensive exhibition to the 100th anniversary of Klimt's and Schiele's deaths. Masterpieces of the "artists of the century" were represented by their paintings, watercolors, drawings and sketches. And not only. Letters and photographs, poems written by Schiele, models of Klimt's dwelling afforded the visitors extraordinary insights into their artistic oeuvre.
At the same time there was one more interesting exhibition in Albertina "Monet to Picasso", focusing on masterworks of Impressionism (Renoir, Sisley, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Cezanne), Post-Impressionism and Fauvism (Signac, Matisse, Braque, Modigliani), Expressionism (Munch, Kirchner, Jawlensky, Kokoschka) and Surrealism (Miro, Magritte). There was also a big hall, dedicated to Russian avant-garde (Larionov, Lentulov, Suetin, Goncharova, Chagall). And two large separate rooms - for Picasso. Worth of visiting Vienna at that time, eh?
Unfortunately, the Kunsthistorisches Museum exposition of Bruegel's chef-d'oeuvres was opened after my departure. But I compensated it by visiting concerts in Vienna Opera House and Kursalon concert hall, enjoying the wonderful familiar and unknown tunes of Mozart and Strauss. I also visited Vienna forest and some castles in Baden (Baden is apprx an hour from Vienna by tram), Beethoven houses in Baden and in Vienna, very interesting and rich exposure of Jewish museums (there are 2). By the way, jewish museums are the only ones in Austria, guarded by the soldiers. Then, as usual, I took Flixbus and went to Prague - to meet my best friend and her family, to walk together in this Museum under the sky, to enjoy the views and the castles in the suburbs of the city.
To be continued... (I hope) :)
Vienna
Prague
Slovenia
Vienna
Slovenia
Ira, thanks for sharing! Sounds - you had a good time!
ReplyDeleteYour descriptions really paint a picture. Well done!
ReplyDeleteGreat detailed review. A lot of us, born in the USSR behind the iron curtain,now enjoy the same feeling of total freedom, like "Wow! The whole world belongs to me."
ReplyDelete