Travel Reports

Venice – „Being lonely“ during pandemic in 2020.

/ Patrick / Hinterlasse einen Kommentar
Venice – so lovely.

After spending several days in Austria and South Tirol we ended out summer road trip with a weekend trip to Venice. We started early at Passo Sella Dolomiti Resort and drove in direction Belluno, crossing by Marmolada & the eastern Dolomites. We can totally recommend the drive, the views are scenic and you pass by the small alpine villages. Even in beginning of July’20 there were lots of stories of travelers and friends of us how empty Venice and especially its small alleys and piazzas were? Back then Alex and myself start researching for a nice small hotel in the middle of Venice to get the real „Venice“ feeling. We stayed 3,5 days and 3 nights in Venice. Our plan for Venice was visiting the main sites in the city, including Murano and Burano. But we wanted to stroll around and just enjoy Venice.

Venice – Rialto

Accommodation

Palazzo Venart – A Small Luxury Collection Hotel

As always right after the decision to visit a city, sight or island we started looking for the available accommodation options. By chance, due to the lack of tourists from China and the States, also the small and really luxury palazzo hotels were available and more or less reasonable in price. We chose the Palazzo Venart a Small Luxury Collection Hotel. We really liked the style of the hotel and our small room with a big roof top patio. Unfortunately the pads of our lounge were taken away on the second day during a light rain and never came back. Probably this was our own fault. We were totally fine with the size of the of the room and completely overwhelmed by the size and style of the bathroom.

We really liked the location in a quite area next to the Valporetto Station „San Stae“. To summarize we can totally recommend the hotel, the staff and the food. At some point we will visit Palazzo Venart again.

Venice – San Marco Square

Food

La Colombina

We already wrote a complete review under the title „Food Preview to Venice“ 4 months ago. Feel free to read this review.

Muro San Stae

Just „ a few steps“ away from Palazzo Vernat and the valporetto station „San Stae“ you can find the „Muro San Stae“ on a lonely piazza. The food is solid, tasty and reasonable in price. We had a starter and a pizza, which we liked pretty much. Definitely a restaurant which we will choose again.

What have we done in Venice?

Well, those of you following us since some time and knowing other reviews of physicalflashpacking.com, but in Venice we will tell the story in a different way. We will not tell you what to visit or like all the VLOG travel blogger we met last year in Venice: „Come let us explore Venice together.“ We will let inspirations tell our story, and show you Venice through our eyes, or better lenses.

Venice – small canale.

Venice

First, we visited all the main attractions within the city borders of Venice: San Marco, Rialto, etc. . After this we just used our time to stroll around and had one or two Sprizz after 12. Over the years we turned away from being this type of hunting tourist but more the absorbent ones.

Venice – Canale Grande

Murano

After a short ride with Vaporetto Line 12 (it is the same line you have to use to get to Burano) you arrive at the beautiful „glass“ island of Murano. Murano glass factories are known worldwide for their quality glass products. We really liked the style of Murano with all the little alleys, yards and places. And of course we also had a Sprizz after 12 in Murano.

Burano

Burano

If you search for Venice on a search engine, beside already named standard tourist attractions, pictures of colourful houses will definitely catch your eye. This is Burano. We were pretty lucky, the streets were pretty empty and we were able to enjoy our visit to Burano.

Burano

To summarize our visit in Venice in August 2020, we really enjoyed our stay. We were able to stay in one of this small luxury Palazzo hotel, enjoyed good food without the need of a reservation.

We hope you like our different travel blog of Venice.

Physicalflashpacking

Val Gardena – Passo Sella – Summer in the Dolomites

/ Patrick / 2 Kommentare

All of you, who follow us on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/physicalflashpacking/) already know that we have a penchant for Val Gardena and especially one of our favorite hotels in the world. The „Passo Sella Dolomiti Mountain Resort“ (https://www.passosella-resort.com/de/) which can be found next to Passo Sella and Sasso Lungo on an approx. height of 2100 meters above sea. We visit Passo Sella regularly during winter for Skiing, we can totally recommend the locations since it is a prefect Ski-In/Ski-Out location. This time, we visited it during summer. But let us start from the beginning.

Passo Sella Backside View – Col Rodella, Alba & Marmolada

After the short 3 days 2 nights stay in Bolzano, we drove north in direction „Brennero“. We did not use the Autostrada, but the old Brennero street. We drove in direction of Klausen and Brixen but left for Val Gardena at intersection in Waidbruck. The ride up to Passo Sella took around 1h 20min from Bolzano.

Accommodation

The Passo Sella Dolomiti Mountain Resort has always been our favorite hotel for our winter holidays. It is situated on top of Passo Sella (which can be found right between Val Gardena & Val di Fassa). The views either in direction of Sasso Lungo as well as in direction of Sella are simply spectacular.

Alan Perathoner and his team has created a special atmosphere, which can be experienced in Winter as well as Summer. You can feel the presence of the this two majestic massifs in every room. We really like the style of the rooms, the design is clean and local, but especially the Swiss pine wood of the furniture pour a feelgood factor across the whole hotel mainly with its characteristic smell. The rooms are spacious and inviting. The wellness / pool are sufficient in size but various in facilities. Especially the pretty new hay sauna (max 60°C) is an absolute blast.

The standard hotel food and especially the small „L’angolino“ by Marc Bernardi will be reviewed in the food section.

Activities

The days at Passo Sella and Selva di Val Gardena were covered with hiking, a bit of filming and the first steps in drone flying in the mountains. See our impression on Youtube (We would be pleased if you follow us and „Thumbs up“ / Gerne dürft ihr uns abonnieren & ein „Daumen hoch“ da lassen)

https://youtu.be/uXO8_M4GEWI

Hiking

We want to present two hikes, which are medium in difficulty grade but very nice when it comes to views and loneliness.

Refugio Comici in direction of Sella Towers

Hike Number 1 – Sasso Lungo Circumnavigation

We have done this hike on our first full day at Passo Sella Dolomiti Mountain Resort. The track is pretty crowded on the first 2 kilometer until you reach Refugio Sandro Pertini. From there on you can enjoy the silence and wonderful views either in direction of Rosengarten or in direction of the Sasso Lungo massif. It gets more crowded again starting from Rifugio Comici next to Piz Sella.

Hike Number 2 – Cable Car – Sasso Lungo wind gap – Col Rodella – Passo Sella

On our third day at Passo Sella we chose to take the Cable Car and hike back to Passo Sella using the opposite direction from Sasso Lungo wind gap to Passo Sella. The views have been incredible.

Food

We want to be honest, we totally recommend to book your stay at Passo Sella Dolomiti Mountain Resort with half board. The kitchen can not described pure Italian or pure South Tyrolean. It is a good combination of both kitchens. For example Patrick’s favorite dish is fresh pasta with a rocket pesto & Sicilian small black olives. This summer we enjoyed one evening in the small speciality grill restaurant „l’Angolino“ which is associated to the Passo Sella Mountain Resort. Chef Marc Bernardi (https://www.instagram.com/marc_bernardi/) surprises his guests with dishes from grilled water melon (yes, we know that it had not been pepper) to a perfect grilled black angus filet steak. The service, done by Passo Sella’s sommelier Roberto, was really good, decent, reserved but totally attentive. We will definitely have some other dinner @ l’Angolino during our future stays @PassoSella .

Another highlight is the daily breakfast with view towards Sassolungo. Even if you stay a whole week it never gets boring.

Summary

Well, what shall we say, even during our stay in special summer 2020, the whole Passo Sella Team created a bubble during this difficult time. We would have returned to Passo Sella in Januar 2021, because of the global pandemia this has not been possible. Our plan was to do a full review of the room and food including a video review on our YouTube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKmGVxWsKAvPTkWwnUsYTw). This review will hopefully be done during our stay in summer 2021. So stay tun. To finally summarize, the Passo Sella Mountain Resort and the whole team will always be one of our most favorite hotels in the world.

Stay tuned, more reviews are coming soon,

Patrick

Bolzano – Wine, Alps & a bit Dolce Vita

/ Patrick / Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

Bolzano – often read not really visited – if you travel to Italy using the Austrian Alpine passes, you have a good chance to pass by Bolzano. The capital of the autonomous region of South Tyrol.

Duomo Bolzano – Perfect cloudy picture.

Accommodation

We found this cute apartment in the middle of Bolzano using Booking.com (https://www.booking.com/) . Cooper apartments (https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/cooper-apartments.de.html) is located next to the city hall only about 5-10 minutes walk from main station and a big parking lot („Laubengarage“). We booked a standard one-bedroom + one day-bed-room, which would be suitable for 4 persons. The apartment is spacious, equipped with a full service kitchen and a shower bathroom. Our apartment was in an upper floor and we had a wonderful view out over Bolzano’s roof tops and the mountains of the Ortler massif in the background. The room was clean and the online check-in / reception worked very well. We booked with breakfast, which was served in the Cooper Bread & Bistro in the ground-floor. The breakfast was delicious and simply huge – coffee (type and quantity – your choice), Cornetto (italian croissant), fruit plater & a full plate of cold cut (which can hardly be eaten by one person). Thumbs-up for this breakfast.

Principles of life: Never be afraid of crossing rivers, but never forget to look sideways and enjoy your life.

Food & Activity

This section is quite different to all our other travel reports. The reason is simple and already stated in the header of it. The main goals of our 3 days 2 nights stay in Bolzano getting rest, wine shopping and wander around.

Bolzano

Pizzeria Meraner

On one evening, we met one of our South Tyrolian friends, who used to live in Ulm but now returned to his home town Eppan. We met him for a Pizza @Restaurant Meraner (http://www.meraner.it/de) and had a really nice evening with some good wine, food and an Italian coffee to end the dinner. The pizza out of the wood oven was really tasty, the people @Meraner really chilled, we had nice conversations – perfect evening.

Wine Shopping @ Cantina St. Pauls

St. Pauls on a sunny day – church with an halo.

Our South Tyrolian friends brought us into contact with the wines from Cantina St. Pauls (https://www.stpauls.wine/). Every time we pass by Bolzano, we take a little circuit for a pre-lunch drink & wine shopping there. Our Favorites: Plötzner Weissburgunder, Fuxberg Chardonnay, Gfill Sauvignon, Turmfeld Cabernet Riserva, Zobl Lagrein. (A detailed review for this wines will be available beginning of next year in our Food section.)

St. Pauls of the track – strolling around for getting sober after wine tasting.

Wandering Around & Shopping

The pedestrian area of Bolzano asks to do shopping and wandering around. The type of pedestrian called „Laubengänge“ create a special atmosphere. The „Laubengänge“ are nice, quite and cozy. You can find known brands, small shops, local food stalls and good restaurants.

Conclusion

We really like Bozen and the whole region, we will hopefully return in May ’21 for an early summer in Bozen. We can recommend every sight and shop, which we introduced to you in this blog article.

We will see each other @ Passo Sella (https://www.passosella-resort.com/de/),

P.

PS: As always under German law, Anzeige: Namensnennung, selbstbezahlt.

Sölden 2020 – Back to the Roots (during Summer).

/ Patrick / Hinterlasse einen Kommentar

As you might have noticed, we have not been to SouthEastAsia this summer. Because of the ongoing global pandemic, we cancelled our existing bookings and changed travel plans towards a road trip crossing the alps from our hometown Ulm towards Venice, Italy.

Italy is not far, but cloudy (Timmelsjoch).

Our first stop on our road trip was Sölden, (gifted by our families) we spent 4 days 3 nights in the valley Patrick used to learn skiing from the age of 3 years old on and had winter holiday for over 17 years. In 2017 we already visited Sölden for 5 days to do hiking and explored the beauty of the hidden paths, if you walk away from the ski resort. This year’s stay in Sölden was meant to be the beginning of intense 8 days hiking in Austrian Alps and South Tyrol Dolomites.

The good old times – Gästerennen

Activities

Hiking

Hiking – If you leave the ski resort, enter the valleys or the mountains on the opposite side of Sölden ski resort. You will find a huge variety of trails with nature that will keep you speechless.

We will present you 3 hikes, which we have done during this and the last stay. We use the professional version of the iPhone App (Bergfex – Anzeige: selbstbezahlte Werbung):

Tour 1: Windachtal to the Weisskarsee and back to Soelden

Tour 1 was a wonderful hike which starts with a nice walk at Lochle Alm (which you reach with an official hiker bus) in the beautiful „Windach Tal“. After about 500 Meter, you cross the Windach and start the hike to the „Weisskarsee“. Through a beautiful forest you get to the plateau beneath the „Brunnenkogel“. From there on the more interesting part of the hike starts, over a scree field, you reach the „Weisskarsee“. On your way back the trails tends to get steep during the descent, stay conscious and safe. Our physicalflashpacking estimated difficulty level: Medium

Tour 2 Hike starting at Hochsölden to Perler See and following the barrage back to Sölden.

Tour 2 starts at Grüner’s Alpengasthof with a walk through Sölden in direction of Giggijoch cable car. After a short ride to the top, the hike starts with a medium steep descent towards Hochsölden. From Hochsölden you have to hike in direction out of the valley towards „Perler See“. The „Perler See“ is a small alpin lake where you can have a lunch break all alone. After the lunch break and an approx. 800m descent, you can return to Sölden and Außerwald with an approx. 2,5h hike. Our physicalflashpacking estimated difficulty level: Easy to Medium.

Tour 3: From intermittent station of Gaislachkogelbahn through the Rettenbachtal to Schwarzsee and back to mountain station of Giggijochbahn.

Tour 3: You leave the intermittent station of Gaislachkogelbahn and head towards the Rettenbachtal, at Rettenbachalm you start a steep hike up till Rotkogelhütte, leaving this nice alpine hut untouched and head through the small valley towards Schwarzsee. The way back to Giggijochbahn is not steep und easy to do, it crosses the ski resort. Our physicalflashpacking estimated difficulty level: Overall: Easy, but the hike from Rettenbachalm to Rotkogelhütte definitely: Medium.

Schwarzsee

Other Activities:

Besides Hiking there are different other activities, which can be done @Sölden. During summer, Sölden is famous for the Bikerepublic, a mountainbike terrain throug-out the skiing area. In Längenfeld you can find the Aquadome, a large thermal bath. On the Oetz, the name giving river of the Ötztal, you can do lots of water sports, like rafting, kayaking.

Accommodation

Grüner’s Alpengasthof (https://gruener-soelden.com/) – During Patrick’s skiing trips to Sölden, he used to visit Grüner’s mainly for dinner, but always was fascinated by the hospitality of the house. Since returning to Sölden, we really like the warmth of all the staff and especially Matthias Grüner and his brother Peter Grüner. In summer one of the highlights is definitely the swimming pond in a beautiful garden and the breakfast, with a huge variety of local goods and fresh, healthy food. The rooms are spacious and the new rooms are really modern.

Off the track during summer.

Food

Grüner’s Wirtshaus (https://gruener-soelden.com/grueners-wirtshaus/) is a typical Tyrolian „Gasthaus“, with lots of local dishes but also plenty of barbecue dishes. Since years one of the highlights is definitely the calf „Cordon Bleu“, which is simply amazing.

Jati – Restaurant & Craft Beer (https://www.jati.at/) – decent burger, bowls and snacks. A good assorted stock of different craft beers and drinks. We tried the burgers and the bowls – we were really satisfied.

Summary

We hope we can convince you, that Sölden is not only a winter holiday location, but also is attractive during summer season.

So long,

P.

Ipoh – Short Stop-over with Street Art.

/ Patrick / Hinterlasse einen Kommentar
Old Ipoh Housing

This blog will be a rather short one. Since we only had a short one night stop-over in Ipoh, the hotel we stayed in will be described shortly. The main aim of this post is a summary of the street art you can find in Ipoh.

Transport

After a short bus ride starting at Kuala Terla (Cameron Highlands) and using a standard bus service (Cameron Highlands to Georgtown). We arrived at Pusat Kerjaya Amanjaya, the main bus terminal of Ipoh. After organizing a Grab (https://www.grab.com/my/), using their very own App, and a short 20 minute ride we arrived at French Hotel Ipoh.

On the next day we left Ipoh and headed towards Kuala Lumpur, we used the early morning train from Ipoh Station (Stesen KTM) operated bei KTM Malaysia (https://www.ktmb.com.my/) which takes approx. 3 hours and arrives at KL Sentral .

Accommondation:

French Hotel Ipoh: The French Hotel Ipoh (http://www.frenchhotel.com.my/) is located just across the river of the old town, which means a 15 minutes walk. The rooms are spacious, modern in style, the bedding is comfy and cleaness is Malaysian standard (e.g. Malaysian standard does never mean dirty, but not as clean as one is used to from European hotels).

The fire alarm is super sensitive and rang at 2:30am in the morning. The management and reception could not detect any issue. Nevertheless the sensitivity is very calming.

Street Art Gallery:

A short stop over in a town like Ipoh can be full of joy and very interesting sites. The street art community in SEA is growing and growing and thanks to the style of the city centers, a really special atmosphere and style of street arts can be created.

So long,

Patrick @ physicalflashpacking

And as always, due to German law: Werbung durch Namensnennung.