venice, italy, IT

there would be sooo much to say about the unesco heritage island city of venice (venetia, venedig, benatky, ..), its past and former power and glory (it was not just the marco polo, you know?), its canals + architecture, its arts, its economy, its streets crowded by tourists who have to pay an entry day tax of 10 EUR,  ... i've been to venice twice before in the analog pictures era, so this time i've the opportunity to upload few digital pictures here 😎

we have spent a mostly cold and rainy week in a camping site at the sand dunes in ca' savio at the very end of the long and slim jesolo peninsula. of course, we have enjoyed the possibility to visit venice, the pearl of the venetian lagoon, by 20-30 minutes boat trip through the venetian lagoon with and stop-over at the island of lido ... 

san marco square, venice

venice, san marco square

~~~

 lido is also an island in the venetian lagoon, IT ...

some next island called 'san servolo' in the venetian lagoon

...

the venice and all other may-2026 pictures are 'parked' here, maybe i'll later find some time to move them to a special albums for venice, burano, istra-croatia, austria, slovenia, bavaria etc. later, why not? 

more coming soon (in the rainy autumn weeks at the end of the year 2026?) or never ...

burano, italy, IT

we have spent a mostly cold and rainy week in a camping site at the sand dunes in ca' savio at the very end of the long and slim jesolo peninsula with our grandsons (+ daughter + her husband of course too) ... 

... there was still plenty of nice nature at the end of the jesolo peninsula .. me most surprising and thus probaply nicest experience was the visit to the unesco heritage medieval picturesque island city of burano in the venetian lagoon (by boat, of course). for me even more special than the sooo popular venice (venetia, venedig, benatky) ...  

a rainy day with unbelievably beautiful + fast changing skies and colors

the market square with its remarkable church

 ca' savio at the very end of the long and slim jesolo peninsula:

punta sabbioni, a harbour village close to our camping site ca' savio

can you recognize the snowy alp hills on the horizon behind the venetin lagoon, my dears?

punta sabbioni

a fortress ruin in punta sabbioni a harbour village close to our 

camping site ca' savio at the very end of the long and slim jesolo peninsula

there are many ruins at the jesolo peninsula, you see?

view from our bungalow over the empty tent meadow and at 

the raindrops on the roof of our car in the ca' savio camping

the beach + sand dunes at our camping ca' savio

more coming soon (in the rainy autumn weeks at the end of the year 2026?) or never ...

carlsbad - karlsbad, unesco heritage spa, CZ

what a wonderful stopover in carlsbad (karlsbad, karlovy vary) on our way to lodz (PL). if i remenber that correctly, in 2021 were 11 european spa cities declared as unesco heritage. three of them are located in the former german settled areas in the north-western czech republic, CZ. we have visited franzensbad (frantiskovy lazne) last winter as i've managed to work online abroad for a week there ... and marienbad (marianske lazne) in 2015. but karlsbad is even more special. there are not only single nice buildings, but (almost?) ALL BUILDINGS in city center are beautiful, you know? 😀

interestingly, there have been many russian guests. my guess? they were mostly russians living in nearby germany. or not? well, at least two of my russian friends from munich visit karlsbad regularly. btw, why do the russians love karlsbad that much? maybe because the russian czar also visited karlsbad some 100+ years ago? yes, there also was a beautiful russian orthodox church out there ... and there were many ukrainians as service personnel in restaurants + hotels ...  if you asked me, both, the russians and ukrainians don't seem to have any special problems with each other ... is their ugly war just 'politics'?

karlsbad is beautiful and really deserves its unesco heritage status,

if you asked me. view from our hotel savoy westend at breakfast 😃

the main house of our our hotel savoy westend

'our' house carlton in 'our' hotel savoy westend complex

my 1st beer aka 1st alcohol after more than a month?

pilsner urquel, the original pils from pilsen, one of the very very

few alkaline beers and thus REALLY HEALTHY 😉🍀🍻

savoy western hotel

wax figures museum in a church

olympic palace

carlsbad - karlsbad - karlovy vary

is this the #1 place in karlsbad? casino + grandhotel pupp

there are sooo many bridges over the eger river (ohre)

becher's bar aka the original becherovka liqueur in the grandhotel pupp.

there was a huge green becherovka bottle somewhere in the city many

 years ago. maybe in front of the factory? i couldn't find that place today

emperor's spa (kaiserbad, cisarske lazne) + a small becherovka bottle

the theatre

quisisana, whatever that means 😄

one of the many healing springs, where  you can directly drink

or fill up your own bottles with special waters

old spa area

there is an elevator to the castle hill (aufzug zum schlossberg)

the castle's tower

carlsbad - karlsbad - karlovy vary

menuet, whatever it is

carlsbad - karlsbad - karlovy vary, view from our hotel

back to 'our' hotel savoy westend

unfortunately, the bar was already closed when i came back home at 10:30 p.m.

~ i've ordered a beer at the reception + checked some stuff on my phone

good-bye, hotel savoy westend

the beautiful russian orthodox church in carlsbad / karlsbad

carlsbad - karlsbad - karlovy vary

jachymov (joachimsthal), CZ, famous for its middle age joachimstaler coin

called taler + for its middle age metal mines. later also for its uranium mines 

CZ - DE border cross in the erzgebirge hills a little bit above 1.000m

highway pee house in saxony, DE

nice colors somewhere on the road in saxony, DE

few more pictures here.