Cyprus: Wine Tasting

On the third day in Cyprus, we booked a tour through Cyprus Taste Tours to learn more about the local wine scene. Our tour guide picked everyone up from their hotels and whisked us away to the mountain villages outside of Paphos where we visited a number of wineries and stopped for a meze lunch. 

Our group included two couples visiting from England and us. 

The first winery is a family-owned operation. I enjoyed their wines the most. They had a variety of sweet and dry wines--white, red and rose. We had very limited space in our luggage, but we picked up one bottle from this winery to take home. Thankfully we did not get anymore because we were one pound short of the bag weight limit upon returning home. 

Our second stop is a newer winery (20 years old). 

Our third stop was to a monastery with amazing views! We stopped into their chapel to enjoy the artistry.

For our meze lunch, we visited this restaurant. The food was delicious! They even surprised me with a birthday cake which was such a kind (and delicious) gesture!

These are the wines from our final stop. The winemaker said he prefers oaky wines and that flavor profile definitely came out in the tastings. I do not share the same preference, so this was my least favorite of all the wineries, but it was still neat to visit and learn a bit more about the unique grapes to Cyprus.

Cyprus: Birthday Celebration

Our second day in Paphos was my birthday, so I chose activities that I would especially enjoy. We started off our day with a visit to the Local Ethnographic Mueum of Geroskipou. I enjoy learning about crafts and handiwork unique to new places. At this museum, we learned about the importance of pottery and silk. The museum was quite small, but free to visit. It is located in an old home, so it was neat to see the various rooms and imagine what they would have been used for in the past. 

Down the street from the museum was the main square. Our taxi driver recommended visiting it to see the church. Due to Greek influence, they have Orthodox churches which have very elaborate images of saints inside. We visited the inside of this church, but opted not to take any photos to respect the woman inside who was praying. 

Outside in the square was the first time I have seen poinsettias planted in the ground. Previously, I have only seen them in pots around Christmas time. 

Found some street art!

After returning to the hotel, we stopped by the café to grab coffee and snacks. I indulged with some chocolate mousse and Charles tried a Cypriot coffee. From my research, it is similar to Turkish coffee.

Cyprus is well-known for having cats all over the place! They were introduced to the island for pest control. They are well-taken care of and very friendly. Every day we were able to find at least one to say hello to. Of course seeing black cats made me extra happy!

After our spa treatment (heavenly), we returned to the room to find a sweet surprise from the hotel staff. The other surprise was that the dinner theme was Italian! 

Cyprus: First Impressions of Paphos

For my birthday trip this year, I chose to visit Cyprus. I knew very little about the country, but it had been recommended to me by an acquaintance. Plus, I knew it was going to be warmer than Germany in February. 

We found a direct flight through Ryanair from Memmingen to Paphos. After learning that they drive on the left hand side of the road (due to British influence), we opted not to rent a car. It limited what we could see and do during our stay, but it also kept us from overdoing it during our relatively short time in the area. 

There are a plethora of resorts in Paphos. But when I found an adults-only resort with ocean views, I was sold. Amavi was a delightful spot to call home for the week. Service was amazing and we were upgraded to a room with its own private pool. Unfortunately the water was too cold to take advantage of the pool, but it afforded us with a beautiful view of the ocean.

We arrived in the late afternoon and immediately got outside to enjoy some sunshine! It was super breezy on the first day, but the views walking from the resort to the harbor area were just what I needed after gloomy Germany. 

I had scoped out a lunch spot in advance. It has been a WHILE since we have eaten Chinese food, so I thought let's give Chloe's a try. Because it was a late lunch, the restaurant was completely empty when we walked in. I loved the little extra attention to detail with the branded orange slice in my Spritz. The food was delicious and the service was very good. 

Innsbruck, Austria

The next leg of our December getaway was to Innsbruck, Austria. Each time I visit Austria I fall more in love. 

Innsbruck has a myriad of markets scattered around the town. We visited in the evening and, because it was midweek, it was not super crowded. We enjoyed the sparkling lights and holiday spirit. 

One of the market streets is dedicated to fairy tales which was one of my favorite parts! 

Gluhwein, of course! The vendors had a variety of mugs from different years. I liked this mug, but it was from 2019 so we didn't keep it. 

Innsbruck is home to Swarovski crystal, so a Swarovski crystal tree is the centerpiece of this market. 

I love, love, love folk art so when I saw there was a folk art museum in Innsbruck I added it to our itinerary. I am just so impressed with how people took everyday objects and made them beautiful. 

The folk art museum is connected to the Hofkirche, so we visited that, too. Just a little tip (because we were confused), to visit both you'll need the combo ticket. The regular ticket only allows you into the Hofkirche. You cannot buy a ticket just to the folk art museum. 

The hands down best part of visiting Innsbruck was our hotel! We stayed at DasMEI which was located just outside of Innsbruck in a town called Mutters. This is the view from our room!!! I was ready to move in and never leave. The breakfast buffet was delicious. Parking was free and the tram stop was just up the road for an easy trip into Innsbruck. 

Our room overlooked the nearby town called Natters. This is the church we could see from our balcony.

Strolling around European towns and seeing the variety of churches never gets old. This is the church in Mutters.

Christmas Markets of Northern Italy

After a break from travel due to Charles' work schedule, we resumed our vacation schedule with a trip to Christmas markets in the South Tyrol region. Most people think of Germany for their Christmas market visits, but with Northern Italy's German roots, they have some markets, too! 

We visited mostly to check out Bolzano (Bozen for the German spelling) which is Italy's oldest and largest Christmas market. But we also went to Merano, Brixen and Sterzing. 

I love searching for hotels. For our Northern Italy vacation, I chose Napura Art & Design Hotel. It was situated between Bolzano and Merano and surrounded by apple orchards. The included breakfast, free parking and beautiful rooms were a delight. Plus, they were dog friendly so Suzie was able to tag along! Charles made use of the sauna on one of the nights. I really should have, but spent my downtime working on schoolwork. (I'm so ready to be done with this program because having schoolwork while traveling is a little stressful!)

Before visiting any markets, we drove to Lana to walk along one of their trails. The path has sculptures to admire along the way, but we veered off the sculpture trail a bit so we missed quite a few of the pieces. The area had a dog park that Suzie enjoyed for a little while. The views of the mountains from all around us was fantastic! I kept imagining what it looks like in the spring and fall. I bet it's even more gorgeous!

Now onto the main reason for the visit... Christmas markets! Our first market visit was in Merano. The area lined the river which gave us some amazing picture opportunities! It was a beautiful, sunny day. We enjoyed some gluhwein (also known as vin brule); this was my favorite mug of regular weisse gluhwein. We had a a few snacks, browsed the booths and purchased a couple souvenirs. 

The next day it was time for the main event--Bolzano! Remember, this is Italy's oldest and largest Christmas market so we were expecting something pretty cool. They had some cute photo opportunities around the market including this one. The figures are from a company called Thun. I had never heard of them before, but their figures are proudly displayed and the ornament we chose was a Thun angel. 

Sadly, our expectations of the market were bigger than the market itself. My guess is that pre-COVID it was larger. It had maybe 30-40 booths and felt small. It probably did not help that it was chilly and gloomy. Charles had some gluhwein and I had some hot chocolate. We shared a chocolate covered pretzel. Otherwise, it was disappointing. We went inside the church shown behind me in this picture and we could have visited a number of museums in town, but I just wasn't feeling it. 

After the letdown of the Bolzano market, we stayed close to the hotel for dinner. The German-Italian spot called Restaurant Oberspeiser was down the road and ended up being very quaint and cozy. The food was tasty, too! We chose the knodel platter for two which consisted of 8 different knodel. Yum! 

Our third market in Italy was Brixen. It was a sunny, beautiful day! Knowing this market was going to be smaller than Bolzano, we went into it with lowered expectations. But this market was very cute! They had musicians playing from the stage in the center of the market and the view of the church steeple was charming. We tried Bombardino which is Italian's version of eggnog. It was very sweet, but I would not order it again. 

The market was filled with groups of school kids at the time we visited. They crowded around some of the booths which made it a little difficult to shop. I think they were also playing a scavenger hunt game. A group came up to ask us questions, but after learning we did not speak Italian they scuttled away to the next person. 

I did not see a lot of street art during our visit, but spotted this along our walk from the parking garage to the market. 

Our final Italian Christmas market was in Sterzing. This was a small market where I purchased some Alpaca socks. The booth owner promised me they are warm and they did not disappoint! We also enjoyed a hot apple drink with Amaretto.

Polenta is popular in this part of Italy, so I tried polenta with goulash at Sterzing's market. The meat could have been a bit more tender, but it was warm and filling. 

The area was beautiful and we loved seeing the snow capped mountains from pretty much every vantage point, but I would not necessarily recommend visiting the area JUST for Christmas markets. The markets were charming and had some good eats. They are a lovely bonus, but not a main attraction.