5 Little Elves

Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Visit Croatia

Top 5 Reasons why you should visit Croatia

1. The cleanest Mediterranean sea
Nowhere in Europe have I seen the sea so clear and and alive as in Croatia. Especially when traveling with kids you can´t beat the awesomeness of being able to snorkel right off the beach and feel like you´re in a fish bowl ;-)

2. The breathtaking views off the Dalmatian coast

Areal view of Dubrovnik

The view from the AMAZING Radisson Blu hotel in Dubrovnik (by far the best one we´ve stayed at so far!)

3. Island hopping
Croatia has around 400 islands scattered around the coastline. Most of them are easily accessible by catamarans and car ferries running daily between most islands.
Jadrolinija is the main operator and if you´re traveling during the high seasons I recommend you book in advance.

Mljet

You can´t beat a "private" beach. Kids loved swimming out to the "pirate" ships ;-)

4. The magnificent medieval cities
As soon as you walk through the gates of the amazing city of Dubrovnik it feels as if you´ve entered a time machine and gone back 500 years.

Dubrovnik City Wall

Maria standing at an ancient gate in Trogir

Medieval monestary garden in Sibenik

5. The People
Croatians are extremely friendly, relaxed and proud. They will gladly tell you about their countries history, trials and tribulations.
(And guess what? - They´re pretty handsome too ;-)

 

"Dr. Kovac"

If you´ve been to Croatia I´d love to hear about it!

Take care

Inga

Copenhagen Christmas

Oh, how to describe the Danish word "Hygge" (hu-gah)? No other language has a single word that incorporates everything it means.

The closest I can come to describing it is to say that it´s a feeling or mood that comes from taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary things extraordinary; the art of creating an atmosphere that nourishes the soul. Words like cosiness and comfort are often used to describe the idea of "Hygge", however they fail to capture the essence of this wonderful Danish word.

Christmas is the perfect time to experience true, authentic Danish "Hygge".

Tivoli Christmas market - The perfect place for "hygge"
One of our favorite places in Copenhagen at Christmas time is "Tivoli", the world´s oldest theme park, in the heart of Copenhagen. Each year before Christmas it is transformed into a winter wonderland full of "hygge".  Whether you want to see the city from the Ferris wheel or enjoy a quiet moment on a bench with your loved one, you will not be disappointed by this charming park, lit up with millions of Christmas lights.

Does it get any more charming than this?

This year the Christmas Market had a Russian theme. Amazingly beautiful!

Of course, we lived in Copenhagen for 6 years, so we might be just a teeny, tiny bit biased. But honestly, you have to be Grinch if you don´t get into a festive spirit here:

 

Have you been to Copenhagen at Christmas time? What did you think?

 

 

525.600 Minutes!

Yes, it's been a year since we got that phone call. After waiting almost 4 weeks from the end of the competition til they finally announced the real winner of the 365 hotel nights at the Radisson Blu - anywhere in the world.

We want to thank you all who supported us, voted for us and shared our story. It is thanks to you that we won this fantastic price! And we have made good use of it too!

The beautiful old town in Riga. And they've got fantastic chocolate as well! Well worth visiting :)

We started out by going just the two us (yes, without our 5 little elves) to Riga in Latvia, a beautiful medieval city in the Baltics. Inga went with a few colleagues to Copenhagen - and of course they stayed at the legendary Royal Hotel Copenhagen, designed by Arne Jacobsen, and to Dusseldorf in Germany where she met old friends from her years in Germany. 

Here in Iceland we have a Radisson Blu as well, and the girls have made good use of that, celebrating their birthdays with sleepovers at a nice hotel downtown. It was a big moment when the oldest daughter went on the bus with her friends girlfriends with their little bags to stay at the Radisson Blu 1919 hotel in down town Reykjavik. And it inspired our 9 year old to do the same on her birthday a couple of months later. Looks like we might be starting a trend here ;)

We have been looking throught photos and brouchures to find the most interesting Radisson Blu hotels we would like to try out, and one of the must dos is Radisson Blu Berlin with the world's largest aquarium - 6 stories high! There we met with good friends from Copenhagen who spent the weekend with us. 

Our 5 little elves exploring the Adriatic ocean.

Our big trip was then this summer, an Adriatic roundtrip. We stayed at three different Radisson Blu resorts, the geothermal spa resort in Galzignano di Terme, near Venice in Italy, in Split and our favorite, the Radisson Blu Sun Gardens in Dubrovnik. We got Inga's sister and her family to join us as we were exploring the Adriatic coast, four adults and seven children. 

Fantastic view at the resort in Dubrovnik.

In total we have visited 8 different Radisson Blu hotels in 6 different countries in this one year, invited over 20 of our friends and family to stay with us and spent almost a third of our nights. We look forward to our future visits to the Radisson Blu hotels. Some very exciting new hotels have been opened additional to the fascinating selection they have already. We haven't decided were to go next though. Any ideas?

With regards from the elves in Iceland
Hjörtur and Inga

Making memories

After being asked on Twitter today what travel means to me I replied immediately: "Life. Freedom. Adventure. Making memories!" I´ve thought long and hard about that reply since then, but my opinion hasn´t changed. 

I can not imagine my life without travel. I never feel as free as when lost somewhere in a new city. Every turn around a bend I haven´t driven around before offers the possibility for a new adventure. Every.Single.Day. creates new memories. Making those memories with the kids and/or Hjörtur = Priceless (well, sort of. If you deduct the insane flight prices from Iceland, lol).

Last year in Spain we visited the awesome Dali museum in Figueres (which our kids of all ages loved btw.)

On our way back we were kind of looking forward to just relax back at our condo, splash in the pool and get our tired, dehydrated kids out of the car. We usually try to convince people that we´re slow travelers, who enjoy the unbeaten path. But this day? - We were so ready to simply hit the highway!

And so we did. Or we thought!

Turns out that we took a wrong turn and ended on a road that wasn´t just not a highway, but actually didn´t look much like a road at all. At some point I even think we were driving on some kind of bicycle path ;o)

And then we saw a sign which read: Villa Joan.

It was a tiny sign, for a tiny town, with tiny streets.

And perfect benches.

And sour grapes.

And a charm that will stay with us forever.

I´m so glad we never found the highway!

Inga Rós