Stone-Sound-sculptures in the open-air-garden of maestro Sciola: San Sperate, Sardinia

 
As mentioned in my previous blog entry now we are making a tour in the open air garden of Maestro Sciola...which is full with tons of huge stone music instruments. His sound sculptures might be bigger than you but according to the maestro "one should still touch it like a woman". Each masterpiece has a tiny stone next to it with which the music is created! It was an amazing encounter on a hot+windy day, I hope you will enjoy the video too:-))

The murales in the art village San Sperate, Sardinia

 

My travel guide was indicating I should definitely stop by in the small village San Sperate, located around 40km north of the Sardinian capital Cagliari. The cute village is famous that a lot of artists work and live there. Few year ago we have visted the mountain village Orgosolo (next to Nuoro, in the middle of the island) where one could dive in almost 200 wall painting from different years. In san Sperate there are also tons of colourful  murales to enjoy through the whole village, most of them pretty modern. One was even painted one day before we passed by:-)) In the next post i will tell you about the visit in one of themost amazing open-air-art gallery I have ever been too: the garden of sound sculptures of maestro Sciola!.

Underwater flower garden around Tavolara island, Sardinia

 

Sharing again the amazing underwater colours of the Tavolara marine park in Sardinia! There are sooo many underwater plants like the marine marguerite (it. "margherita di mare") which makes the underwater landscape looks like a garden/field above the surface:-))) And of course we met the nudibranches! In the last picture you can see Nico swimming above an old amphora...Can you see it, it almost as big as him:-)))

Fresh and deliciious fruits in Sardinia

 

Every time I arrive in beautiful Sardinia I know I am approaching a real fruit paradise....and the fruit-junkie in me is very happy! And could it get any better than this: the two places we have stayed this year at had fruit trees growing in the garden: lemons, figs, apricots, almonds, the pomegranates (currently in status blossom)....

 

Some of the most exotic ones are the "corbezzolo" (en. strawberry tree) and the "ficchi d India" (en. prickly pear) and last but not least the famous "mirto", wild bush making dark purple berries from which the locals makes the famous local liqueur "Mirto".... This year all around in the South was also to be seen the white flower of the"carotta selvatica" (wild carrot). The middle of the blossom has one black flower which from far away looks like an insect having a break...So which are your favourite fruits or which fruits grow right now in your garden/country? And as a little treat you get this fantastic sunset in the laguna of Nora on the last picture...

 
PS: most of the fruit trees pictures are taken in the garden of the lovely B&B Fiore next to Pula in the south of Sardinia. A very, very cozy  place with warm hosts sharing their love&knowledge about the area!

About the herbs, their healing powers and the insects around them

 

While helping& learning in the herbal farm "Stilfser Bergkräuter" I was spending a lot of time among colourful flowers and came very close to a lot of hungry and thirsty insects....we were meeting every day at the same place around and on the flowers. Not only are we, people, collecting the flowers for teas, but the bees, butterflies and other  insects enjoy their nectar too . If I judge by the aroma of the herbal fields I understand them.

But of course there is the (secret) site of their healing power too. Did you know that:

- the peppermint (pic 1 and 2, in GE "Pfefferminze") delivers good effects by pains in the stomach-intestines-area and by colds;
- the calendula (in pic 3, in GE "Ringelblume") is used (because of its anti-flammatory influence) in cremes for wounds and scars;

- the bea balm (picture 4, in GE "Indianerssel") has an amazing bergamot-aroma and in tea supports us getting rid of nasty colds;
- the white common yarrow (last picture, in GE "Schafgarbe") is helping by problems with the digestive system as well as by women problems;

 

Last but not least, most of the leaves/blossom may be enjoyed raw, like below I prepared myself a dark bread with goat butter and sage& oregano leaves and fresh flowers from mallow and nasturtium, very yummy was it!

Prader Open-Air museum with American-Indian art by Lorenz/ Freilichtmuseum bei Lorenz in Prad, Südtirol

 

In the middle of the majestic and green North Italian mountains, on the winding road to the famous Stilfser Joch, just after the small Südtiroler village Prad one may encounter an amazing open air museum. The colours of its masterpieces and their shapes are so unusual and exotic, that you will be intrigued already by sighting them from the road...

 

Since 20 years Lorenz from Südtirol, also know by his American Indian name, the one who talks with the breeze ("der mit dem Winhauch spricht"), exposes his works in front of his house as well as in the middle of his big fruit and veggie garden. The long space between the road and the river is covered with colourful wooden sculptures and manually carved stones. The carvings and painting on the objects of art are inspired by the American Indian and Canadian totems...A guided tour and explanations are proposed to all visitors.
An impressive way to integrate far away culture into the nature of Südtirol!

 

All the working materials are coming from the nature: fallen down trees, stones smoothed by the river, bones from animals brought by the water...

In the Italian mountains, the village Stilfs and herbal teas of Siegi and Traude

Welcome to the charming mountain village Stilfs, in the middle of Vinschgau (Südtirol/Alto Adige)! Now please take a a deep breath and let the fresh aroma of the herbal gardens of Siegi Platzer fill in your whole body&soul! In this tiny and cozy place at 1500m the local nature lover&connoisseur Siegi together with his partner Traude grow and collect organic flowers in the middle of the National Park Stilfser Joch. Their herbal tea collections and dried cooking plants are heaven not only for tea lovers. The mixtures take you on the trip in colours, flavours and pleasure, without any added aromas (and no green or black tea leaves)...

Today I will take you behind the scenes and we may see how Siegi and Traude collects every day the flowers on their herbal fields. In the middle of the rainbow colours of marigolds, mallows, cornflowers, chamomile, mint and sage...after the picking process you are also welcome to have a look in the colourful herbs drying hall...Last but not least once dried the manually collected herbs are mixed to different aromatic combination just before being dispatched to the final customer. If you are curious about the available flowers and plants as well as tea mixtures, please visit their absolutely beautiful homepage.

And below is a panorama of the village where the teas of Siegi and Traude grow and collect the Italian sun, Stilfs!

Underwater colours around Tavolara, Sardinia - part 2, nudibranches

 

The tiny nudibranches (from "nacked" (="nudi" in Latin) and "gills" (="branch" in Greek) are some of the most colourful creatures on Earth, and of course underwater. These sea slugs have lost their shell as they have developped other protecting mechanism. They either blend in with the environment they live in or they have striking coloration which is warning that they are distasteful or poisonous...

 

While diving around Tavolara island one may encounter few of them as presented here. However these beauties love cold water and in summer hide into the deep waters...

 
And one big red sea star for a happy end....