POSTCARDS AT BREAKFAST
SARAH'S DOLOMITES
Today we chat with Sarah, born and raised in the beautiful Dolomites. He tells us about his life in this idyllic setting, and about his love of travel. Postcards for breakfast is the blog where he collects his thoughts, photos and stories.
Hi Sarah, welcome to Easy Travel Hosting! Could you tell us a little about yourself and what you're like was your blog born?
Hi guys, I'm very happy to be one of the many travel bloggers who have decided to entrust their site to you!
I am a DOC South Tyrolean girl, born and raised in the midst of the beautiful Dolomites, which have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009.
I attended linguistic high school and immediately after I threw myself into the world of work. I have always chosen professions that had to do with tourism, which represents a very important sector for the local economy.
For almost eight years I have been working for a tour operator specialized in organizing trips to the Dolomites. Our clientele has always been exclusively foreign, therefore in March 2020 we were forced to pause the business.
So from one day to the next I found myself at home and had to find an activity to kill time.
One day, while I was lying in the sun on the balcony and browsing Facebook, an advert from famous travel bloggers appeared "I pick myself up and take myself awayThey were launching a Travel Blogger School.
I've always envied travel bloggers; Who wouldn't want to be able to travel for work?! And so, after a few days, I enrolled in the school. During the last few months I have attended other courses, I signed up for webinars, I read books, I started studying social media, which until last year I used very sparingly and
then finally, last March 18th, almost a year after my initial decision and on my birthday, I put my blog online.
The blog mainly deals with topics related to the Dolomites. But I don't just describe the beautiful excursions that can be done in the mountains, I also want to share with readers everything I know about traditions, local products and culture.
I give suggestions and advice regarding accommodation, restaurants, shops, experiences... in short, I describe the Dolomites from A to Z.
Tell us a little about the place where you grew up and where you live, its traditions, starting from from languages to the most delicious foods, and also its popular dances that you can try your hand at!
The Dolomites occupy a very vast area, in fact they extend across three Italian regions: Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. Each Dolomite valley has its own history and culture. Here in Alto Adige, for example, we have undergone a predominantly Austrian influence and you can recognize it from the food, the typical clothes and the style of our homes. Many of our traditions also have their roots in Northern European countries.
You should know that three languages are officially recognized in the province of Bolzano: Italian, German and Ladin. The latter is my mother tongue and is a Rhaeto-Romance language formed hundreds of years ago. Nowadays there are only 30,000 people who speak Ladin in the Dolomites.
If we want to talk about food, I can only recommend some of these typical dishes: "casunziei all'Ampezzana", ravioli sprinkled with poppy seeds and filled with red turnips. Then there are the very famous dumplings which are prepared in many variations (cheese, beetroot, spinach, liver, desserts with apricots or gianduia...). For meat lovers I recommend the goulash or the shank. And obviously I cannot leave out the typical desserts: strudel, "Buchteln", apple fritters, fortaies...
As you may have noticed, our dishes are not very dietary, but to burn calories you just need to go on a nice hike, snowshoe hike, bike ride, climbing or skiing.
Thank you for asking me to also tell you something about the popular dance groups of the Dolomites. I have been part of the "Uniun Bal Popolar Val Badia" for more than ten years and have been its proud president for four years. In the Dolomite valleys there are dozens of folklore dance groups and they differ from each other not only in the music and choreography, but also in the typical clothes they wear. The groups often perform for tourists during folklore evenings, but they are also present at festivals, large traditional celebrations and charity evenings.
If you want to delve deeper into the topic, I invite you to go and read my article by clicking here.
We read that you like to plan your trips thoroughly. Have you ever found yourself in situations where you completely improvised, going way out of your comfort zone?
Exactly, I am a person who must always know in advance what will happen, what he will do, where he will go and, consequently, I don't like the idea of going to visit a place without knowing exactly what it has to offer. I'm always afraid of returning home and then discovering that I've missed something.
It happened very rarely that I left without planning a trip.
Usually it only happens when I leave for a maximum of one or two nights during the weekend. In those cases I get surprised, but I won't deny that even on those occasions, perhaps during a break at the bar, I pick up the phone and do some online research to find out what's nearby, which are the best restaurants, if it's possible to stay overnight in some unusual accommodation and which museums are worth a visit.
When you think of the Dolomites you imagine fresh air and green meadows, but what is the situation regarding pollution, separate waste collection, cleaning of the forests, seen from you who live there?
Thank God the pollution level here in the Dolomites is still quite low. Fortunately we started to act before it was too late. In fact, in recent years more and more people have become aware and many people, companies and associations have taken the environmental situation of our valleys to heart.
Tourist associations have started to propose ecological activities, such as the planting of trees in the areas destroyed by hurricane VAIA in 2018. The products found in restaurants are often zero km and organic, the houses are built with sustainable materials and attempts are made to produce energy from renewable sources. Local people are called to participate in the waste collection days which unfortunately are thrown around in the meadows and on the paths. Tourists are advised to leave their car in the garage or car park of their accommodation during their holiday.
If until a few years ago being eco-sustainable was an ethical choice of few, nowadays the green philosophy has almost become a trend. And that's fine, as long as converting to an ecological lifestyle isn't just a temporary decision to be the same as others. We must help the environment and ensure that not only the Dolomites, but the entire planet still has a very long and healthy life.
Easy Travel Hosting thanks Sarah so much for showing us her Dolomites.
If you want to find out more, you can follow her on her website by clicking here.
And on social media too!
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