Is there really a place called Maria Alm? Yes! Even if it does sound a bit like you’ve discovered an isolated place with an impressive name, a pilgrimage church and an idyllic mountain and meadow panorama. And in Maria Alm there is also a Josef, although his surname is Sepp. He’s the one who’s in charge of all the excitement round here with his eponymous hotel for “children over 21”, as he calls his guests.

Der Baum mit seinen Wurzeln, die tief und fest in der Erde verankert sind, und seiner Krone, die sich dem Himmel entgegenstreckt, verkörpert auf natürliche Weise die Verbindung zwischen Irdischem und Spirituellem. Er ist eine Erinnerung daran, geerdet zu bleiben, während man nach oben strebt. Das wissen auch die neuen Besitzer des Treehotels in Nord-Schweden, wo man in einem unberührten Wald in einzigartigen Architekten-Baumhäusern übernachten kann.

How do you capture the essence of a place? One way to do it is through language. Learning basic words and phrases doesn’t just show respect, it also helps you to understand the people and their region a little better. It’s particularly interesting in South Tyrol, where melodic Italian meets rustic Tyrolean, resulting in as many dialects as there are valleys.