Summer Solstice is also known as Midsummer and falls on the longest day of the year. It is the 2nd of the 4 Roman sun festivals (Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, and Winter Solstice). After the Summer Solstice, nights will grow slowly longer until it culminates in the Winter Solstice at Yule. This festival is about light, fire, and the sun. It’s about celebrating what you have right now, the long summer days and the warm sun.
Midsummer is the day that the Holly King defeats the Oak King and rules the darker half of the year. Together they represent balance and the constant battle between light and dark. This is also the time of year that the goddess transitions from maiden to mother, which can be seen in the growing crops and the abundance of the earth.
It’s said that the faeries roam the earth on Midsummer (which you can see in the classic Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.)
Traditional Celebrations
There’s very little documented history about the celebration of Midsummer in early history, at least not from primary sources. Midsummer was a day to celebrate the sun and the light and warmth it brings. Bonfires were lit to ward off spirits and faeries. Straw wheels were lit on fire and rolled down the hill for good luck with the harvest. Coins were thrown in the holy wells and trees near water were decorated with ribbons. There was feasting and dancing to celebrate the sun before it slowly faded.
Summer Solstice Today
Celebrate by enjoying the sun and making seasonal food and drinks like sun tea, honey and lavender cakes, lemon and citrus, chamomile, basil, mint, watermelon, stone fruit, strawberries, cucumber and fresh cheese. Leave a little offering from your feast out for the faeries, they can be pretty mischievous if you forget them. Decorate with seasonal flowers and colors and items from summer. Sunflowers, wildflowers, lavender, sea shells, river rocks, greenery cut from your yard and lots of candles. If it’s not too hot light a big fire, if you don’t have a place for that light candles. Toss coins in a local fountain, skip stones on a lake, make faerie houses with mushrooms and moss and bark, make natural bird feeders with orange peel cups, peanut butter and birdseed.
I started the morning with some chamomile tea and honey, stirring clockwise to bring all the warm feelings and protection to me. I used my new electric kettle which I love. There’s something so old about it. I picked the flat black and copper one because it looked like cast iron and reminded me of something that would hang over a fire. It seriously brings me joy each time I use it. If I can just talk about that for a minute.
Sorry – side tangent. Don’t just buy anything just to fill the need. Take a minute to find something that brings you joy. So every time you boil water, or measure an ingredient, or plant a flower the tool you are using is something that contributes to the joy of the task.
While I sipped my tea I set my intentions and lit some incense and a candle and marked the four elements with selenite, salt and dried rose petals from the rose bush my daughter-in-law got me for mother’s day (earth/north), candle (fire/south), incense (air/east), a bottle of water charged in the full moon (water/west). I added the clear quartz in the middle to amplify any energy I raised and it’s sitting in a little votive my daughter-in-law made (Foxfire Farm Pottery). For whatever reason focusing on the elements clears my head and grounds me. It makes me feel connected to the earth and to my ancestors.
Then I put on a simmer pot of lime from my tree (purification), rose petals (love, psychic awareness, protection) and lavender (healing) from my yard, and some of the chamomile (love and purification).
Cocktails to Start Things Off
Ok I’m super excited about this new book. I was listening to the podcast “Seeking Witchcraft” the February 22, 2023 episode and the host Ashley was speaking with author Julia Halina Hadas whose next book Moon, Magic, Mixology was just coming out, but she was also talking about her previous book Witchcraft Mixology. It sounded amazing so I downloaded both the ebooks. (Another side tangent – I love ebooks. You can search for words, click for definitions, highlight and bookmark and your entire library goes with you every time. I use the Barnes & Noble nook app on my iPad). This book is organized by seasons and has correspondences for everything. Fruits, herbs, astrology, tarot, crystals everything and it all connects back to the drinks. I mean aren’t cocktails just potions!? So with that, I found one in the summer section that spoke to me.
Purifying Vodka Collins
Energies – purification, longevity, peace
1 fresh sage leaf – I forgot the sage
1 ounce lavender chamomile syrup – I used lavender from my yard, to make it put 1 tablespoon dried lavender and 1 tablespoon dried chamomile in a mug or something that can withstand boiling water. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water over the flowers (yes I used my awesome tea kettle again) let it steep for 5 min. Then add 1/2 cup brown or cane sugar. Stir until the sugar is melted and store in the fridge for several hours. Then strain the solids out and store the syrup in a pretty bottle or little pitcher.
1 ounce lemon juice
1 1/2 ounces vodka – I used my favorite Effen Cucumber vodka but the recipe calls for plain vodka
2 ounces club soda
Stir everything together and serve in a pretty glass
Making the Meal
Using ingredients that are in season for where I live I made a light fresh summer dinner.
Bruschetta with homemade ricotta cheese, fresh peaches, prosciutto and green onion
Bread of choice – 1 loaf made 8 slices – freshly baked and sliced. I cheated and used a sour dough from Publix that just needed to finish baking in the oven for 10 minutes. I’m not a bread baker. Kneading and rising is not my thing.
Olive oil – drizzled on the bread and then again on the top just before serving
Ricotta cheese – made 2 cups – the easiest thing ever. Bring 1/2 gallon of whole milk to 200 on the stove top. Don’t let it boil. It should just start to get foamy on top. Add 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice. I use a bottled organic lemon juice. Remove the pan from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Then using a slotted spoon scoop out the curds into a mesh strainer or cheese cloth to drain more of the liquid out. You can use it immediately or refrigerate and let drain longer. Salt to taste. One really important note, you can’t use ultra pasteurized milk it won’t curdle. Most organic milks are ultra pasteurized so either get milk directly from a local farm or buy the basic store brand, just make sure it just says pasteurized not ultra pasteurized.
Fresh peaches – 2 peaches sliced thin
Prosciutto – 8 slices sliced into ribbons to make it easier to eat
Green onion – 2 stalks snipped with kitchen shears
Slice the bread, drizzle with olive oil, spread on the ricotta cheese, add the prosciutto ribbons and sliced peaches, top with green onion. Drizzle with more olive oil and fresh cracked pepper. Makes 8 bruschetta
This is what the milk will look like and the curds.
Fresh, raw summer corn with crumbled cheese, avocado, green onion, and grated red onion
Corn on the cob – 8 ears raw, kernels removed Queso fresco cheese – 1/2 wheel, crumbled Avocado – diced Green onion – 2 stalks snipped with kitchen shears Red onion – 1/2 a medium onion grated on a cheese grater Dressing – 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup creama, 1 lime zest and juice, honey, onion powder, garlic powder, sweet paprika to taste
Mix everything together and chill until ready to serve
Salad with chicken, peaches, watermelon, cucumber, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds
Romain lettuce – 2 hearts, chopped Rotisserie chicken – remove the meat, leave the skin and bones Peaches – 2 diced Watermelon – 2 cups, cubed Cucumber – 1/2 cucumber chopped -I like the English cucumbers their skins are thinner and less bitter and they have less water Feta cheese – 1/2 block crumbled Sunflower seeds – shelled, roasted and salted
Starting with the romaine on a platter, layer the chicken, peaches, watermelon, cucumber, feta and sunflower seeds. Dress with a light dressing (I used Panera’s Fiji Apple) or oil and vinegar.
Honey lemon poppy seed cake with fresh whipped cream and strawberries
Trader Joe’s meyer lemon cake mix – prepared according to the package but replace the water with fresh lemon juice and add poppy seeds. I added honey to the glaze and used lemon juice instead of milk.
Strawberries – I usually slice them and toss them with a little brown sugar if they aren’t sweet enough and a pinch of salt
Fresh whipped cream – 1 pint heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar to taste (maybe 1/2 – 1 cup), 1 tablespoon vanilla. Whipped until soft peaks form
Some of the photos I am posting are from other members of the travel group. I unfortunately didn’t not keep track of who took each photo. I apologize for not giving due credit.
It all began with a post from travel expert Eric Hansen who has a YouTube channel Backpacking TV and you can follow him on Instagram @EpicTrails365. He was approached by TrovaTrip to host a trip to Iceland and he invited his followers to join him. We signed up right away.
Great hosts, great group of people to travel with and our guide Bara was amazing. She adapted to our group and adjusted the itinerary to our level of activity perfectly. I highly recommend a tour guide. The sites are fairly far apart and it really helped to have someone who knew exactly where to take us. She even threw in some special extras.
The places we went to were definitely where the tourist go but it’s not like other places we’ve visited. Even at the most crowded waterfall it was still a very reasonable number of people. There were the occasional Instagram posters who were trampling areas they weren’t supposed to be in but mostly it was like minded people who absolutely were in awe of the landscape. The trip there was pretty easy. From NYC it was just 6 hours. The airport was small and easy to navigate.
Weather – I am not a person who likes the cold. A couple of days into a visit to any location with snow and I’m over it. We visited Iceland in September. The highs during the days were in the 50s. According to Bara we had unusually amazing weather. I think it drizzled the first day we were there and the rest of the days it was sunny and blue skies. We packed lots of layers and rain gear. One day I wore my long underwear but the rest of the time standard long pants, long sleeve shirt, sweater, heavy jacket, and hiking boots were fine. No gloves, scarves, or hats required. But again, we had unusual weather and everyone says to expect the weather to be all over the place so pack appropriately.
Because this was a package everything was included – where we stayed, where we ate for main meals and the sites we visited.
Reykjavík
We flew into Reykjavík and stayed just one night before we were off on our bus. We didn’t really have a chance to explore that first day. Several of the people in our group stayed a week longer. If you are doing a group thing and plan to stay a few extra days I recommend staying after the group part is over. That way you have a better lay of the land and can go back to the things you want to further explore. Our only stop in Reykjavík that first day was Skal a bar around the corner from our hotel. The food was amazing. Fresh and interesting.
Salt Baked Beets with walnuts and homemade mascarpone; Roasted sunchokes with smoked creme fraiche, hazelnuts, apple and brown butter; Smoked arctic char with sour cream, cucumber and herbs. The drinks were the special that day and I can’t remember what they were but they were delicious.
We stayed that first night and the last 2 nights at Hotel Klettur it was nice, clean and comfortable. Great location. One thing that took us a while to figure out, you had to put the room key in a slot near the door to turn the lights on. It was a very ingenious way to conserve energy and make sure people turned out the lights when they left the room. Most hotels had this. Most of the architecture in Reykjavik was newer and basic. Built for the weather. I’m sure there are historic sites, museums etc but we didn’t get to see them because we didn’t stay longer. I regret not staying. Just a couple of extra days would have been enough to really see the city.
Day One | Canyons, Geysers & Hot Springs
Our first site was Thingvellir National Park. Waterfalls, canyons, and historic sites. Game of Thrones filmed several scenes in the canyons. Click here for other filming locations in Iceland. As you can see, it wasn’t super crowded. There are other people there but it was really easy to snap photos without people in the shot. It was also easy to stray off from the group to see other parts of the park. No one was over by the church and the cemetery (my favorite part 🙂
Next stop was Geysir Hot Springs. This was one of the touristy places. Lots of people trudging along not really taking in the view. I would still recommend stopping here but it wasn’t may favorite. The springs were hot, really hot. In the first photo you can see bubbling, that’s boiling water. They had signs everywhere not to touch the water it was scolding hot. The geysers were just feet away and there was just a small rope around it. It was pretty exciting when they went off.
The next stop was massive Gullfoss Waterfall. It’s really hard to tell just how massive this was. If you look closely you can see the people walking along the path in the first photo. We needed raingear to protect us from the spray. In the third photo you can see how the path leads to the top of the waterfall. The view was beautiful.
At the geyser park there was a nice gift shop, restrooms and a restaurant with good food. Most of the food, even at the tourist spots were good. Nothing crazy, just freshly made burgers, soup, sandwiches etc.
Following the geyser we stopped at a hot springs, Secret Lagoon Hot Springs it was not a fancy one but I don’t think it would have mattered. It just wasn’t my thing. I’m not a hot tub person, really not even a water person. You change in a locker room and they want you to shower in a group shower before you put on your swimsuit. Which I can tell you did not happen. I felt awkward enough changing in front of the group I was with. After strategically working with my towel I managed to get changed, showered with my suit on. Then jumped in. Yep it was warm water. You just stand around with everyone in a warm pool of water. The springs are off to the side and they build a natural wall of stones to divide it and create a little stream as it runs down the stream it cools off enough for the pool. So if you aren’t sure if it’s worth doing or not. There are no surprises, it’s exactly as pictured where ever you go. A warm pool of water. The changing facilities might be a little more private but in the end you are just standing around in a warm pool.
Our first night on the road we stayed at a farm just outside of Hvolsvöllur – Hotel Fljotshlid It was beautifully natural. We saw a glimpse of the northern lights. It was simple, dorm style accommodations and a nice meal. The view was spectacular though.
Day Two | More Waterfalls, Sneaker Waves & Pizza
On our way to Skogafoss Waterfall we stopped at a farm that was at the foot of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The visitor board explained how the farm continued even after the volcano erupted. Which was something that we saw a lot along the way. Traveling on the road around the perimeter of the island you have mountains and volcanos in the center with glaciers in-between them filling up the valleys. You can see how the landscape has changed depending on if the glacier has receded or if there was lava from an eruption.
Next stop was Skogafoss Waterfall there’s a fairly steep climb to the top, stairs most of the way but only a rail or rope in certain places. Once you are at the top it’s pretty flat. You can continue to hike along the path and eventually end up on the other side of the mountain. Camping is allowed most places but they are having to make changes to those rules because farm and home owners had tourists camping on their property without asking and then asking to use their bathrooms or kitchens. So if you do want to camp, be sure to look into the rules before you go.
Next stop was Reynisfjara Beach, as we drove there, our guide cautioned us several times to be sure to stay away from the water’s edge. The waves are very erratic. They have warnings for sneaker waves. If you search for Reynisfjara Beach sneaker waves you’ll see videos. The beach has beautiful black sand, the most interesting cave with natural columns and several rocky islands just off the coast. There was also a little restaurant, Black Beach Restaurant. Again, everything was fresh and well made and the restrooms were nice. Even at the tourist spots or parks the facilities were really nice.
On our way to Fjadrargliufur Canyon we stopped at a little village called Vik and had pizza at Black Crust Pizza. They make their dough with volcanic ash and serve some of the pizzas with red pepper jelly. I will never eat pizza without jelly again. Imagine a cracker, with cheese, prosciutto and jam. That’s what it was like. Delicious. After beer and pizza, our guide asked us to walk down to the water and collect a stone for our next stop.
Along our road to our last stop for the day, Fjadrargljufur Canyon, where the road Hrifunesvegur meets Sudurlandsvegur there’s a little rest stop. People started building cairns there. We each added our stones to build our own little cairn and leave our mark in Iceland. I absolutely loved this.
Last stop for the day was Fjadrargljufur Canyon, easy hike to the top then flat from there. If you prefer not to hike up you can drive a little further down the street from the main entrance to a second parking lot. Then walk over to the look out area. There is a path further along the canyon from there but we stopped at the overlook. The path is far from the edge and has a little rope to keep you off the flowers. The look out area has a metal railing so you can get closer to the edge if you want to. See the sheep in the last photo. Sheep just run wild wherever they want to go. At the end of the season all the farmers go and collect their sheep and bring them in for the winter. It’s a big deal there. We found sheep in the craziest places.
Bara had a surprise for us and we made an unscheduled stop. At a little town called Kirkjubæjarstofa there was a folktale about 2 nuns from 1186 you can visit the website to read more about the area. We parked in the parking lot of Kjarr Restaurant next to the Klausturhof Guesthouse. There’s a path just across the street from the parking lot with a picnic table. It’s pretty hard to see. Beautiful little creek with amazing old trees and rocks around the water’s edge. There’s a little stone step path that you climb through the woods to get to the top. You could see for miles. The hike down was just as steep but if I can do it almost anyone can. A suggestion of walking sticks for next time was well noted.
Wow what a day! We hit the ground running on this trip and never stopped. We made it to our next hotel, the nicest of them all and the best food. Foss Hotel Glacier Lagoon. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. We had a delicious meal for dinner then they have a breakfast buffet. Most of the hotel’s had the breakfast buffet but this one was definitely elevated. More warm dishes and offerings. We stayed here 2 nights.
Day Three | Boat Rides, Diamonds & Ice Caves
Next day we were off to a boat ride in Glacier Lagoon and visiting Diamond Beach. The boat ride takes you around a lagoon next to a glacier that is slowly receding. As parts of the glacier break off the icebergs float into the lagoon they slowly float down the river to the ocean. As they reach the ocean they get washed up on shore of the black sand beach. The guides on the boat ride were outstanding. So happy to be there and happy to show us around. There was a little stand with necessities and quick food. I kept hearing about the Icelandic hot dog with crispy onions so I gave it a try. The hot dog is served with raw white onions and crispy fried onions, ketchup, sweet brown mustard called pylsusinnep, and remoulade, a sauce made with mayo, capers, mustard, and herbs. It was a good hot dog. I’m not sure I’d wait in line for an hour for one (in Reykjavik there’s a famous food truck with them an people do in fact wait that long) but it was good while we waited for the next leg of our trip. There were also bathrooms and several food trucks there. The boat tour company was Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon Boat Tours.
After the boat ride and a snack we drove across the street to the Diamond Beach. Where the icebergs wash up on the black sand beach. I couldn’t take enough photos. (the first photo is from someone else on the trip. Not sure who.)
Next we drove about 30 min to go off road over what looked like Mars terrain to a glacier. We boarded a truck with giant wheels (if you have back problems you wouldn’t be able to ride in this vehicle. It just hauled ass over every rock there and you bounced all over the place). The “road” was over the ground that was left after the glacier receded. There’s no vegetation yet just dirt and rocks of all sizes. Once you arrive we hiked another 15-20 minutes to the edge of the glacier. Donned spikes for our shoes and hiked up the glacier. There were some interesting holes to look down but aside from being able to say I hiked on a glacier it was just a giant slope of dirty ice. Now the cave underneath, that’s a completely different story. The opening was very large you just walked in. The ceiling is ice so it looks like you are under a river. There’s a river flowing through it. As you walk further back into the cave it gets smaller for a short time and we had to duck down as we walked. That was just for a minute then it opens back up, turns a corner and ends. But it was so beautiful. If you look closely in the cave photos most have people in them. That will give you the scale and help you see what’s up and what’s down.
Another amazing day, finished with probably the best meal we had on the trip. Dinner at Foss Hotel.
Day Four | Hiking, Hot Springs & the Backside of Waterfalls
On the road again, to Vatnajökull National Park this was a big hike up over the mountain. At the end we had the best fish and chips from a food truck at the visitors center/camp area.
Once again our guide surprised us with a little side trip to Kvernufoss waterfall. We were virtually the only group there visiting these falls. Moss covered boulders along a winding river in a canyon that takes you to a hidden waterfall. That you can walk behind. It was dreamy.
Our last stop for the day was Seljalandsfoss waterfall. This one had the most tourists. Tourist, the annoying kind that are rude and throw cigarette butts on the ground. It was ok. Kvernufoss gave us the behind the waterfall experience without the nasty people and the walk to the waterfall was much nicer. Seljalandsfoss you need rain gear. You walk up to the waterfall around behind it and back out. There’s a fairly steady stream of people walking through and you will get wet from the spray and the mist. The location had restrooms and gift shops. There was a food trailer with quick snacks and coffee. Mostly packaged items.
On our way back to Reykjavik we stopped at Reykjadalur Hot Springs. This was an easy 2 mile hike from the parking lot to a hot spring. They did have places you could change but they weren’t private. It was a platform with a divider but you were divided from each other not everyone else. Again, not a water person so I just opted to put my feet in. In the parking lot was a really cute visitors center. Nice bathrooms (they were pretty nice everywhere we went) and a restaurant that made waffles that were delicious.
Back to Reykjavik
Back in Reykjavik we decided to hit some of the restaurants I had seen online before our trip. The first 3 photos are from Sandholt Bakery. We stopped here the first day we arrived and grabbed a coffee. I wanted to go back to have lunch but we got there just after they stopped serving meals. Their bakery and desserts were yummy anyway. The next 2 photos are Braud & Co a bakery, also end of the day so they only had a few things left but also yum. Next 3 photos are from Cafe Loki. I knew it would be touristy, it’s right across from the Leif Erikkson Monument downtown. They serve traditional Icelandic food. From the YouTube channels it looked pretty basic. The item that got my attention was the ryebread ice cream. I have no way to describe this. It doesn’t taste like rye bread or like ice cream. It’s not overly sweet, its also not creamy. It’s not the most delicious thing I’ve eaten but it wasn’t bad either. Definitely worth trying though. We didn’t have to get a table, I just ordered at the counter. The last photo is from Joe & The Juice which was in the airport. They made smoothies, pressed sandwiches and coffee. If I’m ever there again, I will definitely pick up a sandwich when I land and again when I leave. As with most of the restaurants in Iceland, fresh made farm to table food.
To Wrap it Up
So glad we made this trip. As I said, I highly recommend a tour guide. She understood what we wanted and customized the trip to fit our preferences. There were lots of campers and camp sites as well. If you want to travel without a guide try visiting some of the YouTube channels for Iceland. I really liked Iceland with a View she has an entire channel devoted to Iceland. Her point of view is unique as well because she’s an American living in Iceland. I also liked the post from The Ryan’s Travel – What do Icelander’s Eat.
Packing – whatever they tell you to pack, pack. Normally the weather is all over the place. We were there in early September. We had t-shirt days and days with long johns. We were lucky and had warm sunny days but that isn’t usual. So come prepared. Most of the YouTube channels have packing tips.
We didn’t really need cash. We used our credit card just about everywhere. I grabbed $100 in Icelandic Krona at the airport when we arrived and ended up only using it as a tip for our guide at the end. I know usually they say don’t exchange money at the airport they charge a higher fee. But with a group I didn’t want to have to make the group stop so I could exchange the money and I didn’t want to have to search for a place to exchange the money in town. It was worth the extra fee to get it over with.
The airport is nice, easy to get around and had great restaurants and friendly staff. The gift shop actually had the nicest t-shirts I saw on the whole trip. Gifts were a little hard to get. It was either tourist junk made elsewhere or hand made items that were hundreds of dollars. And living in the south a $300 wool sweater doesn’t really make sense.
As active as this trip was is was so relaxing. This was the first group/tour guide trip I’ve been on. It was a great way to travel. I’m not sure it would work everywhere. It worked in Iceland because even the touristy places are beautiful. It’s not like normal vacation places. It would be hard to miss the “good spots”. It also helped we had such a great group to travel with.
I love using stuff I already have to set up a party. I really hate to have to buy plastic or paper decorations. I think of it as if I were just decorating my house with that theme instead of party decorations. You wouldn’t put a plastic table cloth on your table normally so why do it for a party? If you stick with mostly white serving pieces and table clothes you can mix in smaller things to give it the look you want.
I wanted tropical but not luau. So first, Pinterest. Then I looked around my house to find stuff that felt like those images. We used plants and flowers in Hazel’s great grandparent’s yard and we filled in with stuff from Amazon. I tried to buy biodegradable plates (made from palm leaves), cutlery (made from wood), cups (from corn) and paper straws. All on Amazon.
Outside we used my neighbor Rhonda’s idea and we spray painted the pineapple leaves, we gathered coconuts, halved small watermelons, and hibiscus from the yard on top of split leaf philodendron also from the yard to make center pieces for the outside tables.
Inside we strung garland from Meri Meri (Amazon or the Meri Meri website) and a pennant banner that we added the letters – Hazel to. We hung tissue fans over the table, (be sure to get the tissue ones, the heavier cardboard fans fell down) and floated balloons in the pool (you need to weigh them down maybe add a little water in the balloon before you blow it up they blew out of the pool, that’s why we don’t have a photo) and tucked extra flowers and leaves around the house. I have pillow covers from the Bali trip that we used to cover existing throw pillows in the house. Little stuff that just added to the theme. But use big statements. One big hibiscus is better than a lot of little things. Your house already has a lot in it so you want to make a statement and notice it. Try to clear some of the usual away and just add pieces that make sense for the party.
For the table I like to have lots of layers. If the table isn’t a folding table leave some of it showing, it’s a layer. Then add a runner and some cloth napkins that go with the theme. Then add something overhead or really tall items in the center and work around that. Have 3 tall pieces varying in size and add things under the platters like other platters or trays or plates to give them different heights as well. You can use almost anything as long as the platter is stable on it. I have some old canisters from So.Ny Market Trading Co. that work perfectly. They look good and add height.
Mix and match colors and patterns and textures just keep within your theme. The big basket lantern is from Target. It’s a lantern but we used it as a vase.
For the bar we picked signature drinks and bottled drinks that looked good with the theme as well. Watermelon juice (Tropicana), cucumber vodka, and club soda and Cucumber water. The bottled drinks were from World Market and Publix. We set out prepared cups with straws and limes on a tray so people could easily serve themselves. I only had one pedestal for the drink dispensers that looked right with this theme so I borrowed the homeowners casserole dish and turned it upside down. Perfect.
For the Food…
Curried Chicken Salad Shredded rotisserie chicken with diced apricots, celery and green onion, chopped cashews and a dressing of sour cream, curry paste, lime juice and honey. Salt and pepper always.
Ham Salad Store bought diced ham, drained crushed pineapple, diced red and green bell peppers with a dressing of sour cream, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, lime juice and honey. Salt and pepper.
Shrimp Salad Thawed frozen, deveined, shelled, cooked medium shrimp cut into 3 pieces and the tails removed, with diced cucumber patted dry, green onion and a dressing of sour cream, mashed avocado, onion and garlic powder, and lime juice.
All three served with Hawaiian rolls
Rice Salad Cook white rice according to the package but replace the water with equal parts coconut milk and pineapple juice. Stir in curry paste, onion and garlic powder into the liquid before you add the rice. Cook according to the package then fluff and stir in shredded coconut, drained crushed or pineapple tidbits, chopped green onions, and chopped cashews. Serve at room temperature so if you make it the day before and refrigerate it, take it out long enough before you serve it to come to room temperature.
Brie with Dried Apricots and Golden Raisins Slice the top off the brie then warm it in the oven for a few minutes to make it oozie. Put the dried fruit in a microwave safe bowl and cover with apple juice, heat for 30 seconds to a minute to rehydrate the fruit. Drain and top the brie with the fruit.
Fruit Bruschetta For the tropical feel we diced strawberry, kiwi, mango, and pineapple but you can use any fruit that you like. Toss it with a dressing of lime juice and honey and serve with toasted bread. Pinterest showed it already assembled but we had too big a crowd. There wouldn’t have been room on the platter for 50 of them and they would have gotten soggy.
Spicy Pineapple wrapped in Bacon Toss pineapple chunks in habanero hot sauce and brown sugar then wrap with 1/2 a slice of bacon and broil until crispy. Turn over and broil the other side. Serve warm or room temperature. We learned the hard way, don’t wrap the bacon the night before, the pineapple is too acidic and works like a tenderizer. The bacon was all mush by morning and they had to be rewrapped.
Sugar Donuts with Pineapple Toppers We’re not crazy, we bought the donuts. Toppers are from Amazon.
The wooden cutlery and palm plates are in the background of this photo. BTW. And the cutlery is in a well washed planter, like I said I look around my house for stuff.
Coconut Pound Cake with Mango Jam, Strawberries and Macadamia Nuts
I used Dottie Grantham’s pound cake recipe which I love and switched the milk for coconut milk then added shredded coconut. Topped each slice with mango jam from Scullery Kitchen Provisions, homemade whipped cream, diced strawberries and nuts.
This makes 1 bundt cake or 2 loafs. About 20 slices. For the party I halved each slice.
1 lb butter (4 sticks) at room temperature 3 cups sugar 6 large eggs (please get cage free eggs) 1 tablespoon vanilla 2/3 cup milk (which I exchanged for coconut milk) 4 cups flour pinch of salt 1 cup shredded coconut (for the coconut version only)
Cream the butter and sugar until it looks like icing. Add the vanilla, pinch of salt and one egg at a time. Alternate adding flour and milk. Scrape the side and toss in about a cup or so of shredded coconut if you are doing the coconut version.
Pour into a greased and floured (I just use Pam for baking) pan and bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours. According to Google a loaf pan should only take 1 hour and 10 minutes but mine took the 1 1/2 hours. Just keep checking it after 1 hour in 15 min. You want the middle to be firm and not liquidy feeling or giggly but you don’t want to over cook it either. The center should just slightly bounce back.
Lovely lovely party that was a team effort. Can’t wait for Will’s little sister to arrive.
This place is paradise. The people are so genuinely friendly and lovely. Smiling and helpful. Pretty much everyone speaks English. But they really appreciate when you take a second to learn some Balinese or Indonesian. Suksma | thank you and pagi | good morning were all I could remember. I suck at learning other languages.
So the flight there, yeah. Not fun. 2 1/2 hours to New Jersey, 2 hour layover, 15 hours to Hong Kong, 5 hour layover, 5 hours to Bali. With a 12 hour difference. Fortunately getting there if you just stay up until your normal bed time and then sleep you should be close to straight when you get up. Coming home for some stupid reason is not the same. It’s been 3 days and I’m still waking up at 4am.
Bali is part of the Indonesian Islands, the string of islands between the Vietnam peninsula and Australia. Most of the other islands are Muslim but Bali is over 80% Hindu. They are very open and welcoming to all kinds of travelers. They have small temples (not actual buildings but little places to make an offering) at almost every business and larger ones at homes. Then there are the big temples that are a group of buildings inside a wall. Everywhere you go there are little palm bowls full of flowers and incense burning. It smells lovely.
It’s really hot, Florida in August hot but I didn’t think it was as humid. You were hot and sticky the whole time but you just get used to it. At night you shower and sleep in the a/c. Their rainy season is I think November to April so we were there just at the end of the season. I think it was perfect. It rained just like Florida afternoons for a couple of days and all day one day. Otherwise it was fine. The rain would cool things off. I didn’t really notice a lot of bugs or mosquitos. We came with 10% deet repellent just to be safe but about halfway through I forgot to use it and didn’t have any problems. You can check the CDC’s website to see what shots or precautions you should take when traveling to a certain country. They kind of go overboard. We ended up just getting tetanus shots and taking antibiotics in case we got a back case of Bali Belly. Fortunately as long as you only drink bottled water, don’t swallow when brushing your teeth, only use ice if it’s a specific shape not just broken up, and don’t eat that the sketchy places along the street or from street vendors you should be fine. If it looks like it’s dirty don’t eat there. There are lots of clean beautiful places to eat.
Their money is crazy – 100,000 Rp equals about $8. So we were walking around with millions, hence the Ballin in Bali. Download the Currency + app or another simple app. But once you figure out what 100,000 is worth in dollars it’s pretty easy. Most things are some combo of 100,000 or 50,000. So 800,000 Rp is 8 x $8. Everything is ridiculously cheap. Our 4 star 5 course world class meal with wine at each course at Bridges in Ubud was $64 pp, yes $64 pp. Our full day at the Karsa Spa – 1 hour massage, 1 hour body treatment followed by an essential oil bath full of flowers, 1 hour foot massage, and a pedicure $72. Yes, $72. It’s crazy and the flight was the same as getting to Europe about $1,000. But once you are there you’ll spend a fraction of what you’d spend in Europe.
Don’t bring dollars or travelers checks (if they even still have those). Just use the local ATMs to get out what you need each day or whenever. They have them everywhere. Most banks have a daily limit to take out cash so check with your bank on that amount and let them know you’ll be in Bali. Ours had a limit of $400 for each card holder. Also, call your credit card company to let them know too. Most places wanted cash. The larger restaurants and hotels will take credit cards and larger purchases but clothes and other tourist type stuff you need cash. Same thing for paying a driver or taxis or tips. Most restaurants include a service fee of 10% so they aren’t expecting a tip. But come on. Leave 100,000 Rp. It’s $8. The average person in Bali makes $8 a day so you’ll make someone’s day.
So as far as packing and travel tips (then I’ll stop talking and post pictures). They pretty much have any toiletry you might need and as stated earlier it will be cheap. So don’t worry too much about pharmacy stuff or toiletries just pack what you normally would and get something you missed there. Or if it’s something hard to pack get it there. They have sunscreen and bug spray (you need both). Just bring any prescriptions obviously.
For the flight | pack a good pillow for the plane both our long flights were over night which really helps you be able to sleep. I used this one I got on Amazon and it worked great (I’m a side sleeper so trying to sleep sitting up is hard). I also recommend wearing sandals then taking socks. So you can slip off your shoes easily but won’t have stinky feet. They feed you constantly so you really don’t need snacks. I took a bunch of stuff and we didn’t eat any of it. Take a little travel tooth brush and toothpaste so when you wake up towards the end of the flight you can brush your teeth. It helps. Maybe deodorant and some nice wipes too.
We stayed at a beautiful smaller resort when we first got there. Again, lovely people who own it. They have nicely appointed bungalows with a/c and wifi. There’s an open air spa and a restaurant. Two beautiful pools that over look the Indian Ocean. You can walk down steps in the cliff to get to a very small very rocky beach. Really too rough to swim, my husband ended up cutting his leg. If you want a smaller cozy very relaxed kind of place I highly recommend it. You can find it on Airbnb | La Joya
Breakfast by the pool
Very laid back and relaxing. Secluded. the only down side is it’s not in a great area and there isn’t really anything near by. It’s between Jimbaran Beach and Ulu Watu south of the airport. If you are planning on just hanging out by the pool, getting massages, and eating at their restaurant for a couple of days I recommend it. They take great care of you and the view is ridiculous. But, if you want to go explore you might want to look on Airbnb for a place in Ulu Watu. Jimbaran has several high end hotels, Four Seasons and Intercontinental but they are also isolated. Ulu Watu is surfy. Kuta is party central and very surfy.
We spent a day at Seminyak for shopping. The shops are nicer here than by Jimbaran Beach and there are a lot more restaurants you’ll want to eat in. The shops are less roadside and more boutique. It’s still not Ubud but it’s getting there.
Most of the food in Bali is Asian mixed with a weird idea of western food. I am very grateful their menus are in English but their descriptions sometimes get confusing and the waiters don’t really understand when you need further description so you end up just going for it. The only time I ordered something I really didn’t like was at a very touristy place next to the rice terrace and it said mixed vegetables on a salad. It was hard boiled eggs, bean sprouts, and lettuce. Not tasty. I ate the side of white rice.
Ginger Moon was mostly Asian and very good. In Seminyak.
We also found a cool French Bistro place called in Seminyak.
Forgot to take pictures of the food but it was delicious. Very fresh and lots of salad. The tuna sandwich says tuna loin so we expected sliced tuna, it was tuna salad. But it was good tuna salad. Most places have fresh bread they bake. And every place has freshly made fruit juices. So good. You can combine the different fruits too. Banana, just banana takes like a smoothie. There were surfers down on the beach, live music later in the day and the shops were all surf shops. Just thought I’d share the random guy who was walking around with a monkey on his back.
After lunch we headed over to the Ulu Watu Temple. It was ok. the walled walk along the cliff was beautiful but the actual temple wasn’t outstanding. Lots of tourists. In fact a group of girls walked up to me and asked me to take a photo. I said sure then realized they wanted to take a photo WITH me. Which was odd. Apparently, the surrounding countries learn English in school and like taking pictures with English speaking tourists because it shows they were able to talk to us in English. Okey Dokey.
Ulu Watu Temple
There are lots of tourist traps. This silver shop was flashy and the prices were crazy. If you are paying American prices for anything you are paying way too much. Just be careful of that. Most of the places we stopped at were 1/5 of the cost of America.
There are also all these beach BBQ places. Most of them were just gross. They have obviously old seafood and the room you walk through to get to the beach, the place where you pick the seafood and they grill it, it smells like garbage. Then they seat you at folding tables and chairs with satin table cloths and chair covers on the beach to eat and watch the sunset. I’m assuming there are nice ones but all I saw were the tacky gross ones. I don’t recommend it. I ordered only the vegetables and was still worried I was going to get sick.
After exploring the area around La Joya and the airport we headed inward and north to Ubud. This was my favorite area. All the cool old stuff is here. By many accounts it’s the cultural center of Bali. You can get to volcanos, temples, rice terraces, coffee plantations, shopping and pretty much anything else they offer from Ubud. If I ever go again I would just go straight to Ubud when I get there and just spend a couple of days at the end of the trip at Jimbaran Beach to unwind.
We stayed at the Private Ubud Villas in the Penestanan area of Ubud. It’s about a 10 min walk down the hill to downtown Ubud. But there are plenty of taxis at the top too. This little area was perfect. There are a lot of Australian yoga types here. So lots of coffee shops and vegetarian restaurants. It very quickly felt like we lived there. It was easy to get around and not too far from downtown.
The villas like most of the homes are a walled in courtyard, most with a pool and beautiful garden. The kitchen and living space is open air the bedrooms and bathrooms have a/c. There’s wifi and we had a house keeper Wayan that came everyday to bring clean towels, make the bed, tidy up, take out the trash and make us breakfast. There are also really nice resorts right in Ubud one of them we happened to have lunch at Alaya Resort it was in Ubud near the Monkey Forest on Jalan Hanoman
Penestanan
Here are some pictures of the Penestanan area, gardens and rice terraces we past every day.
And our favorite little breakfast place that was across the street from our villa
They had delicious coffee, fresh fruit juices, yogurt bowls, avocado toast, eggs with asparagus and pancakes with caramelized banana and strawberries. My husband says the best oatmeal he’s ever eaten. We even brought home a wooden bowl just so he could eat oatmeal in it.
We tried black rice pudding for breakfast at another local place down the street. Tasted very similar to oatmeal.
The BEST restaurant in Ubud was Bridges. We ate there twice, I could have eaten there every night. World class atmosphere, service and food. Just outstanding. It’s this beautiful restaurant built under a bridge on the side of the cliff leading down to a river. As with everything it’s open air so each level it open to the view of the gardens and river.
Gorganzola Apple Brulee with Rucola Salad pickled fennel, orange and candied pecans
Wild Mushrooms and Polenta with caper and tomato relish, fresh pea puree and vegetable terrain
My travel friend’s favorite part of the meal, the palette cleanser
Strawberries with a lime sorbet
Another beautiful spot to eat is right downtown Ubud and has a garden courtyard in the back and a bar facing the street in the front to people watch. The food was great, fresh, and unique and the service was great.
Oops Restaurant and Bar
No website but it’s right across from the market in the center of town. Just a few blocks from Starbuck. Yes, Starbucks.
Our spa day was at Karsa Spa set in the middle of a rice terrace ponds, flowers and fountains everywhere.
The massage rooms were open air with a garden around you the ceiling fans made it perfectly comfortable. After the body treatment you slide into an essential oil infused tub full of flowers.
The view from our pergola while getting pedicures
Rice Terraces
The rice terrace was really beautiful to hike through. The area around the terrace was very touristy, I wouldn’t recommend any of the restaurants but look through the shops. There were a couple that had stuff I hadn’t seen yet. It’s free to hike the terrace but in a couple of places you’ll come across someone basically being a gate keeper and asking for money to pass. 50,000 for our group was fine. Most places were free to get in but then you paid a priest or someone to show you around or someone who was selling palm hats in the field. $4 for a group of 8, not bad.
Coffee and Tea
After the rice terrace we visited the coffee plantation. This was set up a little more for tourists. People greeted us, took us on a tour, there were people demonstrating how they roast the coffee and you got a free tasting of several teas and coffees like chai, ginger, and cocoa. A cup of the coffee where the luwak eats the berries, poops them out then they roast the pooped out beans was 50,000 ($4). It was actually deliciously smooth no wonder people pay $30 a cup for it here in the US.
While we enjoyed our tea and coffee sample we couldn’t help notice the extremely hard working ladies just below us. They would carry up empty bowls from below, another lady would fill them with dirty then they would carry them on their heads down below to the construction site. Up and down. No special safety gear. Just hard work all day in the heat.
Hike to the top of Mount Batur
Our driver told my husband about a hike up one of the volcanos, Mount Batur. They left at 2am to get to the mountain by 4am so he could be at the top by sunrise. His guide Madi was yet another tough ass Bali lady. She kept asking him if he needed a rest and would say hati-hati which meant careful careful.
Traditional Villages and Temples
We visited a traditional village out in the country side. Where there are bamboo forests and rice terraces and little beautiful villages. The villages are walled in and each “home” is a walled in space with several small buildings inside. some are open air some aren’t. Most have a temple in the front then the old historic building for tourists like us to see then more modern buildings where they live. Open air kitchens, stable for a pig, gardens. The family that lived there welcomed us in and explained how they used to live. Did I mention how friendly and sweet these people are?
Nearby was the oldest temple in Bali. I forgot to write down the name of it. Just like the smaller spaces, there is a wall with a grand door in this case at the top of a lot of steps. In side are many smaller open are buildings. Some are for preparing things for worship some are for actual worship.
We then visited the Tirta Empul Water Temple. As with all the temples, to enter you need a sarong. Then if you want to go in the water you pay for a water sarong, go into a coed changing room. Yeah, that was awkward. And change into the water sarong. We all had bathing suits on under. I wrapped mine around my neck the guys just around their waste. Some people were in there in their clothes with the sarong just around their clothes. So whatever works for you.
The priest gave us an offering, had us clear our minds and meditate for a minute then explained we choose a place for our offering at one of the fountains then started at the left and worked right taking 3 sips of spring water and then dunking your head 3 times to cleanse you inside and out. The water was cool but not cold, there were Koi in the pond with us and the stones aren’t comfortable to walk on. But it was a really cool experience. I definitely recommend it! We tipped our priest 150,000 Rp ($12) for helping us.
Aside from the spring and the pond you get in there were Koi ponds and the usual buildings all the temples have.
Near Ubud was another spectacular restaurant Sayan it overlooks a valley, river, and rice terrace and across the valley you could see one of the Four Seasons on Bali. It had a pond on it’s roof
Once again delicious. Best chocolate cake ever and it was flourless.
Some cool stuff I noticed with the food, they put salsa and dips in little banana or palm leaves they fold into little bowls. Everything is natural no plastic stuff, wooden bowls, plates lined with banana leaves, so pretty. There was always fresh fruit and herbs. They slice their limes different. Just the ends, not sure what they do with the middle of the limes. They make a dipping sauce from sambal a tomato based sometimes spices sometimes sweet condiment and mayo. I think if you took ketchup and sweet chili sauce you might get something similar.
Ubud Monkey Forest
Our last adventure was in the Ubud Monkey Forest. Ok, not a fan of this one. The monkeys are really aggressive and know you have bananas so they come running over and climb all over you looking for the bananas. You can’t shove them off or they might bite you and they are all over the place. Yeah, not a fan. But if you don’t mind the crazy monkeys all over you for sure go.
As we walked home from downtown Ubud we came across the beautiful Lotus Pond Palace. It’s tucked behind the Starbucks and the Lotus Café. It’s easy to miss because of the pergola in the front. There’s a pergola behind the Starbucks that you can sit and enjoy the pond or eat at the café but the menu looked mediocre.
Nyepi and Ogoh Ogoh
While we were there is was Nyepi. That’s the Hindu new year. The day before is a little like Mardi Gras. They party and build these cool floats called Ogoh Ogoh. Each nearby village or neighborhood (didn’t quite get a clear answer on that) makes one then the day before Nyepi they carry them to the main temple in Ubud. There’s a whole performance that goes with the presentation of the Ogoh Ogoh. There are smaller ones that children make and carry and larger ones the adults make. On the day before Nyepi they also have temple services and after we saw people carrying these beautiful trays with fruit and desserts, not clear what they were for.
These guys just added to the atmosphere
Then on Nyepi it’s their day of silence. You can’t leave your home or hotel, no lights on, no entertaining, no eating. For tourists they just asked us to stay inside, keep the curtains drawn so you couldn’t see our lights and keep the cooking to a minimum. And obviously be quiet. It just made for a relaxing day to read. I know the hotels abide as well but I’m not sure if you have to stay in your room or just on the hotel grounds if you plan on coming to Bali during Nyepi you might want to check that out. A couple of tips. Don’t wait until the day before to get cash from the ATMs they were all out and the day after Nyepi it was afternoon before we found one we could use. The grocery stores were slammed to. Think day before a hurricane when everyone thought it wasn’t going to actually hit but a the last minute realize it will. So get food, supplies, and cash out 2 days before Nyepi.
After Ubud we headed to the Intercontinental Bali Resort at Jimbaran Beach. Wow. Just wow. If I was going to Bali again I would go straight to Ubud to stay for most of the time then stay at the Intercontinental for 3 days at the end. They have everything there and lots of activities, yoga classes, cooking classes etc. A beautiful spa. The buffet and show with traditional dancers was meh. The dancers and entertainment were great but the food was just ok. It was a lot of odd Asian food. I guess at the end of the trip I was just tired of that. But they have a great breakfast every morning and the other restaurants were great. There’s one by the pool and the Sunset Bar and Grille over looks the ocean. Fresh lovely salads and sandwiches. Served in awesome wooden bowls and with snacks like bread with a mango jam and some kind of cheese spread, Bali peanuts and little coconut cookies with the coffee. They also had a white wine, apple cider, elderflower drink that tasted like apple sangria.
So here’s the lobby
And the endless pools and gardens, yes you can swim in those pools
Pool side dining
and the Sunset Bar and Grille and Apple sangria
The spa
And of course our room
Leis when we checked in with a refreshing local drink and chilled wash cloths. Beautiful rooms with turn down each night and they didn’t get there at 7am to clean it. Every toiletry you could need. 4 different restaurants, the beach, I don’t even know how many pools, club level rooms and club lounge the size of a restaurant, endless activities and it was $137 a night. Yep.
What a great trip. Its a really long way to go but so worth it. I would go again in a heartbeat and would barely change a thing
So much to do in Italy and we tried to do all of it. Rome, Siena, Florence, Bologna, Verona, Como, Bellagio, and Venice!
So let’s start at the beginning. As always I made a list of things I had to see then figured out what cities they were in then organized the trip so we didn’t waste time driving back and forth. This time no trains. I was so stressed using the trains in France. Doesn’t mean I won’t ever use them again but I was really easy with the rental car.
We used Dark Rome for most of the tours. They started off doing creepy tours of tombs etc. in Rome and are now in many countries doing all kinds of tours. It was pretty much a one stop shop for everything we wanted to see. So much easier to get the tickets in advance and not worry about where you need to be and getting tickets. And lots of times you skip the regular lines like at the Uffizi in Florence or San Marco in Venice. The tours are amazing and you learn so much more than if you just walk through. The guides love what they do so they really get into it. Expect to tip them $5-10 per person.
Restaurants were tricky finding places. There’s a lot of stuff on tourist type places like Trip Advisor but I never trust those sites. The are, well, touristy. High priced low quality food and service and usually really tacky atmosphere. So I looked at things like Mario Batali’s favorite places or Eater.com is really great.
Arrived in Rome at 8am their time 2am our time but we just dropped our bags at the Airbnb and moved on. We were definitely dragging but it really helps get you on track with the new time zone if you just immediately adapt. Our Airbnb was perfect. Look for location, something near the sites you’ll be seeing and something that’s updated inside up still has the charm of the country.
It was in walking distance of almost everything, quiet neighborhood beautiful inside and the host was outstanding.
Our host suggested several restaurants, every one of the ones we tried were great. Rome had tons of tacky places on the main streets that looked nice but if there’s photos of the food don’t eat there.
After the tour of the home and garden the guide walked us through the public garden that ended at a terrace that over looked Rome we walked back towards our apartment past the Spanish Steps. Which is beautiful but just an area with upscale shopping.
If you are anywhere with crowds be very aware of pick pockets. Don’t put money or passports or anything important in a backpack. Just jackets and water and stuff like that. I carried a small cross body purse that I held in front of me in areas like that. The problem is it’s not a scary area. Its friendly and beautiful and full of other tourists. But that’s where the pick pockets are. We didn’t have any problems but we were careful too.
Slept in to catch up on our sleep then off to the Catacombs Tour. You can’t take pictures in some of these places so I’ve added photos from online.
Also, bare shoulder and thighs are frowned on in any place of worship so either cover those areas or bring a scarf to wrap around you or over your shoulders. If it’s cool weather that’s not a problem but we were there in August and even though everyone said it would be terribly hot we were pretty comfortable as long as we stayed out of the sun. But we are from Florida. I brought a maxi skirt and kept it in my bag and just slipped it on over my shorts when needed. But don’t worry, if you forget they are happy to sell you a paper wrap for $1 to cover yourself. They are serious about it.
Monks ran out of places to bury their dead and were given a new location. The moved all the bodies to this new place but it still had limited space so the monks would be buried for a certain amount of time then exhumed and the bones would be cleaned and they decorate the rooms of the crypt with them. Very macabre and so very cool.
Then we toured a Roman tomb that was found in the fields outside of the old Roman wall.
There was a pagan temple that was then used to store grain then they built another pagan temple on top of that. Then a church on top of that. Then the San Clemente Church on top of the church from 1100. One day the priest at San Clemente noticed a sound of water. As he investigated under the church he realized there was another whole church under his church. So they removed all the old rubble and it was pretty much intact. He continued investigating the water sound and then discovered the temple to Mithras who was worshiped around 1 CE. There are several springs that run under Rome they eventually found the source of the sound of water came from a spring that ran under the temple.
Beautiful little bistro by the Mausoleum of Augustus.
Later that day we went to a little pizza place 2 doors down from Gusto, meh. The only pizza I had in all of Italy that was even as good as pizza I’ve had in local upscale places was in the artisan hipster area of Rome called Trastevere and at a place in Venice. Otherwise it wasn’t any different then any other pizza place you’ve ever been to. One funny thing was every place had a hot dog topping. They said the English love it. Ok, weird.
On to the Vatican, standing in the Sistine Chapel and looking up at Michael Angelo’s work was breathtaking. You can’t take pictures and you can’t talk. So it’s pretty incredible. The tour is of the Vatican’s extensive pieces in their museum and then of the Sistine Chapel and of St Peter’s basilica. Many of the marble and statues in St Peters were just pilfered from temples elsewhere in Rome that were no longer important. But all of them in one place. Wow. and as usual there’s always that creeper part of the tour. Once in a while there’s a special pope who gets mummified and placed in a tomb for everyone to see. Yes. Ew.
The third picture shows part of the building as white. They are restoring the buildings to their original state, which was white. The ceiling in the hall of maps was incredible. These rooms were just stuffed with tapestries, ancient statues, murals it’s just incredible.
St Peter’s Basilica
Marble marble marble. The famous statue of Mary holding Jesus after he was taken from the cross is now shielded by glass because some idiot jumped up on the statue a few years ago and started hitting it with a hammer. We took the earliest tour we could get, less lines it was actually not very crowded. In fact the tour guide said how lucky we were apparently be prepared to barely move. We were there in August as I already mentioned. August for them is hot but it’s also the month everyone takes off for holiday. So there’s weren’t a lot of American tourist but there were Italian tourists. Which I imagine was better.
The Coliseum
There were many arenas built all over Rome and Italy in fact we saw one in Verona. They referred to this particular one as the Coliseum because originally it had a giant statue in front of it that they referred to as Colossus so to easily explain which arena you meant you’d say the coliseum meaning the arena with the colossus statue. The statue is long gone now. Before the arena was built for the masses Nero began building a ridiculous palace on the spot with a man made lake probably fed from one of those underground springs I mentioned. He died before completion and they destroyed the palace filled in the lake and built the coliseum for the people. Part of the coliseum is built on where the lake was filled in. When an earthquake hit Rome the side of the coliseum that was over the filled in lake crumbled. Below I have photos of the what it looked like originally with the statue and photos of the surrounding buildings that used to be there both how they originally looked and how they look now.
Constantine’s Arch
Which just like most of the monuments and churches he used statues and marble taken from older temples.
Athena’s Temple which is right next to the Coliseum
These buildings were right next to each other there are temples and arches and palaces all jumbled together. Everything was built very close together. Think of it as downtown in any large city with all the skyscrapers close together. The 2 on the left are what they originally looked like the one on the right is today.
Found on Trimble Warehouse.
Build by Andrea Pittalis.
Palatine Hill is were the word palace came from. The giant homes built on Palatine Hill were all emperor’s homes eventually they were referred to palaces because they were on Palatine Hill. It’s pretty amazing what Augustus’ palace looked like compared to just a few emperors later. On top of the hill were all the palaces then below was the forum or downtown. Looking at it now is confusing until you think of all these ancient building as skyscraper then it makes sense. Same thing I’ve added a photo of what it originally looked like.
Augustus’ Palace
They discovered this not too long ago. Its under the ruins on a hillside of Apollo’s temple.
Simple rooms with some of the earliest examples of perspective used in murals.
Just a few decades later Caligula’s and Nero’s palaces each take up an entire block
The Forum
Across the street from this was Hadrian’s Palace which was 10x bigger then the other palaces, all in ruins. When you’re walking around the forum you have a little better feel what each building it’s hard to understand what you’re looking at in pictures. The Tiber River would flood a couple of times a year. When it flooded it would deposit mud. The people of Rome would shovel the mud out their windows into the street where it would dry and harden. After many years of this the street would be higher than the front doors so they would either add a new story and make the first floor the basement or just implode the house into itself and build a new house on top. Because of this there are layers and layers to excavate in Rome. This very thing happened to the forum in a way that preserved it. A huge flood covered the area in mud after it had been largely abandoned. So it just sat there unused until it was excavated. I was really surprised how much of original Rome you could still see. I mean that’s 2,000 years ago. Pretty incredible.
The Pantheon we didn’t get a tour for. It’s a beautiful building and defiantly worth walking into but I’m not sure you need a tour guide. Next to it is the Trevi Fountain. We were really lucky they had just spent a ton of time and money cleaning it for a fashion show. It was sparking white.
There was a little ice cream place right next to where I’m standing here to take this photo. There’s a famous one on the corner that had a huge line but right next to the fountain was a smaller little place that was both beautiful and delicious with no line!
Ah Trastevere!
You’ll have to take a cab to get here but it was lovely. Lots and lots of little artisanal shops. Our friend bought some leather goods the best pizza was here and Pimm’s Goodthe cutest little bar and restaurant. A friend suggested this place and she nailed it. The owner (who is very good looking) joined us for drinks.
My favorite! Smaller than Rome with just as much to see. A little more personal. Easier to get around too.
We stayed at Via delle Bombarde this beautiful apartment on the top floor in the middle of Florence. They even had a garage around the corner to park the car.
On that note. Don’t try to drive in Rome. We rented a car on the edge of the city and hopped right onto the highway. The highways were pretty easy to navigate but the round-a-bouts are murder. Google maps isn’t very clear on which exit so sometimes it took a couple of tries to get the right one. We drove to Florence and park then walked everywhere. They have mostly one way roads and then sometimes you can’t drive on them at all. The one day we took the car out to drive to Siena, what an f..ing mess to get it back into the garage. So if you are going to see cities in the area wait until you’re on your way to the next city you’re staying in and stop on the way. Leave your car in the garage. Trust me.
This was my favorite apartment.
All over Florence this artist named Blub painted little paintings. Snapped as many as I could.
We also booked lots of tours in Florence but we wandered the streets more here. It’s much smaller than Rome. We came across this amazing restaurant and gift shop by accident and ate there many times. Because the food was about the same in Florence as it was in Rome, hard to find a good place that wasn’t touristy.
The first palace of the Medici’s was in the center of town then they moved to the Vecchio which was the government building in Florence, but it was the biggest building so they took it as their palace. That was too dark and drab so they built the Pitti Palace on the other side of the river and so they wouldn’t have to walk past all the butchers (and their knives) on the Ponti Vecchio they built a secret walkway over the buildings on the Ponte Vecchio that led from the Pitti Palace to the Uffizi building. Uffizi means office it was originally built as government offices.
We hiked up I don’t know how many steps to this breath taking view of the city from Michelangelo Piazza. It’s a park where everyone goes at Sunset. Just before sunset he hiked up just a little further to the church at the top. The cemetery is really cool with lots of large crypts. Unfortunately, the cemetery was closed for repairs.
I didn’t write down what church this was. The would bury their saints and priests and crusaders and other important people in the floor. Interesting enough, in St Augustine after hurricane Matthew, one of the wine shops was damaged and before renovating the owner offered the space to the government to excavate before he covered up the floor of the shop again. They found the remains of a couple and several children. They believe these remains are from the mid 1500s and would have been under the floor of one of the first churches built there. This church had really elaborate marble reliefs.
Wow He’s really huge. The statues leading up to David are all in various states of being sculpted. Michelangelo was hired to sculpt 50 statues for a pope. When he died and another pope was selected they told Michelangelo they wouldn’t be paying him for the 50 statues. So he stopped working on them. Michelangelo always said he was freeing the statue from the marble. That it was already in there and he just had to find it. So when these weren’t finished they were referred to has the Prisoners. If you look closely at the full frontal photo of David below you can see in the bottom right corner a man’s head, that will give you the idea of scale. He’s huge.
We saw both of these on a tour. There’s typically 12-20 people and they give you headsets so you can easily hear the guide even if you have wandered away from the group.
Afternoon drinks on a rooftop bar over looking the river. Aperol spritzes and every bar had delicious snacks, sometimes even whole meals at happy hour.
Most of our meals were delicious but in more casual settings. We splurged and ate on a balcony over the river at the Hotel Lungarno
Roaming around we found this little corner bar. Spritzes and yummy cake.
Once again we ate at a place owned by the Hotel Lungarno group. We weren’t doing it on purpose their places just looked cool. This was the restaurant of the hotel directly across the river from the Hotel Lungarno. We needed a quick lunch in-between tours. Right place right time.
Day trip to Siena and we stopped at Bologna on our way to Verona which was just one night on our way to Como.
Siena was ok. I would stop on your way from Rome to Florence or visa versa but I wouldn’t go just as a separate trip. It was a mini version of Florence with not that much to see and a lot of tourists. Bologna was meh. We parked, walked a long way to find the one decent restaurant and left. The covered marble walkways were really amazing and the place we ate was great. It has a lot of shopping so I think that’s what people do there. Just wasn’t our thing.
Siena
A church that they started to add onto then the plague hit and they just never finished it. The town gates, the view from the park we had a picnic in, a rustic church, various streets.
Bologna
Verona was most definitely the shopping city. The outside streets were marble. Great mix of stores. Got my first pair of Birkenstocks there. I brought regular sandals. Big mistake. You need plenty of cushion in your shoe to absorb all the uneven cobblestones. My feet were killing me. Slipped on a pair of Birkenstocks walked out of the store with them and never took them off the rest of the trip. Huge huge difference. Not one blister either.
We stayed in a hotel here since it was just one night. Very reasonable. Steps away from everything, easy to park, snacks in afternoon and evening. Nicely appointed room with great service.
The front desk recommended the restaurant where he had dinner and they nailed it. The last photo is in the bathroom. They put glass in the floor so you could see the original floor with the natural spring running by. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name and can’t find it on the map. Ugh.
The arena there is still used today for concerts. Adelle had just played there and they had an opera there the night we stayed. There’s too had some damage. They used cranes to get the huge stages in an out. The last 2 photos are of other buildings in town.
Then off to Como. Most of the city is well just a regular city. We drove past some pretty unimpressive areas. But the area near the lake, you forgot all about the rest of the city. The area we stayed was in the middle of the lake area. Also an Airbnb on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi
The communication with the host wasn’t as good hear but the apartment was nice. The apartment said it had A/C in the living area but didn’t explain the bedrooms were on a different floor. Which was fine because even in August with the window open and the fan on us we were completely comfortable. The hot water did not work though. They had special instructions but also said they had been having a problem. So by the time they finally came to address it it was our last day. Also, the person who was meeting us to let us in was very late. But aside from that, the apartment was in a perfect location and was beautiful.
This is definitely a tourist area, lots of shopping but great shopping not trinkets and not super expensive stuff just beautiful shops. They have these huge buildings that take up the whole block then if you’re lucky they leave the “garage doors” open and you can see in and see that the middle of the buildings are open like a courtyard. Some have been converted to parking, some are still gardens. But you get a glimpse of where their “yards” were.
If you take your time you can find really great restaurants. The ones along the water were 99% crap. But we found the 1% and had the most amazing cocktails.
Lago
View of the lake. Crazy delicious cocktails and as with everywhere else, amazing appetizers for happy hour, like flat bread and pasta.
Right behind Lago, they are famous for their salads but they had great everything.
Some peeks into those courtyards
All along the water it goes from restaurants to parks to government buildings that used to be huge private homes. Here’s a look.
There’s a lift that takes you to the top of the hill overlooking the lake and the city. There’s a whole other city up there. The restaurants were all touristy so I wouldn’t try to eat up there but it’s worth a couple of hours to roam around and see the lake from the top.
We took the boat up the lake to Bellagio. Again very touristy but the boat ride was lovely and you stop in a bunch of smaller towns. Bellagio had touristy shopping and restaurants at the bottom. If you hike up higher you’ll get a great view and a little less touristy stuff and see some beautiful homes on the way.
Homes long the lake
Last stop Venice. Once again we stayed in an Airbnb. It was harder to find a nice apartment in Venice. Our place was nice but not the same as the other places. My most important requirement was a balcony. We were on the top floor and had a beautiful view. Venice is hard to get around on foot. If you’re just meandering it’s fine but if you have to tour or reservation you need to be at just give yourself plenty of time. After awhile of course we started to get the hang of it. But you constantly find yourself in a square and Google maps says things like take the northeast alley and gives a name. You can’t tell which way is northeast because you’re surrounded by buildings and none of the streets ever have the right name on them. So we ended up down a lot of streets that ended at a canal with no bridge. But Venice has an amazingly interesting history. To really get all that you need to have a guide on a tour. Also, if you did drive, drop the car at the rental place at the airport then take a water taxi over. It will probably drop you off at San Marco square. If you hire a private boat like we did you’ll need to get the directions from the owner to tell the taxi company because the address won’t be what’s on Airbnb. But they drop you off in front of your door. Handy.
The ceilings and walls in room after room were covered in paintings and gold.
San Marco Church you couldn’t take pictures inside but you could take them on the balcony outside. The 2 here from inside I got off of Google. Those are all mosaics not paintings. And at the one end when they started them the design is very Byzantine by the time they finish at the other end it is very Renaissance.
One of the places that was Mario Batali’s favs was Al Covo. I can see why. It’s family owned and run. The son was our waiter and the mom is the baker. Beautiful atmosphere, delicious food and great service.
Loved the Hidden Venice Tour. They took us to less obvious sites showed us things like where they build the gondolas and at the end we had a gondola ride. Lucky us the gondola in front of us had hired a guy to sing to them so we had entertainment for free.
Here are some photos of the Hidden Venice Tour
Gondola ride and views of the water
One of our favorite places to eat and the only place with great bread in all the cities we visited was Farini, walk up and order then grab a table. Breads, pizza, sandwiches, pastries, and sometimes salad.
We just stumbled upon the restaurant we went to on our last night. Local. Outstanding everything.
Drinks at a crazy expensive hotel bar over looking the canal and watching the sun set.
And then there were these super cool door knockers everywhere.
A final note about dining there. At most restaurants you don’t tip. But there are a few, the higher end ones or the more modern ones that will have a note at the bottom of the bill that tip was not included or something long those lines. Be sure to leave a tip there.
The people were all really friendly and helpful and everyone spoke English.
The cab or Uber drivers are crazy drivers so just don’t look. They have lines and lanes but no one seems to pay any attention to them. On the highway near the cities it was crazy but out in the country in-between cities it was like driving in the US.
You need a special drivers license to drive in Italy you can get them at any AAA for $20
What a beautiful and friendly area! I don’t think I heard a single person honk at someone in Portland. Everyone is just genuinely friendly. We got really lucky – it was sunny and low 70s most of the time bought a raincoat and only needed it to keep warm in the evenings. Down side was I apparently am allergic to poison oak because it was nasty. Some of the hives were pancake sized, blisters, and then when the swelling started I went to the ER. Then a follow up trip the next day to an urgent care that finally diagnosed the poison oak. It sucked but didn’t let it mess with the awesome time we had.
For starters 7 days in 4 cities was a little too tight. I was happy to have seen Vancouver, the suspension bridge was really cool (more on that later) and the food was great but I wish we had just headed over to Seattle after Victoria we really didn’t see any of Seattle. Just means another trip.
So Portland has different areas to explore. We stayed downtown near Pioneer Square. No matter where you stay it’s easy to walk everywhere and there was only one place near the Burnside Bridge where I started to feel nervous. The downtown area has lots of restaurants, hotels, office buildings, parks the usual.
Our hotel The Heathman was lovely. The original hotel was across the street and is now The Picnic House. 2 brothers built the first hotel and made so much money the first 2 years that they built a second hotel across the street. The second and now current Heathman was more lavish than the first so people stayed there instead of the at the first one and they put their first hotel out of business. The current one stayed open. Check in and out was easy, they had help when we needed it. The front desk was friendly and happy to suggest restaurants and areas to check out. The rooms were a little small but as to be expected in an historic hotel. In the lobby they had a little chocolate shop that had drinking chocolate (with shots of espresso) – so good.
Chinatown is just to the north of downtown – there’s the beautiful Lan Su Chinese Garden there where you can have tea over looking the koi pond. We didn’t have time to go but it’s on my list for next time.
Just to the west of Chinatown is The Pearl – really cute trendy area converted warehouses, restaurants, shops, parks etc. We walked there from the hotel and had lunch and a snack while exploring.
Every place has crazy flowers – stuff that would cost $12 a stem here are like carnations to them. Loved the big rolls of paper they used for the daily specials and the serve yourself cucumber or plain water. Menu was a little bit of everything but all of it local and fresh. The lady at the counter was so friendly – these people are just happy.
Cute shop in The Pearl – can’t remember the name.
Afternoon snack at The Pearl Bakeryok first not so nice guy. But the other guy was awesome, went and found fresh out of the oven brownies for us.
Back downtown to The Nines Hotel where we had drinks at Departure – this place is a very modern bar on the roof of the hotel. When you get off the elevator it looks like you’re in queue for Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom. Fun cool music that’s not too loud because they get you are there to talk to your friends, the music is just background. Once again, everyone is friendly and happy. Bartenders were on top of it. Most people were sitting outside on the rooftop but believe it or not it was too hot and sunny for us!
Then on to dinner at The Picnic House, mentioned earlier as the original Heathman Hotel. It was pretty good. A little too pricy there were things with the décor that were cool and other things that were just off. The food was good but felt like they were trying a little too hard. But once again great service.
Remnants of the old lobby of the original Heathman Hotel. Not pictured are the Lion House rolls with pistachio and thyme butter and the edamame and pea hummus with ricotta, mint, sunflower seeds, and pickled onion. All really good. Above is the smoked salmon mousse with duck rillette and pickled onions.
buttermilk fried chicken with hot honey, chicken gravy, and pineapple slaw that was really good
Bacon and beef meatloaf with a tomato jam, mashed potatoes and green beans – delicious White cheddar, roasted broccoli, pickled apple mac and cheese with a potato chip crust also really good.
To the west of The Pearl is NW 23rd – upscale shopping, restored old homes, lots of restaurant options and it’s right next to Washington Park.
We had breakfast at Besaws– a 100 year old restaurant in a brand new building. Once again outstanding service and delicious food and drinks.
Blake had The Continental – vodka, cold brew coffee, strawberry rhubarb puree, fresh lime, and cava it sounds crazy – crazy good.
Cider braised oatmeal with poached rhubarb, lemon curd, and walnuts Avocado toast with feta, sunflower seeds, radish, and cilantro
The farmers hash with bacon, asparagus, onion, roasted potatoes and garlic, cheddar, greens, and a scratch biscuit Zucchini French toast with basil anglaise and granola – so stupid good!!
Pittock Mansion
We stopped at the City Marketand grabbed a picnic lunch for later then headed to Pittock Mansion– built in 1914, the home, view and gardens were beautiful Now after you’ve walked all over town you’re going to realize things are closer then they appear on the map. So you’re going to feel all like – Oh we can easily walk up to the mansion. Except the sidewalk runs out on Burnside St which is a pretty busy highway and not only is it a pretty steep climb and very windy road there’s only a small shoulder to walk on. Just call Uber, trust me.
But it’s awesome once you get up there!
Washington Park
After the tour we took the Wildwood Trailfrom the mansion’s parking lot down the mountain across Burnside Street and continued through Washington Park to the Japanese Garden and the Rose Garden. The path is natural but very easy to walk in regular sneakers (this is probably where I got the poison oak). We passed several other hikers but it wasn’t crowded with people. The trees are moss covered giant pines with fern and ivy everywhere. It couldn’t have been more picturesque.
Washington Park is huge there are parts that are just wild trails like above and parts that run next to neighborhoods. Follow the signs along the path to the Japanese Garden and you’ll come right off the trail to the garden. Originally Portland Zoo was built in the spot on the hill where the Rose Garden is. Then is was moved up higher and they built the Rose Garden. Then they moved the Zoo again up higher and built the Japanese Garden. The Zoo is still there along with several other gardens. The park would take days to see everything.
Then we walked over to the Rose Gardenand had our picnic lunch. The rose garden unfortunately wasn’t in bloom yet but lovely anyways.
Lunch on a bench –
From the garden it was an easy walk back to the hotel. We walked through several really pretty neighborhoods. If you have a car drive around King’s Hill – Park Place dead ends into the entrance of Washington Park.
Oven and Shaker is definitely a favorite in The Pearl – the best mint chocolate chip ice cream I’ve ever had. But everything was just so good.
Honey Basil Collins Cazzilli potato, salami and parmigiano croquettes with chevre aioli Arancini wild mushrooms risotto, smoked mozzarella, and tomato ragu
Maple Pig, apple butter, bacon, ham, mascarpone, and ricotta – arugula added Wild fennel sausage, tomato, smoked mozzarella, potato, and mama lil’s peppers
Then holy crap the desserts – which aren’t on the menu so I’ll try to remember…
Mint chocolate chip ice cream with the freshest mint ever. It tasted like you were biting into a mint leaf.
Chocolate olive oil cake with fresh ice cream espresso fudge and cherries
Strawberry rhubarb with shortbread cookie, olive oil and pistachios
Columbia River Gorge
The next day we explored the Columbia River Gorge. We used Sea to Summitfor the tour which I really recommend because they will tell you all about the history of the area and take you to spots others might not know about. Our guide was really nice and the pace was easy. They pick you up at Pioneer Square and you can get your tickets in advance online.
Breakfast before the tour at Public Domain, across from Pioneer Park. There is coffee everywhere in Portland in fact you just smell it all the time which is so nice. So really it’s not hard to find a good place for coffee. This place also had nice pastries to choose from as well.
The tour took us along the Historic Columbia River Highway. The highway was built 100 years ago to be scenic so people in their model T’s could travel along and enjoy the view. All along the highway were rest stops and little inns. Most have burned down but a few are still there. The first we stopped at was Vista House. Just a rest stop but it’s exactly the same now as it was in the original pictures.
Then onto Latourell Falls – an easy hike to falls from the street. All the falls are on Google maps. You could just take the highway yourself and stop at each fall. They are pretty well marked. But you won’t get all the cool history like you would in the tours.
Then Multnomah Falls– there’s a restored historic lodge there as well. Definitely the busiest of the falls we stopped at but I will still stop. You can really see the moss on the trees here.
Our last stop was the dam and salmon hatchery which was very interesting. The guide stopped at a little place on the island where you can see the sea lions. The sea lions eat about 20% of the salmon when they are spawning. Which apparently is unacceptable because the hatchery tries to catch them, tag them, then move them. But the sea lions figured out that if they block the opening of the cage the automatic doors won’t close. So instead they lounge around on the platforms.
After the tour we were starving – the lovely staff at the Heathman Hotel recommended South Park Seafood perfect, it was just a few blocks from our hotel as well.
Oysters fresh from the bay – beet, fennel, watercress, pistachio brittle salad Shishito peppers fried with lemon and sea salt Brussels sprouts with gochujang, cilantro, and peanuts Spicy shrimp and grits – and a juicy burger with fries
Then for dinner – it was a pre-fixe 6 course dinner with a little something to start and end the meal. They have 2 seatings and 2 community tables so you get to meet new people. The chef creates there right in front of you in the cozy space. The waiter did an excellent job explaining what we were eating and was happy to answer my many questions. Everything was just over the top.
House made ritz cracker with local sausage for the amuse bouche
Mesquite grilled tuna, shaved porcini, black garlic vinaigrette with hazelnuts Spring ravioli house made ricotta, green garlic verte and parmesan
Harissa rubbed lamb roast, new potatoes, carrots, peas, with preserved lemon and mint Roasted beets, shaved turnips, smoked yogurt, watercress, and Japanese ginger
Cow’s milk burrata, compressed green strawberries, shaved asparagus with aged balsamic Chicory semifredo with dark chocolate sorbet, puffed rice, and espresso crème
Foie gras on peanut shortbread with sauterne gelatins This meal was heaven.
Victoria and Vancouver BC
We drove from Portland up to Port Angeles to ferry across to Victoria BC. For this ferry it’s pretty small and they only have 2 times a day they travel to Victoria so probably a good idea to reserve a space online in advance. You have to get there an hour ahead of time, pull your car up and park it. Then you can leave the car until 30 minutes before the ferry leaves when they start to load the cars. There were several small restaurants in the area. I don’t suggest Downriggers on the Water. Let’s put it this way the place was huge and we were the only ones in there. Not a good sign. The other spots about a block away on the main street were busy. Probably a better bet.
Once you drive off you’ll drive through customs. They just need to see your passport it was very easy.
The Fairmont
Victoria was a cute little town all along a bay. We were able to easily walk from one end to the other. We stayed at the Fairmont Empress. I’m going to show you a few pictures but I really wasn’t happy with this place. They charged 5 star rates for a 3 star experience. It was very disappointing. I know the outside looks impressive but the rooms were really small, no a/c, and half the hotel was under construction. The service was not up to the standards of a hotel like that.
The tea was in a balcony area that overlooked the temporary check in area, the waiters were like waiters in a diner not a high end restaurant, the menu for tea was nothing special and the quality of the food was C+. Also, very expensive. I’ve had a lot better, a lot of other places. So aside from the poison oak (which by the way just started to show up the morning we left here) this was the only other negative part of the trip. With all that said I would still have gone to Victoria, the gardens were well worth it. I just wouldn’t stay at this hotel or waste money on the tea.
The bay area has mostly hotels and government buildings. On the opposite end from the Fairmont is a little fisherman’s wharf area that is definitely touristy but interesting at the same time. It’s a bunch of floating buildings. Some are places you can stay and some are restaurants and shops. The sea lions swim right up and beg. Cute. Most of the restaurants we passed were very touristy and nothing I’d like.
This was an apartment building along the bay instead of a lawn they had a pond. It was pretty cool.
Now on to the reason we were in Victoria. At Epcot in the Canadian pavilion they have the Frontenac Hotel (which we’ve been too) and Butchart Gardens. My grandmother loved Epcot and really loved those particular gardens. I wanted to see the actual gardens the replica at Epcot is based on. It was spectacular. No matter where you stood or looked every nook and cranny of that place was tended to. The Butchart family built there home there over 100 years ago and had a cement factory near by. They traveled and loved bringing home specimens from their travels. Mrs. Butchart first built a Japanese garden then a formal Italian garden, then a rose garden, then a large lawn so guest could enjoy music on the lawn and picnic, then when the quarry next to the cement factory was exhausted she turned it into a sunken garden which is what the Epcot garden is fashioned after. People are just wandering around silently admiring it all.
If I lived there I would visit this garden every week. We talked to a lady who does and she says the beds change almost daily. The family still owns the house and gardens and run it. They take spectacular care of it.
Vancouver
We left the garden and took the ferry to Vancouver. Here’s where I would have changed things. If I had to do it again I would have gone straight to Seattle so we could have had a couple of extra days there. Vancouver was nice and the Capilano Suspension Bridge was cool but I wish I had seen more of Seattle.
We stayed at the Georgian Court Hotelin Vancouver. Very nice hotel. Didn’t take any pictures. But I would stay there again. It was a good location as well.
The Capilano Suspension Bridgewas built 1889 by George Mackay who owned land on both sides of the river and had a cabin on one side and built the bridge out of hemp rope and cedar planks. It soon become a destination for adventurous friends. In 1914 Edward Mahon built a Tea House and improved the bridge. The bridge has only been rebuilt a handful of time the last time being in 1956 in just 5 days. The bridge is so strong a 75 ton tree fell on it during a storm and it didn’t budge. Now there are sky walks along the cliffs, nature trails, and it’s all done with nature in mind. Using logs and stones instead of plastic and concrete. Very well done.
Dinner was at the Homer Street Café– once again a delicious dinner. Outstanding service. Everyone is just so friendly in that whole area.
We all got fish – steelhead salmon, cod, and trout but apparently their rotisserie chicken which you could see cooking in the open kitchen is what they are famous for.
The next day is was lunch at Small Victory Bakery– just more of the same really good fresh food with great service.
The very kind ER doctor suggested we go to Vig’s for dinner. An Indian restaurant that doesn’t take reservations and you’ll have to wait 2 hours but the bar is fun to watch and Vig personally greets everyone and passes out appetizers while you wait. You felt like you were a guest in his home. The wait staff was outstanding. The food once again delicious. A little spicy though. I did notice if you don’t want to wait just come at 10pm and you’ll get right in. But then you’ll also miss all the fun in the bar.
The mixed drinks were great with names like Sari not Sari
Raw sugar and ghee braised squash with mushrooms – Khoa paranta with tangy tomato-onion chutney
endless naan bread that they just seemed to show up at the table just as we needed it
Garam masala sautéed mushrooms in a porcini cream curry Lamb popsicles in fenugreek cream curry on turmeric and spinach potatoes
Brunch was at Wildebeest before we headed to Seattle. One of the best brunches I’ve ever had.
Wild mushroom and house cured bacon omelet – Croque Madam with greens
And then there was the Dutch Baby – a German oven baked pancake. Holy hell it was good. I’ve heard of them but never had one. It’s lighter than a regular pancake but not eggy like a crepe. It’s very similar to Yorkshire pudding or a popover. Inside was a light layer of raspberry jam, citrus segments, granny smith apples, fresh ricotta, and bourbon barrel aged maple syrup. I will be making this at home.
Seattle
Full of wonderful food we drove to Seattle for the last leg of this trip.
Checked into our hotel – Hotel 1000 downtown Seattle a few blocks from Pike’s Place Market. Beautiful large room with a huge bathroom. Perfect service and priced really well. Next time we go to Seattle I’m staying there.
That night we ate at The Walrus and The Carpenter I use Eater.com to look up cool places to eat when we plan a vacation. It’s really hard to find stuff that isn’t touristy. If you ask anyone at the hotel they tend to send you to what they think a tourist wants instead just the really good local places. This place was on the list at eater.com. Then after looking into it I also saw it featured on Andrew Zimmerns’ show Bizarre Foods (not sure why it was on Bizarre Foods not really very bizarre just really fresh) It’s in a little neighborhood about a 10 min Uber ride from downtown in an old converted building. There’s another restaurant in the front. You walk down a long hallway to the back of the building where Barnacles (their bar) is and The Walrus and The Carpenter. They have an outdoor balcony area on nice days. As with everywhere else exceptionally friendly people. Even in the hippest trendiest places. Also so happy you are there and so ready to make your time there awesome. No reservation, they put our name down and said they’d come get us in the bar. As soon as we walked into the bar someone was helping us, and it was packed with people. The bartender showed us where to hang our jackets and handed us a little plate of Lays chips and asked what he could get us. Table was ready in 30 min so we just had enough time to finish our drinks but they have appetizers in the bar too if the wait is longer.
The kitchen is open so you can see all the activity.
Marinated olives – fresh bread with whipped sea salted butter
Toasted baguette with local honey and black pepper and Freya’s wheel cheese
An assortment of fresh oysters from local bays – Salmon crudo
Artichoke, fresh yogurt, pine nuts – Steak tartar with rye toast
Fried oysters with cilantro aioli
Maple bread pudding with espresso butter sauce and whipped cream – Roasted dates with vanilla oil and salt
Nothing crazy just really really fresh and assembled in an interesting way.
The next morning we had to head to the airport but before we did we managed to stop by Pike’s Place Market, get a piroshky from Piroshky Piroshky – the original is potato and onion, my favorite was the beef and cheese, we also tried the fresh rhubarb and the ham cheese and spinach. All really good. Don’t let the line fool you. It’s out the door but it’s a really tiny place and the line moves really fast.
Also got to stop in the original Starbucks.
And then sadly we headed home. We were really lucky to have had amazing weather while we were there. Not one drop of rain. When we go back I’ll be sure to bring our rain jackets again and this time we’ll see more of Seattle.
What an awesome city Nashville is. It’s a refined southern city that loves music and art with just the right amount of country and even then it’s a funky kind of country. When you have art you have creative people and where you have creative people you have amazing shopping, restaurants, and nightlife. Creative people make amazing things not just art to look at but art you listen to and literally consume.
Support Art in your own town, even if you don’t “get” art I bet you “get” good food, artisanal beers, bakeries, markets, and homegrown music.
Let’s Start with Breakfast
The Barista Parlor has 2 locations the original in East Nashville and the new location in the Gulch both are awesome and they take their coffee very seriously (they don’t have decaf) and the mocha’s are made from shaved local artisanal 70% dark chocolate. It’s slightly bitter but so smooth. They have breakfast sandwiches and pastries from scratch – like buttermilk biscuits with sage sausage peach jam and eggs or country ham with chili infused maple. Peach granola. Skillet cornbread with cheddar eggs sausage and honey drizzle.
I think just about every restaurant in Nashville does brunch – they take if very seriously. We went to The Tavern in Mid-town they have a long wait time every Sunday but honestly I wasn’t that impressed. It was fine but it felt like a chain and the food was just fine and in Nashville don’t ever settle for fine. The white trash hash was a keeper – tater tots with cheese bacon and green onions.
Another awesome breakfast (or lunch) place was Biscuit Love also in the Gulch. They have biscuit donuts filled with blueberries and topped with lemon custard. Nashville’s famous hot chicken and biscuits with homemade pickles and everything is from scratch.
Breakfast Lunch or Dinner
Didn’t get a chance to try The Southern but it’s on the list for next time. It’s right downtown it has everything from house made granola to a hillbilly wrap with greens, black-eyed peas, chow-chow, eggs, cheddar and pulled pork – What?!
We did hit Pinewood Social I can’t imagine going to Nashville and not going there at least once. Located in SoBro They have a bowling alley they salvaged and an outside area that overlooks the river and has bocce ball and little cozy pools that you have to make a reservation for – plus a super cool airstream they serve delicious snacks from. The bar is run by the Patterson House a really cool speakeasy in Mid-town, the coffee is by Crema which is just a few blocks from Pinewood and the menu was created by a former Catbird Seat chef (have not been there yet – tough to get a reservation). The menu at Pinewood is ever-changing and always amazing. Various bruschetta, peaches with burrata, and bacon wrapped meatloaf with mac and cheese.
Fidos in the Belmont Village near Vanderbilt. Really cute area that feels like a small college town right in Nashville. The main street is 21st Ave and there are tons of cute shops, restaurants, and coffee shops there. Fidos is a great breakfast or lunch spot. Craft beers and homemade everything – lots of comfort food.
It’s Dinner Time!
Butchertown Hall in Germantown, apparently Nashville’s first suburb. Beautifully restored little Victorian homes, old brick warehouses converted to apartments and restaurants, and cute little shops. We had the trinity (brisket, ribs, and sausage) with pickles and tortillas, a creamy slightly spicy cheese dip with sausage, tomato salad and roasted brussels spouts.
Rolf and Daughters another great place in Germantown, just a few blocks from Butchertown Hall. Great dining experience. I wish I could remember our waitress’ name because she was awesome. The menu has a lot of crazy items so I had to ask a lot of questions and not only was she not rushed or annoyed she was happy to explain everything in great detail and give her recommendations. Really laid back vibe. If I lived there I’d be there all the time. We had agretti, a grain that looks like pine needles that only grows in the Mediterranean but a local farmer figured out how to grow it for them. Sauteed with benny seeds it was so good! Pig head – meh. it was kind of gross. Just bits and pieces of the jowls ears etc. Was not a fan. Little beignets stuffed with cheese and herbs. Would love to go again.
Who wants a Snack?
In the same neighborhood as Fidos on 21st Ave is Hot and Cold a coffee shop with fresh popsicles and flavored shaved ice. I had strawberry topped with fresh strawberries, cucumber, and mint and these little marshmallowie things. Carly had mango and matcha topped with fresh mango and cereal. Crazy. Crazy good!
Oh and there are other things to do besides eat…
The Sounds AAA Baseball Team play in Nashville. Really nice stadium with (sorry I know this is more food) the best ballpark food I’ve ever eaten. Corn and jalapeno fritters, nachos with pulled pork and pickled veggies, hot dogs with spicy peach ketchup just to name what I can remember. The game was fun too with lots of entertainment in between innings and a beautiful sunset over the stadium.
There are historic sites and museums:
Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, Antique Archaeology Nashville, Belle Meade Plantation, Belmont Mansion, Bicentennial Capital Mall State Park (with a really great farmers market and restaurants), Tennessee State Museum, the Parthenon at Centennial Park and tons of historic tours.
There are too many cultural sites to name, galleries, museums, theaters, and music halls.
There are distilleries, brewing companies, vineyards and wineries.
Check out the website Visit Music City to see the very long list of attractions. Scroll to the top of the page and you’ll see a link Nashville Neighborhoods – great way to understand where everything is. At the top there are also links for events, tours, sports, food, shopping, everything.
If you want to try to stay somewhere in the middle aim for mid-town but everything is pretty spread out. We used Uber a lot and most of the trips for 4 people were $5. Can’t beat Uber!
Just Outside the City…
Lieper’s Fork is a tiny town about 20 minutes outside of Nashville. The entire shopping and eating portion of the town is about 2 blocks of a country road but it’s really worth it. The shops are far from a Cracker Barrel, no kitschy country knickknacks here. Beautiful galleries and antiques. Like at Serenite Maison, the David Arms gallery, and one of my favorites The Copper Fox Gallery
The food it pure farm to table. Joe’s Farm Store and Café has produce and homemade items up front and a café with amazing bread baskets, sandwiches, salad plates, and desserts in the back. As soon as you pull into this little downtown and get out of your car you’ll smell Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant – the BBQ is amazing and so are all the typical homemade country cooking sides you get with it. This little store is an unassuming country store with a bunch of mismatched tables scattered about and a little stage in the corner. But the music is apparently famous and so are some of the musicians that stop by to jam with whoever happens to be on stage. It’s a really great place to spend a Sunday afternoon. Check out their website to see the events they have scheduled.
Just north of Nashville about an hour on your way to Kentucky is Clarksville, we stopped by Miss Lucille’s Marketplace and Café. Again, great home-made food with a twist and the booth’s have a nice mix of unique homemade items and antiques. They just added a coffee shop as well. Do not leave there without having the brisket sliders on pretzel rolls or the loaded potato salad. Crazy good.
Top 5 things to would recommend when traveling to France or areas in Europe around France –
1. Bring a damn umbrella it drizzled on and off the whole time.
2. Bring a warm coat/trench coat (for the rain) – it’s really really cold! France is across the ocean from Nova Scotia to give you an idea of how far north it is. Dress like you’re going to Vermont.
3. Wear sneakers – I don’t wear sneakers anywhere except working in the yard and then that’s only when I have to use a shovel otherwise I’m barefoot or I wear them when I’m at the gym. Otherwise I have a butt load of cute sandals and flats. They are all comfortable, I wear them walking around Disney all day. But they are not good enough for walking in cold damp weather on cobbled stone streets. You walk all day long and when you do get to your location it’s usually a museum etc where you stand on your feet. So wear something with cushion for the cobbled stones and the standing and something that doesn’t rub in the wrong places like ballet flats. By the time we got to Loches the first thing I did was go to a shoe store and by sneakers and I loved how much better my feet felt in socks and sneakers! Wear sneakers trust me! They don’t have to be ugly gym shoes they can be cute sneakers there are lots of them out there. Take your time and find a pair that look good with your outfits and feel good.
4. The trains are a headache. Take a train as far as you can then rent a car for the rest of the way. We changed trains twice and then took a bus – the station signs are all in French of course and so are the announcements so you never really know what’s going on. The bus stops at every stop so it’s not very quick and our ticket didn’t allow enough time to get to the train station so we missed our train and had to take a taxi to the next stop. A lot of stress. Next time I’ll take whatever train goes the closest to my destination then rent a car at the train station. So much easier.
5. Get a travel book from Rick Steves. He had really great time saving tips on everything we went to and you can download his tours for everything from Versailles to the Louvre to driving day trips in Provence.
Ok so that’s done. Here’s how I planned this trip. First I have to say – travel agents definitely earn their money because this took a lot of time. I like to have a plan. It should be very flexible but there should still be a plan. From my experience when you just wing it you end up not really doing anything and missing a lot.
Step 1 Once you know where you want to go buy or download a travel book for that country I really like Rick Steves or the DK Eyewitness Travel books. Read about the country, it’s history, all it’s different regions. Make a list of stuff that looks interesting in each region or city you want to visit. If there’s enough stuff in the region to warrant visiting there then keep it on your list. Eventually you’ll have a list of a few areas you want to go to. Then buy or download the specific travel book for that area. For instance first I bought the France travel book. Then when I figured out we would be going to Paris, Loire Valle, and Provence I bought travel books for those regions. Then read about each region and write down what you want to do. Organize the list by days. Like if you see there are 3 towns a few miles from each other with chateaus you want to see obviously you can do those 3 in one day. This way you can figure out how many days you need for each region. Once you have figured out how many days in each region you’ll know how long your trip will be.
Step 2 Now that you know the length of time you’ll be there look in the travel books and online for any festivals for special events that will be happening around the time you’d like to visit. It would suck to go all the way to France and miss your favorite artist’s temporary exhibit by one day. Once you have your dates nailed down. Book your flight. A lot of airlines do a Economy Plus type deal where you pay $60 or so and get a seat with extra leg room. I highly recommend this. Riding for 8 hours on a plane squished into those little seats suck. If you can fly first class – do it! they have their own little cubby and their seats fold down into real beds. But our flight would have been $2,000 more per person for first class and I could think of a lot of other stuff I could spend that $2,000 on.
Step 3 Housing – once I started looking into hotels in Paris I quickly realized I was either going to stay in a dump or pay a crazy amount $750 – $1,000 a night for a decent hotel. So I looked at AirBNB and found amazing apartments for about $74 per person per night. Other sites are HouseTrip and VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner). A couple of tips – you have to sign up and get approved before you can request to stay at any of the places. They want to make sure you aren’t a crazy person. When you type in the location you can zoom in on the map or select specific areas of town so the options are narrowed down. You can also choose a price range, number of bedrooms etc. Skip how the outside or living room looks and go right to the bedrooms. This is where you will spend most of your time while you’re in the apartment anyways. Make sure the bedroom and bathroom are nice. The rest is just gravy. Usually there’s a street view too. Look to make sure the neighborhood is ok. You don’t want to be staying over a XXX theater – or maybe you do? Look for a place that’s centrally located to the areas or cities you want to visit as well. Location is really important. You don’t want to waste time driving for 2 hours every day. Or having to walk halfway across the city because you picked an apartment in the wrong place. Here’s the apartments we rented. We had the whole apartment but you can choose to rent just a room from someone.
Apartment in Loches (Loire Valley) was tiny but homey and the lady who rented it to us lived upstairs. This was the beautiful garden. The tower was had a staircase that took you down to the lower street. The last picture is the view from the garden of the lower street.
Our apartment in Apt was more like a villa. It had it’s own walled garden. It was a full sized house. Just amazing.
Our second apartment in Paris was small but they all are. It had plenty of room for us. 2 bedrooms and a nice bathroom. More then a hotel room would have. But keep in mind with these amazing old buildings – there’s no elevator.
Each place was different with how we “checked in” they text and email you reminders and you can contact the owners directly. They all spoke English and were very prompt answering any of my questions. The 2 Paris apartments had key boxes. The owners emailed or texted me the door code and the key box code. The Loches apartment she actually picked us up from the bus station and was there to say good-bye when we left. The Apt apartment the owner met us there to give us the key and show us the place and then she was there when we left so we could give her the keys back.
Step 4 Booking special tours etc. If you’re going to go to museum’s and various tourist places you probably should look into a museum pass for the town. Not only is it cheaper but we were able to go through a special door and avoid the longs lines because we had a pass. Usually the city’s website will have a link for a pass like this. Order it ahead of time so it’s one less thing to do when you get there. If you want to see a show or ride a hot air balloon that kind of stuff you should book in advance. The travel books will give you ideas and so will the city’s website.
The hot air balloon was really cool. I’m a huge wuss (just realized I have no idea how to spell that and spell check doesn’t either) I don’t like roller coasters or sky diving and white water rafting. But this was so calm and not scary at all. It just feels like you are floating. It’s really quiet and there’s no wind I guess because we’re moving with the wind you don’t feel it. The basket is high so you don’t feel like you’re going to fall out. I would love to do it again on a clearer day.
Step 5 Other transportation like rental cars and trains. Book those ahead of time again so you don’t have to deal with it when you get there. Most of the travel books will have guidelines for this stuff.
Once you have all this done then keep reading about your areas to learn more about what to see and to better understand where you are going. It’s a lot more fun if you understand what you are looking at. Rick Steves was really good at letting you know which museum’s or attractions were worth it and he gave us great tips to avoid long lines. Most travel books though will just list the most visited places and those aren’t always the best places. Sometimes they are just really touristy. Look online at places and people’s reviews. After reading several things you’ll get a better idea if the touristy place is worth it. Like the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre – very touristy but of course you have to see them. And they were totally worth it. Standing next to the Eiffel Tower is kind of surreal.
As far as rudeness goes – because people always say how rude the French are. We didn’t really see that. We would say bonjour and then immediately say Parles-tu Anglais and just about everyone was happy to speak English. Occasionally there was a rude person – but there are rude people in America too. We had 2 taxi drivers that sucked. One acted like he had no idea what I was saying when I asked him to take us to the Eiffel Tower and one drove us out of the way on purpose. And a guy at the train station said he didn’t speak English then looked over my shoulder at the French people behind me and made fun of me in French. But those assholes aside everyone else was really great!
Restaurants
As far as restaurants go most of the places in Paris wanted you to have reservations. But that’s really hard to do because no matter how planned out your day is it won’t go according to plan. Things always take a lot longer then expected. So we figured out that the first seating about 8pm needed reservations but then the second seating about 9:30-10pm you could just come and give them your name and wait for a table. Even in the small places that worked. Don’t go to the obvious restaurants where the tourist go. They will suck. They know you are a tourist so the service will be poor the food mediocre and expensive. Look at Open Table to see what restaurants are on there those are usually good restaurants and you can see the menus and pictures. Ask your Airbnb host where their favorite places are. I don’t really ask the concierges at hotels anymore because they just direct me to the obvious tourist places. For Paris I found a book about the best restaurants in Paris – Food Lover’s Guide to Paris and there’s a Cooking Channel show called Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking with Rachel Khoo that I love. She has a website and a page on her website lists her favorite restaurants in different cities. Both the book and Rachel’s website were so helpful to find really good local places. Watch travel shows or look up the show online and look for restaurant suggestions. Bon Appetite is also a good place to look.
Paris Restaurants We Loved
Le Pain Quotidien
Little chain near our apartment on Rue Marie Stuart, but so cute Le Pain Quotidien – rustic tables, fresh bread and jams, and rich hot chocolate.
Spring
We found this place in the Food Lover’s guide. Spring serves just one 5+ course meal. No menu they just make you dinner. The service and ambience was amazing. The food was ridiculous. This was our first night in Paris and we really needed a great meal by the end of the day. We arrived at 6:30am (12:30am our time) so we had been up for over 24 hours. We had to check our bags in a city locker because it was too early to check into our apartment. It was raining, cold, and really windy. Then we dragged our luggage 4 blocks in the wrong direction because I was reading google maps wrong. So by the end of the day a really good glass of wine and a great meal was really welcomed.
Verjus Wine Bar
The Wine Bars are small local restaurants that serve wine (a little beer and maybe 3 kinds of liquor) which is hilarious what the French think Americans drink. Every menu had Rum Punch and Mojitos on it. The Wine Bars we went to were like our Dally in the Alley – chef owned, unique and innovative food made with local ingredients fresh every day. Verjus Wine Bar was a Rachel Khoo suggestion. We had a great fried chicken and banh mi type slaw sandwich and the best chocolate chip cookie and brownie I’ve ever eaten. And wine of course.
Frenchie
Another Wine Bar and another Rachel Khoo suggestion – Frenchie was a tiny little place that was worth the 30 min wait for a table. As with everywhere the people and service were great. Burrata with fava bean pesto, pate, pulled pork sliders, pot-de-crème, and custard with a graham cracker crumble.
Buvette
This place was in Bon Appetite – Buvette was a sweet little out of the way place we would have never run across if we weren’t looking for it. And they were open all day which was really unique – most restaurants if they were open for lunch were open 12-1:30pm and that’s it. You ate lunch during lunch time or you were SOL. They had desserts on the counter with stacks of white plates. The bathroom was the cutest cleanest bathroom ever. Fresh Ricotta with pea pesto and lemon olive oil on toast, salami and olive oil, croquet monsieur, chocolate mousse, upside down apple cake, and waffles with berries.
Au Passage
Yet another Wine Bar – Au Passage was also Rachel Khoo’s suggestion. Little out of the way place the chefs brought the food to your table and loved describing the ingredients and process. Very cool place. fresh burratta cheese with barley, smoked octopus, asparagus egg and cream, rhubarb crumble, and pistachio cake
Angelina
Rachel Khoo again – she said it’s really touristy but really worth it. She wasn’t kidding. Its a fancy tea room across from the Louvre. Angelina’s has the best hot chocolate in the city. It’s really just melted rich dark chocolate that they serve with whipped cream. Their madeleine’s were really good too. They had a ton of fancy pastries. We stopped there on our way to the Louvre and walked through the Tuileries garden with our hot chocolate and treats. Then we ate at their satellite location in Versailles.
Amorino
Gelato shop on Isle St Louis – they make the gelato look like flower petals on the cone.
Schmucks
We stopped here just to take a picture because the name was funny and accidentally found a great little place. That served liquor!! Schmucks is this really cool eclectic bar/restaurant in St Germain.
Semilla
This was one of the places in Food Lovers Guide. Semilla had great food and great people. Lots of activity. The kitchen was open so it was cool to watch the chefs working.
Loire Valley Restaurants
Cak’t
In Loches’ very quaint ancient village. We arrived late in the day on Sunday and not many places were open for dinner. We stopped into Cak’t they had just one meal for the day. Served by a sweet old man who looked as though he prepared it served it and cleaned up after. Fresh veggies, a meat sauce and puff pastry and of course bread and wine.
L’Etape Gourmade
In Villandry a little farm with a quiet little restaurant. Fire place was burning and after another very chilly day it was so welcomed. Friendly family staff. Rick Steves recommended this place. L’Etape Gourmade
Creperie at Loches Chateau
This little place was part of the Loches Chateau. They had the original Roman keep which was partially in ruins, the royal palace built in the 1200s, a church and in the garden of the church was this little creperie run by two little old men. The view was beautiful and the crepes were delicious. Savory – potato, bacon, and cheese and prosciutto with egg and sweet – banana, hazelnut, and chocolate.
Provence
L’Isle Sur-la-Sorgue Restaurant
I didn’t write down the name of this place, we just happened upon it. Lovely friendly lady. An antipasti plate of all kinds of things, toast with cheese and a salad, fish casserole and veggies, grilled fish and veggies, and escargot
The same town had really cute shops. Olive oils, soaps, and candied fruit – it’s a big deal there. We bought an assortment, not really my thing really sticky and sweet. But they are really pretty.
Apt local boulangerie, boucherie, and farmers market
Had a picnic in our garden
Thym te Voila
In Apt our host suggested this place. Once again really nice people the chef came out to talk to us. Delicious fresh food. Thym te Voila
La Prevote
Another little restaurant on L’Isle Sur-la-Sorgue. La Prevote is a hotel and restaurant. The whole city is an island that has tons of little canals running through it so the buildings are built over the canals. Inside they put glass up so you can see the river running through the building. Delicious lunch.
The Chateaus of the Loire Valley
There are so many to see. Pick a couple each day but really after 5 they start to all blend together. Rick Steves has a list of the top ones you should try to see. Here’s the ones we went to.
This one had furnished rooms and an amazing garden. Still only took us about 2 hours to do the whole house and the gardens. The village was cute but not a lot there.
This one had an audio tour so it took a little longer while you listened to information about each room. The ones with audio tours provide a lot more information.
This was literally at our front door. we parked at the base of the wall to enter our rental house. There was a small village within the chateau’s walls. An ancient roman keep, a 12th century chateau, a church, a creperie, and homes to walk by. One of my favorite. It took several hours to see everything. I don’t think there was an audio tour but on one of the floors of the keep they had a movie that explained a lot about it.
Amazing. They had a village as well but had a lot of restaurants and shops. This chateau is privately owned and you could really tell. Fresh floral arrangements in each room. All the rooms were furnished. They had restaurants, gift shops, a farm, gardens. It was all very tasteful too not too touristy or cheap. Great audio tour.
The Villages We Saw in Provence
The amazing villages some built pre-Roman era up the side of a small mountain with a castle at the top. Most of the castles were in ruin but the villages are still there and most survive now on tourism. Some of the little villages have 35 people living there.
Gordes
This beautiful village started on the hillside – moved down to the valley below during the Roman period when it was safer. Then moved back up to the hillside during the dark ages for protection. They utilized the fields below and thrived agriculturally until World War II then all but about 100 people were left in the village and those were very poor. As tourism flourished did the town and now they have about 300 people living there. It’s amazing how well kept these ancient places are and we can’t even keep a 100 year old home from being torn down for a parking lot.
La Baux en Provence
The town next to Carrieres de Lumieres. Beautiful little streets with a few shops and restaurants with amazing views.
Seguret
This town was on the list of towns to visit on at winery road trip. Unfortunately we tried to do the road trip on a Sunday – pointless, everything is closed. Plan travel days on Sundays because everything is closed anyways and that way you won’t miss anything. But really pretty little town.
You buy your ticket online then you make a reservation. Then you call them the day before to confirm your reservation. It’s a little tricky but really worth it.
Winery in the Loire Valley
Chevalerie Winery, this winery was built in an 11th century limestone quarry. The family that runs it started the winery in 1640 and the lady who gave us the tour is the 14th generation to run it. We also got the name of this winery from Rick Steves.
Carrieres de Lumieres in Les Baux Provence
This is a limestone quarry that they turned into an art museum the art is projected onto the 5 story walls and it moves and changes and is set to music. Carrieres de Lumieres was near the village of Les Baux in Provence. You can buy tickets at the door.
Locks on the Notre Dame bridge
There are several bridges you can do this on. You attach a lock (you can write someone’s name on if you want) then throw the key into the river for unbroken love. There are people selling locks there at the bridge. I brought my own so I don’t know how much they were. There are several bridges you can do this on. The one that recently started to collapse just had the most on it.
1 bag of mini gold potatoes 6 slices of thick cut bacon 2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese 1/2 cup chopped chives or green onion 2 cups grape tomatoes 4 oz cream cheese; softened 2 cups non-fat plain greek yogurt 1/4 cup good Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 1/4 of a Vidalia onion; grated Salt and pepper
Heat the oven to 475 and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil then spray it with cooking spray
Cut the potatoes into bit sized pieces and spread them out on the baking sheet. Lay the 6 pieces of bacon over the potatoes.
Bake in the oven at 475 for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and the bacon is almost cooked. Change the oven to broil and broil the bacon and potatoes until the bacon is crispy – about 8-10 minutes. Then remove the bacon and drain it and continue to broil the potatoes about another 5-10 minutes or until they are browned and crispy.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
Mix the cream cheese, yogurt, mustard, vinegar, grated onion, salt and pepper in a bowl. Taste. If it needs more bite add a little more vinegar.
Cut the grape tomatoes into thirds and combine with the shredded cheese, and chives or green onion in a bowl.
Break the bacon into bite sized pieces and add to the cheese and tomato mixture. Add the potatoes and the dressing. Combine everything.
Chill until ready to serve. The dressing can really thicken up in the fridge so you might want to loosen it a little with a little more yogurt. Let it rest at room temperature about 15 minutes before serving too.
Nice little twist – instead of potatoes use tater tot crowns. Just cook them longer than the package suggests so they are really crispy then toss them with everything else. But mix this and use it. The tater tots will completely lose their crunch if you make it ahead of time and refrigerate it.
I’m really into making some kind of meat on Sunday and using it all week in sandwiches, on salads, in tacos, or on flatbreads. I usually take something like a pork butt and rub down good with some awesome spices and what not then crockpot it for 8 hours. Shred it and use it all week. But I wanted to try something different so I decided to make different kinds of meatballs. These were my favorite.
I used ground turkey for two of them. I didn’t get the super lean 97% kind I got the 94% or something like that. It has to have some fat in it or it won’t have any flavor and will be dry. Then I added all kinds of stuff.
Asian Meatballs – ground turkey, grated onion, shredded carrots finely chopped, yellow bell pepper finely chopped, cilantro finely chopped, minced garlic, grated ginger, and hoisin sauce
Mix all the ingredients for each meatball in separate bowls. Then make golf ball sized meatballs – pack them loosely. Place the balls on an aluminum foiled lined baking sheet that’s been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and bake them for 20-25 min at 375. Until slightly browned. Don’t over do it you don’t want them to be dry.
I stored mine in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. Just zap them in the microwave for about 30 seconds to warm them up and get the juices going again.
For the Asian Salad
Put a pile of mixed greens on a plate – whatever kind you like, I like baby kale or arugula
Add some shredded raw broccoli, avocado, and chopped peanuts
Then top with Chinese Lo Mein Noodles – cooked and drained according to the package that have been tossed with shredded carrots, finely chopped cilantro, red pepper pickles and an Asian dressing (recipes follow).
Add the meatballs and drizzle with a little more dressing.
Red Pepper Pickles:
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon Anise
2 cups julienned red bell pepper, in a heat proof bowl
Heat the sugar and vinegar in a pan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the anise and salt, taste to make sure it’s not too sugary not too vinegary – adjust accordingly. Then pour the mixture over the bell peppers in the bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Asian Dressing:
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons prepared Ginger Dressing
Combine all of it and toss with the prepared noodles, shredded carrots, cilantro, and red pepper pickles
DAGNY | the g is silent but I am not 