Following a whirlwind, activity-crammed few days in the stunning coffee-region of Salento, we weren’t sure what to expect from our next stop – Colombia’s capital Bogota.
Tag Archives: travel
A Daytrip to Guatapé and La Piedra from Medellin, Colombia
When researching things to do from Medellin, something that recurringly appeared was a daytrip to a small town nearby called Guatapé. Always keen for a daytrip that allows us to get out of the big cities and into the countryside, we quickly set aside our last full day in Medellin for this daytrip – and boy, am I glad we did!
Medellin and its ‘famous criminal’ Pablo Escobar, Colombia
With only a comparatively short time in Colombia (approximately three weeks), we decided to take advantage of the cheap domestic flights and fly from Cartagena to Medellin. In hindsight, this was a godsend as Dave was still sick from the disgusting water he had accidently swallowed whilst at Totuma Volcano and a ten hour bus ride would have been out of the question.
Cartagena in all its colonial, colourful (and mud-covered!) glory, Colombia
We arrived into Cartagena pretty late at night following a lengthy 12-hour transit from Capurgana and it wasn’t until the next morning that we got our first real glimpse of what a beautiful place Colombia’s largest seaside city truly is.
Charming Antigua, Guatemala
For once, we did not have an epic journey ahead of us to get from one place to another – Antigua was but a mere couple of hours by shuttle from Lake Atitlan. We almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves with less than a half day’s transit ahead of us!
Hiking Montagne Sainte-Victoire
During the time we were based in Aix en Provence in the south of France, hiking to the top of Montagne (Mount) Sainte-Victoire, was a priority. Looming over the French Departments of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var with a peak elevation of 1,011 metres, Montagne Sainte-Victoire is most famous for its many appearances in the paintings of Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), who could see it from near his house in Aix-en-Provence.
Now, I am not a big fan of hiking, but this was something hubby really wanted to do, and let’s face it, its not everyday you get to hike to the top of a mountain so celebrated! The view at the top would be amazing and after sampling endless amounts of french cheeses and pastries, I figured the exercise would do me good, besides … how tough could it be?
Martin Berasetugui Degustation, San Sebastian
For my 30th birthday, we were fortunate enough to be in sunny San Sebastian in Spain, and high on my list of ‘must do’ dining experiences was the famous degustation at Martin Berasetugui’s namesake restaurant, Martin Berasetugui.
Consistently rated as one of the world’s top restaurants, the restaurant is very exclusive and we had made reservations months in advance. Upon arrival at 9pm for our reservation (we tried to book for 8pm, but they told us nobody dines so early in Spain, so 9pm it was!), we were shown to our beautiful candlelit table right in the middle of the restaurant – best seat in the place!
It was fine dining all the way, from the lovely “two waiter” introductions through to the footstool that was placed at our table next to my chair… for my handbag of course! No placing handbags on restaurant floors in here!
Beautiful Biarritz – Beach Views and Tasty Tapas!
Biarritz is beautiful. Flat out gorgeous in fact. We had planned on our time in Biarritz being all about the food, the beach and some much needed relaxation, and I am pretty sure we hit the mark on all fronts with our short, but very sweet time there.
Detouring to Bayonne and Biarritz
Leaving St Emilion was bittersweet. On the upside, we had tasted (and purchased) an extensive selection of Bordeaux wines; on the downside, we didn’t have enough time to really see the medieval town, explore its underground caverns or venture on a cycling tour of the nearby wineries. But, you live and learn, and the experience of regret as we were leaving certainly solidified my strong preference to never spend just one night somewhere – it is just too much of a tease!
Saint-Émilion – the heart of red wine country!
Saint-Émilion is one of those places I dreamt of visiting … a history steeped in tradition, and a thriving modern viticulture industry, including the world’s first UNESCO listed vineyard! Due to a tight timeframe, we only had an afternoon, an evening and a morning in Saint-Émilion – not enough time as I would have liked, but with 8 weeks to explore France, we had to make a few sacrifices in order to spend decent amounts of time in other places.
We arrived in Saint-Émilion from Sarlat et Canada in our trusty hire car, and I will never forget the look of the lush, green vineyards covering the rolling hillside as far as the eye could see – it was glorious! As we pulled up the long road that led to the medieval town centre, we realised with a bit of a shock that there were cars parked on both sides of the road ALL the way around the town! Seems like everyone else had the same idea to visit Saint-Émilion on the same day as us!