Algarve to Lisbon

After exploring the Duoro Valley for a couple days, it was time to move on to our next destination, the Algarve, Portugal's southernmost coastline region. Our journey took just over 7 hours driving through the middle of the country. To break the drive up a bit we stopped in at the university town of Coimbra, the "Cambridge" of Portugal. Coimbra is a riverfront city and is the former capital. The town is home to not only the university but also a preserved medieval old town with a maze of narrow streets lined with shops and eateries. Situated atop of hill is the university campus. It was here where I finally made a deal with Z that if I agree to have lunch at Burger King that he'd stop mentioning it every time he saw a sign or location (and unfortunately for me there are a lot of them). Deal accepted and honoured for the rest of the trip!! 

From here we continued our rather scenic drive to the Algarve. We arrived late afternoon at the W Algarve and were warmly welcomed by the staff. We scored an insane upgrade here and found ourselves in a corner two bedroom suite with a wrap around balcony with ocean view; yea low season! The room even came with a little wine fridge which was awesome seeing as we brought some wine with us that needed chilling. The time leading up to our arrival in the Algarve was quite packed with activities and a lot of driving so arriving here our plan was to mostly relax. What we hadn't realized prior to arriving is that the Algarve was experiencing a sargassum problem while we were there. This was rather unfortunate because the few beaches that we attempted to visit were impacted making it undesirable to go into the ocean despite seeing in the not too far distance from the shoreline that the water seemed to be clear. So instead we mostly relaxed by the hotel pool when not exploring the area by car. The hotel grounds were quite nice and it appears there are plans to expand the property in the future. The beach right by the property is fairly small and rocky at the shoreline but would be nice if it hadn’t been for all the seaweed. The hotel has a shuttle to another beach about a 5 minute drive away and it is much larger with lovely white sand and a beach restaurant; unfortunately the seaweed had taken over here too and we skipped hoping in the water. 

We had not planned any tours in this part of Portugal, but after a very strong recommendation from one of the hotel staff saying we had to see the Benagli caves, we booked ourselves a last minute (day before) catamaran boat tour that explored the Algarve coastline. The tour started at the Marina de Portimão, about an hour's drive from our hotel. Our tour group in total was about 15 people which was great because it wasn't crowded and gave us plenty of space to comfortably relax on board; we chose to chill out on the netted trampoline area at the front of the catamaran. The tourgave us great views of the rugged coastline and the many beaches that are not accessible by any way other than by ocean. The coastline cliffs were stunning with their multi coloured layers of rock with random villages dotted along the coastline. There are numerous caves along the cliffs with some leading to a hidden beach; the most famous in the Algarve being the Benagli caves. These are only accessible by kayak or small boat so our catamaran wasn't able to get right inside, but we got close enough to get a good glimpse of the hidden beach inside while also maneuvering around all the ocean kayaks. Before heading back to the marina after exploring the coastline, we anchored so we could swim or partake in some water activities like stand-up paddle board. The water was so frigid that I didn’t last very long. Following the catamaran tour we enjoyed a lovely beach front dinner. 

After a relaxing 4 days in the Algarve, it was time to move on and head back towards Lisbon. To break up our stays still even more, we spent a night at the Penha Longa Resort located in the Natural Park of Sintra-Cascais and situated on the outskirts of Lisbon. The hotel had recently been renovated and provides a blend of modern and contemporary design with the picturesque hills of Sintra. There is a world-class golf course situated in the park along with lush gardens, hiking trails, and an old monastery. This was the second hotel we stayed at on this trip that was hosting a wedding. The resort has several restaurants onsite providing different exquisite culinary experiences, boasting two Michelin star restaurants. We didn't eat at either, however the head chef at the restaurant we did eat at, Arola, was the same chef as one of the Michelin starred restaurants. We had a lovely dining experience to explored a contemporary twist to some traditional Portuguese foods. Staying at this resort made it easier for us also to explore the town of Sintra and the National Palace of Sintra called Pena Palace. This is the only palace in Portugal and is a Romanticist palace originally built as a monastery in the 1400s before it was transformed in the early 1800s to a palace to serve as the summer residence for the Portuguese royal family (that no longer exists). We arrived too late to be able to explore the interior of the palace, however walking around the grounds and exterior was most interesting with the incredible views overlooking Lisbon and the ocean. The architecture of the palace was fascinating with numerous towers and turrets, all painted in bright colours giving it a very "playful" look. We also spent some time exploring the charming town of Sintra walking through the labyrinth of narrow streets lined with little shops, restaurants and wine tasting places.

From the Sintra area we drove to our final destination, Lisbon. Traffic definitely got busier the closer we got to the city centre. Before dropping off the car, we stopped in at the Belėm waterfront area. This beautiful area of Lisbon is also home to the famous Pastéis de Belém, a must visit when in Lisbon. The cafe was established in 1837 and is the most popular place to get pastéis de nata. With how popular this cafe is, the tarts are extremely fresh as they keep making them all day long to make sure they don't run out. These delightful custard tarts are Portugal's traditional desserts topped with a dusting of either icing sugar or cinnamon and melt in your mouth and it's easy to want to eat more than one. We may have indulged ourselves a few times over the course of this trip. The Belém area has quite a few sites and monuments to see including the Jerónimos Monastery, and the Monument to Discoveries. From the boardwalk you can also get a good view of the Cristo Rei statue (which resembles Rio de Janerio's Christ the Redeemer), which was constructed as a symbol of gratitude to God for sparing Portugal during WWII in which Portugal remained neutral. 

Lisbon is Portugal's hilly coastline capital city. It boasts several distinct neighbourhoods, all which have a unique history of how they came to be. We choose to stay in the centre of Lisbon for ease of convenience to explore the city. We stayed at a funky, boutique hotel called The Ivens. The hotel and its decor was inspired by the explorers Ivens and Capelo and has a jungle vibe to the lobby and rooms providing an oasis feel within the bustling city. The restaurants within the hotel are a destination even for those not staying at the hotel. It's a very unique hotel, but very fitting with the explorer theme throughout. 

We started our Lisbon exploration with a private tuk tuk tour and this gave us a great introduction to the various different neighbourhoods and different sites to perhaps go back and spend a bit more time seeing. Lisbon is a relatively walkable city if you are prepared for its hilly landscape. It's also easy to get around via Uber, tram, or tuk tuk taxi. There are quite a few pedestrian only streets, a lot of squares often with street entertainment, and incredible viewpoints from the higher points of the city. There is no shortage of restaurants and cafes and shopping. The Time Out Market is a collection of different restaurants and bars with universal seating in the middle of a market style building. The city is rich history and culture and a vibrant nightlife. We felt quite safe walking around in the different neighbourhoods and even at night.   

All in all we had a great time on this adventure experiencing so many new things, amazing food and wine and the warmth of the Portuguese culture. 

To travel is to live, until next time.... life is good!! 

Portugal - Porto and the Duoro Valley

We decided again last minute to change our car rental booking because we once again found a slightly cheaper price through Europcar and they indicated they had mobile pick up. When we arrived in Lisbon, we didn’t have to clear immigration because we had already landed in the EU when we initially arrived in Tenerife so off to baggage pickup which wasn’t too bad and all the while Z was trying to initiate our mobile car rental check in which didn’t work. Needless to say, we walked over to Europcar only to find a massive queue and that their advertised mobile check in doesn’t work. Frustrating, because we ended up waiting over an hour before seeing an agent and even then the whole pick up process with the agent was slower than slow. We finally got out of the airport much later than we wanted and still had a just over 3 hour drive up to Porto ahead of us. 

Getting out of the city of Lisbon was a bit hectic with lots of traffic, but thankfully we didn’t take any wrong turns and got on the highway which aside from the numerous tolls on different stretches was smooth sailing. The thing I like about European highways are they are typically in good condition, there are plenty of service/rest stations along the side of the highways, the speed limit is appropriate for the roads, and most people tend to know how to properly drive… stay in the right lane unless passing and trucks stay in the right lane. It’s a novel concept that I wish would happen back home. The drive up to Porto was pleasant with the countryside more green and forested than we saw in Tenerife. We saw a lot of wind mills scattered around the country and the occasional solar panel farm as well; nice to see renewable energy sources being so vastly used. Z and I shared driving responsibility this time around and by the time we got to Porto, I was still driving and well I made a few wrong turns trying to get to our hotel. It was a bit frustrating for me because the city was unfamiliar and I didn’t want to hold up traffic or get into an accident trying to make a turn onto the route I was supposed to at the last second. After that experience, I stuck to the highway driving and Z did all the city driving with me helping in the navigation and it worked well. 

We arrived at the Renaissance hotel in Porto later than we would have liked, but we got there in one piece, checked in and immediately left for our dinner reservation at a fabulous restaurant called Alto Porto, about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. I had originally made a reservation for 8:30pm but had to change it twice because of the fiasco at the car rental and as such our reservation ended up being for 9:15pm. But hey, most Europeans eat supper late anyway, so when in Europe… We had a fabulous meal and our first real introduction to Portuguese wines; something we both discovered we really enjoyed and really took a liking too. 

The Renaissance hotel is a fairly new hotel, just over a year old and already they are expanding the hotel with a second building. The common areas and rooms are modern and nicely decorated. With most city based European hotels, the rooms aren’t that large, but ours was spacious enough with a king sized bed, a couch, and desk area. The bathroom even had two sinks which was a bonus! Our time in Porto was very limited, so in the morning we had booked a private three hour walking tour to get to see as much of the city as possible. In the morning as we arrived for breakfast, the restaurant was filled with seniors that were just finishing up before they hopped on their tour bus. It went from overly busy to very quiet, very quickly. 

Our tour guide Viola, originally from Italy, gave us a great introduction to Porto, providing information on the history and pivotal times of Portugal, and took us around the main sights and miradours (viewpoints) in the old part of town. It was a great way to see as much of the city as we could for the time we had. We learned that Portugal is the oldest nation-state in Europe established in 1139 AD, Portuguese is the official language in more countries that I thought and besides Brasil, includes Angola and Mozambique, and the traditional Portuguese ceramic tiles known as azulejo are used to decorate buildings, churches, and even train stations throughout the country. Each tile is painted with a part of the end design and then they are assembled to create a beautiful picture or mosaic design. The famous Portuguese pastry, Pastel de Nata, created by Catholic monks in the 18th century is found everywhere but Viola's tip was only buy from a store where you see a long line up and where you can see them being made fresh! 

That afternoon we were off to our next destination, the Douro Valley…one of the popular wine regions in Portugal. The drive to Douro Valley was a couple of hours and we had booked our stay at Quinta Do Valdalagea, a quaint family-run quinta (winery B&B) located atop a hillside with incredible views of the valley below and accessible via a winding road

that turned gravel road and was only one-car wide towards the top. Our host was very welcoming and our room was situated in an old farmhouse-like building with only 5 rooms. It was very cozy and nicely decorated. Each morning we were provided with an impressive breakfast spread with more food than we could eat. Everything was freshly prepared and the hospitality was amazing. As we explored the extremely scenic Douro Valley, we quickly discovered our new found love for Portuguese wine. I always associated Portugal with port wine and the Douro Valley is the only area in the world that is allowed to produce port. Little did I know about the rest of Portugal's wine production. Little interesting fact, Portugal is the world's largest cork producer, supplying over half of the world's cork supply, and this goes hand in hand with being one of the world's top producers of quality wines!! Throughout the Douro Valley there are some 25,000 wine producers... way too many to all taste!! We did try several different wineries during our time there and did not find a single one that we didn't like. In fact, we had a wonderful wine tasting experience coupled with tapas style dinner at Aneto Wines and Table in the little town of Peso da Régua. We enjoyed their wine so much that we bought a couple bottles to bring back home. Another winery worth mentioning that we toured was Quinta Do Vallado, a 300 year old winery that still carries port from 1888 honouring the founder of the winery. We learned on our tour that even with modern day technology, some of the best wines they produce are from grapes they still crush the "old-school" way - stomping with their feet. Yum! 

The Duoro Valley is also home to many olive groves and one of our stops was a combined olive oil and wine tasting tour at D'Origem, which also had picturesque views of the valley below it. Driving around the Duoro Valley was a lot of fun with the windy roads taking you up and through the hillsides with small towns scattered all around. The views and landscape are breathtaking and for as far as the eye could see, there are wineries and olive groves lining the stepped terraced hillsides. Most of the wineries are passed down from generation to generation and you can really feel the passion of the people and the pride in their wines. The Duoro River runs through the area and valley coming from Spain and spilling into the Atlantic Ocean in Porto. We took a relaxing 1 hour river cruise from the small town Pinhaõ and enjoyed the much different scenery perspective from river level. 

Exploring Tenerife

Having a car made exploring the extremely scenic island of Tenerife very easy. The main highways are well signed and kept in great condition, and with typical European places, filled with roundabouts. The villages and smaller towns tend to have much narrower roads, something very common and you come to expect to see. Tenerife is the largest island within Spain’s Canary Islands and is located off Western Sahara, Africa. The island has a lot to offer with pristine beaches, mountain ranges inland, Mt. Teide - the dormant volcano and highest peak in Spain, wineries, numerous small towns and villages to explore, and banana plantations scattered all about the landscape. 

We took our arrival day as a day to get acclimatized and rest up from our long travel day. After settling in to our room, we took the hotel train down to the beach and spent the afternoon lounging and swimming in the bay. On our way back from our afternoon at the beach, we found the funicular that also serves as providing access to and from the beach and hotel. 

Driving in Tenerife was pretty straight forward and easy. One driving excursion took us on a breathtaking scenic drive along a very narrow road filled with massive turns and insane switchbacks to the small mountain village of Masca. The village is about 650m above sea level and has become a destination drive given the crazy roadway to get there and the hike down the gorge to the ocean. Masca has been nicknamed the “Machu Pichu” of the Canary Island because of one mountain peak that looks very similar to Peru’s Machu Pichu. Masca offers stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Teno Mountains that surround it. It is home to about 100 habitants and has a unique charm to it as it really is off the beaten track and not overrun by large numbers of tourists; while the road is very drivable to get there, it’s not for the faint of heart which likely deters enough from heading there. With the village built on the mountain there is a lot of walking up and down cobblestone roadways and stairs, which can be slippery even when not wet, in order to explore. 

We know Spain in general has really good wine and while researching what to do in Tenerife, we discovered they are the main producer and exporter of Canarian wines and so we had to include a wine tour of one of the local wineries. We had already tasted some local wine and really took a liking to it. We booked a tour and tasting at Bodega Ferreira, an organic winery situated 1000m above sea level and surrounded by volcanic lava on either side of its property. Throughout the tour we learned about their regenerative wine making process while walking around the grounds and stopping at several spots to taste the wine; all in all we sampled 4 wines and some port. Our tour was a small group, made up of us and three girlfriends travelling from Poland. It was nice to have a small, intimate group like this. 

Afterwards, we decided to drive to Teide National Park to explore the park and Mt. Teide, the island’s dormant volcano and the third highest volcanic structure in the world at 3,700m above sea level. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, you feel like you’re in another world driving through the park. The volcanic landscape and rock formations make you feel like you’re on the moon. The centre of the park is situated at 2,000m above sea level and at this height, we found ourselves well above the cloud line. The scenery is stunning, with a lot of mirador (viewpoint) stops and Mt. Teide’s peak peeking out above the clouds. You ca take a cable car to the summit, but we were there a bit too late for that and instead enjoyed the scenery and drive through the park. Besides the volcanic landscape, there are forested areas, some of which were clearly burned and scarred in the forest fire the last year. The park is known for its panoramic views, incredible sunset view points and stargazing. Since we were already here and about an hour drive away from our hotel, we decided to head into, Vilaflor, a quaint nearby town for supper at Los Cipreses de la Casa Inglesa. As with many little villages and towns we drove through, the place looked deserted and we thought that perhaps the restaurant was closed, because there was no one around. Lucky for us, the restaurant was open, and we had a fabulous Canarian inspired meal before heading back up the mountain to catch the tail end of a fantastic sunset and wait for complete darkness to see the stars. The star gazing was spectacular and we got a glimpse of Venus and the Milky Way. From where we were standing, we were able to overhear a tour guide explain the various different star formations and galaxies in the sky. 

Another excursion we took was a two-hour sea kayak and snorkel tour. The kayaking was open ocean which I wasn’t entirely keen on, but I ran out of excuses that Z wasn’t able to dispel and so off we went. Thankfully the water was calm on our way out and as we kayaked out, we got to see dolphins, though they were a bit lazy that morning and didn’t fully breach out of the water. Nonetheless it was so cool to see them reasonably up close, we were maybe about 30 feet from them. The pod looked like it was a group of five bluenosed dolphins. The Spanish marine patrol was out in force that day as well and our guide got “pulled over” and grilled about who he was, who he worked for, if thy were licensed, and how many of us were in his group. After about 10 minutes of questioning, we continued on our way to the snorkelling spot where we were supposed to see the resident turtles except that this day there was really much to see at all and the snorkelling turned out to be a non event. I discovered getting back into a sea kayak isn’t as easy as they make it out to be on land. I struggled a lot and thankfully didn’t tip the kayak over, but man was it difficult. After much frustration, I  managed to get myself back in in the least graceful way possible and learned the next day that I managed to severely bruise my thigh in the process. The kayak back was a bit more rough and challenging as the winds had picked up causing more ocean swells and white caps. All in all it was a fun adventure despite my initial reservations. 

Our stay on Tenerife was brief, four days but we maximized our time and explored and experienced a lot of what the island has to offer. It was a fantastic stop before moving on to our next leg, Portugal. Our flight over to Portugal was about two hours on TAP airlines and even on that short of a flight, we had a full lunch service. There is definitely something to non North American airlines having superior service. 

Tenerifé, Canary Islands

Travelling just after the summer break is over we’ve discovered is a great time to travel. It’s less busy and for this trip’s two destinations the weather was still good. Our trip started with an early wake up call to catch our first leg flight to Newark on our  way to Tenerife. At 6am getting to the airport was a breeze as was getting through check-in and security. Our flight time was roughly 5 hours and the flight was quite pleasant with breakfast served shortly after take off. We had a 4 hour layover in Newark and decided to spend most of it in the new UA lounge. The second leg was a red eye into Tenerife. While on this flight we observed that a bunch of the passengers seemed to know each other and were travelling as a group. Turns out they were travelling to Tenerife for a wedding and the groom was sitting right in front of us; we later discovered they were also staying at the same hotel as us! The UA flight was interesting, the flight service was a bit chaotic and felt quite rushed, probably because the flight attendants wanted to get dinner service done quickly so passengers would go to sleep and they could chill out for most of the flight. It seemed to work for us at least as we took a sleeping pill with dinner and were fast asleep shortly thereafter. Our trusty neck pillows helped make this red eye comfortable and we got a decent 4 hours sleep on a 7 hour flight. All in all our travel time to get to Tenerife was 29 hours, so sleeping was key to making it through day one. 

Right before we boarded the flight to Tenerife we were checking on our car rental and started reading horrible reviews about Hertz and how they scammed customers and over charged people. Z being a loyalty Hertz member had booked our car with a pretty good price and all our other times renting from them we had no issues, but these reviews we found were BAD!! So at the last minute, literally, we rebooked our car rental through Sixt, got a lower price with mobile check-in, and ended up with brand new Audi Q2 manual car with only 11km on it. Our flight was slightly early landing and going through immigration was easy; another stamp for the passport. We got the car in a jiffy and were on the road to our hotel, the Ritz-Carlton, Abama.  The roadways on Tenerife are amazingly smooth, well kept and fun to drive.  The main highway TF-1 has a 120km/hr speed limit. Drivers are good at using the left lane as an actual passing lane on the island… what a concept! Our car was equipped with speed detection, much to Z’s annoyance, as it beeped every time he exceeded the speed limit. Needless to say one of the first things I had to google was how to disable this, but when we discovered we’d have to disable each time we started the car, we just got used to the beeping. 🤣

Our hotel was about a half hour from the airport and the drive there gave us really great views of the island and the ocean. Tenerife is a very mountainous island with a lot of barren, dry land. The island has an inactive volcano that last erupted in the 1900s and the lava formed much of the landscape seen today. The island however, is stunningly beautiful, with much fauna growing out of the lava rock, areas of treed forest, and countless banana plantations. Being a mountainous island, the roads are curvy with elevation gains and de elevation, making for some extremely breathtaking views towards the ocean or inland towards the mountain ranges.  

When we arrived at the hotel, our upgraded one bedroom suite was not quite ready so while we waited we had some lunch and explored the hotel grounds a bit. The entire hotel had recently been fully renovated and our suite was immaculate. Just upon entering was a dining table with a large bench against the wall. From there was a large living room with a couch large and chez lounger enough for maybe 8 people to sit comfortably. To the left was the bedroom with king sized bed and a single seater  chair. Both the living room and bedroom had access to a large bedroom that overlooked a lower level terrace and had an ocean view. There was a large closet, more than enough for our stuff and the bathroom had a great walk in shower, a separate tub and double sinks. 

The hotel resort is situated on a large hillside property with the lobby on level 6 which is street level. It is nicely laid out with both a train and funicular that will take you to Playa Abama which is a nice man made cove and is great for swimming and has snorkelling around the lava rocks on either side and by the large rock formations blocking the open North Atlantic Ocean. On each level of the resort leading down to the beach you can find a descent sized swimming pool with ample loungers. The hotel has a few restaurant options on site and for our first evening we chose to eat at Verde Mar, a different restaurant concept that focuses in fresh vegetable dishes as the main course and meat or seafood dishes as the sides. Overall it was a great dining experience with really delicious food, I just realized too late that I needed to be very specific that I like my meat cooked well done. Our stay included a lovely buffet breakfast at La Veranda and as the name suggests we got to eat breakfast each morning outside on the veranda. The breakfast spread was quite impressive and needless to say we only needed a light lunch snack before supper each day. We also ate at El Mirador twice and as the name suggests the viewpoint from this restaurant was stunning as it overlooking the ocean and was the best place to see the sunset. 

The resort was fantastic and while we probably could have spent our entire time hanging out there between the playa and the pools, we wanted to explore as much of the island as possible as we could and we had rented a car to do it. 

Holá Mexico City!!

This year is shaping up to be the year of crazy adventures!! This crazy adventure was a birthday celebration with a long weekend trip to Mexico City! We've been to Mexico a few times, but never to Mexico City so when we found a pretty good flight deal, we thought why not try something new? MC is the capital and largest city in Mexico situated at an altitude of 2,240 metres above sea level, and is filled with cultural significance. Turns out MC is a lot more modern than I imagined it would be, based on nothing really concrete outside of other travel within Mexico which probably isn't a fair comparison. We stayed at the JW Marriott which was located in the very nice Polanco neighbourhood and well located for the things we had planned to do. 

We arrived late evening, made it through contactless immigration quickly and because this was a weekend getaway got out of the airport fast as we had no checked luggage. The hotel was about a half hour Uber ride away. The hotel recently underwent a major renovation and has a flawless modern style to it. The hotel staff were all very friendly. Our room was lovely high-floor upgraded junior suite room with an amazing view of the city in the distance, with the Campo Marte park and National Auditorium across the street. We arrived in our room to a lovely birthday surprise - a cake, a bottle of sparkling wine, and fresh fruit. It started off the weekend well!! 

The next morning, we enjoyed a bountiful buffet breakfast with traditional Mexican cuisine (can you say refried beans?), a large selection of fresh fruits, yoghurts, American cuisine, and a very tempting but we stayed strong pastry and bread table. We ended up exploring the Centro Historico district for the day and enjoyed the sites in the centre square. The Metropolitan Cathedral of MC was incredibly beautiful with its two bell towers and central dome. Its facade is

adorned with statues and columns and inside an abundance of religious figure statues, and artwork ornate alters, and a very magnificent looking organ. One of the other notable buildings we visited was the Palacio Postal, the main post office which has been in operation since 1907. After spending the day exploring and on our feet, we enjoyed a leisurely late lunch/early supper (aka lupper?) at Balcon Del Zocalo. I had read about this place on someone's blog and it came highly recommended, not only for their coffee and food but also their location. If you are lucky, you can be seated in their covered outdoor patio which has a direct and unobstructed view of the cathedral. We were lucky. For pre-dinner service, they offer a 3 course prix fixe menu. The food was delicious and it was here that I tried a beef tongue dish; my first time and I had to apply mind over matter for the first bite, but then discovered this particular dish (prep, seasoning, and cook) was very tasty! We did and saw a lot in the city on day 1, but had to get back to the hotel for by special invitation margarita making class. This was quite the experience. There were six guests in total and class was something new the hotel was trying. They brought in a local bartender who explained everything we needed to know to make the perfect margarita. It was a hands on experience with a great group of fellow travellers - two of whom we discovered were also Canadians living in Montreal but originally from El Salvador and the other two friends there for work from England and from Ireland. Turns out, with the right ingredients and the right instruction we can make a mean margarita! We capped off the night with a couple glasses of vino and some food in the hotel executive lounge. 

The next day was an early one as we were off on our private tour of Teotiuacan, an ancient Mesoamerican city located about a two hour drive from our hotel. This remains an active archeological site stretching 83 square kilometres and was designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The site is known today for its many architectural significant Mesoamerican pyramids, particularly the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, both prominently built at both ends of the city's broad avenue which was likely used as a marketplace. In order to help preserve these pyramids, visitors are no longer allowed to climb up these structures, which is probably a good thing as the stairs are narrow and placed at odd distances between. When looking at both these pyramids at a certain level and angle the mountain ranges in the distance disappear completely as both pyramids are shaped to mirror the mountain at that point. Many other buildings have been uncovered and provide a glimpse into how the civilization lived, worshipped, and held ceremonies. Many parts of the archeological remains have been restored, but much remains in its original form and seeing the "advanced" methods for building they used for the period of their existence is incredible. Beautiful hand painted murals on the walls tell many different stories of life during their epoch. Our guide, an

anthropology major, provided an in depth explanation of the significance of this civilization, how they lived and the societal make up of the population. He was a wealth of knowledge and made the visit worth it! After our walking tour of the site, we had lunch at La Gruta, a restaurant that has been operating since 1906 from its location in a natural cave! After a morning learning about history, we decided to go check out the National Museum of Anthropology, conveniently located within walking distance of our hotel. From there we explored the massive park on which the museum is located. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of parks we found around the city during our visit. We had been in MC for two days now and I had yet to eat a traditional Mexican taco, so Z found a great taco restaurant a short walk from the hotel where we enjoyed the most tasty al pastor tacos ever!! We had also discovered an amazing churros chain called El Moro Churreria; couldn't get enought and had to really resist overdoing it!! 

Our final full day in MC was going to be spent exploring a couple other neighbourhoods nearby that we had read about. We were going to have a leisurely morning, with no set schedule, and we'd sleep in until whenever. Little did we know that every Sunday morning from 8am to 2pm, MC shuts down 55kms of roads to car traffic to allow for cyclists, pedestrians, skaters, runners to move about freely in the city. What woke us up earlier than anticipated, like 7am, was what sounded like cheering from the street below. As we looked out the window we saw what appeared to be a running race going on with spectators cheering on the participants. We later discovered this car free day and decided when in MC on car free day, do what everyone else is doing and participate. MC has a great bike sharing program that we signed up for on their app. In total it cost us $9 for the day and we were able to use the bike system which has stations situated all around town. The only drawn back was you can only rent a bike for 2 hours at a time and then have to return it, but nothing stops you from immediately picking up another bike, so we did that for a few hours and explored so much more of MC than we would have otherwise been able too and we managed to get back to the hotel before the daily deluge started. It was a lot of fun riding the streets of MC without cars and being immersed with all the others enjoying car free day. 

We capped off this trip with a birthday dinner at Archiebald, a restaurant in the hotel but we learned later not operated by the hotel. While the ambience and food were good, the service experience was disjointed., starting with the fact our waiter did not speak English well making communication difficult and then the mistiming of our main course coming before we finished our starters only to have our main course delivered again after sitting under a warming light for 15 minutes. Needless to say we were not happy particularly given Z's main dish of prawns were cold and not fresh as a result. Thankfully an English speaking manager sorted out the problem and we got new, fresh main courses brought to the table followed by dessert, this time appropriately timed; a small wrinkle in what was otherwise a wonderful birthday dinner. 

This was nothing short of a whirlwind trip; some may even call it entirely insane, but we packed in a lot, ate a lot of really good food, had an amazing experience and created many special memories. This trip provided with me a very different perspective of Mexico, one I had not imagined existed. Overall, the city felt safe, it was relatively clean and easy to get around.

To travel is to live... until next time, life is good! 

Singapore

The next stop in this crazy whirlwind trip was Singapore. We started our Singaporean adventure by staying at the Westin Singapore which is conveniently located to the marina bay area. After checking into our hotel room, we made our way to the marina bay area to visit Gardens by the Bay, a nature park spanning 105 acres. We spent the afternoon exploring the various attractions within the park including the flower dome, an impressive greenhouse filled with exotic flowers in a rotating exhibit; floral fantasy a magical exhibit of suspended bouquets and floral arrangements; cloud forest which replicates a tropical mountain with a circular path that passes underneath the world's largest indoor waterfall at 35 metres tall; and the supertree grove boasts 18 tree-like structures ranging from 25 to 50 metres tall which in the evening display the garden rhapsody light show. 

Just by the gardens and not an overly long walk along the marina bay promenade is the famous Marina Sands hotel, an architectural marvel consisting of three towers supporting the SkyPark observation deck, a three acre park on top that resembles a large ship where you find the hotel's infinity pool and the restaurant Spago. From the observation deck you get unobstructed 360 degree views over Singapore. We had a lovely dinner at Spago and timed it well because shortly after we started eating, the skies opened up with the typical Singaporean rain showers. Even with rain we still got to enjoy incredible views over Singapore and also got to watch the garden rhapsody light show. The area immediately adjacent to the Marina Sands hotel is The Shoppes at Marina Bay, a massive shopping mall boasting all the high end luxury brands you can think of making it a a shopping destination. There is a one-of-the kind Apple store shaped as a sphere that appears to be floating directly on the water and offering 360 degree views of the marina. We
stopped in to check it out and took advantage of free charging while we gave our feet a bit of a break from all the walking. Just outside the mall beside the Apple store, we capped off the night watching a free light show just over the water. 

Our second day, we had booked a city bike tour for the morning. This turned out to be a fabulous way to see so much of this great city country. We booked our tour through Klook, an online booking company that offers all sorts of tours in different Asian cities. The cool thing about the city bike tour is that we covered so much area in what felt like a very short period of time, got some good exercise, and along the way learned so much about the history of and current day Singapore from our guide. We hit all the major attraction sites, including cycling on a part of the F1 race track, along the waterfront including a stoping point that gave us an unobstructed view of the Marina Sands hotel, we cycled through Duxton Hill and China Town, Little India, to the Merlion statue and through the university district. Might need to look at doing something like this in other destinations in the future. 

Singapore is situated about 1 degree latitude north of the equator which means it has a consistent hot, humid and wet climate. The temperature while we were there was in the mid 30C from early morning to late at night with humid to boot. What did give relief from the hot temperature somewhat was the rain which happened daily. The country is 284 sq m in area with one main island and 63 satellite islands and islets. With the limited land mass, much of its development is built on land reclamation and while on our bike tour our guide took us to a land reclamation area in process where a brand new stadium will eventually be built. The population is just over 5.9 million and is quite multicultural given its history and proximity within Asia. It's a very modern place, clean, and very safe. Interestingly we didn't see a single human police officers while we visited, but instead there are CCTV cameras installed everywhere and they also have robot police patrolling the streets to help manage limited resources. With the system in Singapore, there is very little crime and any crimes that are committed are strictly punished which seems to act somewhat as a deterrent. In comparison to other Asian countries, Singapore is expensive. It is a major aviation, financial, and marine shipping hub for Asiana. 

We spilt our stay between two hotels so we could experience a couple distinct neighbourhoods. Our second hotel was the Singapore Edition located near the popular Orchard Blvd and shopping mall. Here we had an overly spacious one bedroom room with a large living room. The room was modern, nicely appointed yet with simplistic decor. The hotel had a funky bar called the Punch Room on the lower floor which was completely decked out with blue velvet seats and couches and had a cozy intimate atmosphere. The only odd thing while we were there was they were blaring loud rap and R&B music making it a bit difficult for conversation. The breakfast restaurant was located off the lobby and had a great buffet spread and a la carte options. Their booth seats were nestled in with live plants and ferns making for a tranquil atmosphere. The hotel had a rooftop pool and was interesting to think it was rooftop because all surrounding it were much taller buildings creating a somewhat sheltered area.  

As we explored this neighbourhood area on foot, we checked out the Orchard shopping mall filled with luxury brands, found some really cool street art, wondered through streets lined with little shops and eateries, and stopped in at a quaint café called Wired Monkey Coffee where we each enjoyed a delicious flat white amongst funky monkey related decor. We popped in at the historic and famed Raffles hotel. It is here at the Long Bar where the Singapore Sling was first mixed in 1915. Along Orchard Road is an ice cream sandwich stand. So what's the deal with mentioning an ice cream sandwich stand? Well, these are no ordinary ice cream sandwiches, they are literally a slab of ice cream (with several different flavours to choose from) placed between two slices of special bread to become a literal ice cream sandwich!! And they were only $1!! What a novel concept.... this stand was popular even in the rain when we arrived and the ice cream sandwich was amazing!! 

This was an amazing quick getaway that some may consider crazy with going half way around the world for just one week. But we got to see and experience so much during this week long adventure that it was more than worth the long flight there and back. 

To travel is to live, until next time.... life is good!

Singapore and Batam, Indonesia

We did something a bit crazy in May and took a quick trip to Singapore and Batam Island, Indonesia. Why? Well, I had not spent anytime in Singapore outside of the airport, which is hands down the best airport in the world and no wonder it’s had that ranking for years, but also a new direct flight was launched making it “easier” to get there. Now, the flight was 16 hours and a red eye, not my favourite flying time, but this flight was quite pleasant with a 2 seat configuration in Premium Economy. With my comfy neck pillow I was able to get some reasonable sleep and the time went by quickly. The time difference does throw you off somewhat even if you feel reasonably rested but we got through contactless immigration fairly quickly and grabbed a Grab (Singapore’s version of Uber) and made our way to the ferry terminal. Our first stop was actually Batam, Indonesia, a just over an hour ferry ride away. Our hotel was right by the ferry terminal in Batam so that was very convenient. What we didn’t realize was we needed a tourist entry card to get through immigration and so thankfully we had some cash on us so we could buy the entry card because they didn’t take credit cards at the little kiosk. Lesson learned, check entry requirements for any country you plan on visiting and always have cash. I think we had even debated whether to take cash out when we landed. 

While our overall trip was short at a week, we decided to split the time between Batam and Singapore because truthfully Singapore is expensive, it’s a city island country, and to get a good sense of it you only really need a few days. So this made sense to explore somewhere else nearby, even if nearby was in an entirely different country. Batam is known for outdoor and water activities, shopping, food, and spas. Unfortunately for us, we hit a bad weather system time and it did limit our ability to take better advantage of the outdoor activities. Not that it was all bad, we did make the most of it and explored quite a bit. 

We stayed at the Batam Marriott. We had a beautiful, spacious room with a lovely view of the harbour and of a fishing village across the harbour with houses built on stilts due to the tides. Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country with 87% of the population identifying as Muslim and unbeknownst to us there were was a mosque across the water that broadcast their call to prayer over loud speaker and in the wee hours of the morning made sleeping very challenging. We never did find a way to block out the sound entirely, even earplugs didn’t really work. For us, we found everything in Batam to be quite inexpensive, particularly compared to Singapore. But while this was true for us, you could also see as you explored around that so many of the residents are impoverished and basic infrastructure is in disrepair or lacking. Yet, everyone we encountered was kind, helpful and seemed content. 

We hired a private driver one day to take us on a tour of Batam to see the main sites. We opted this route again because it was inexpensive and gave us the luxury of not being stuck on a bus with who knows how many other people. Jacky, our driver picked us up right from our hotel, and off we went. Jacky spoke pretty good English and he provided a good commentary and explanation of things along the way. Our driving tour took us to the Welcome to Batam sign where conveniently a photographer was standing by to take pictures which he then printed and gave to us. We then were off to a Buddhist temple where Jacky took great pride in showing us around while also taking a moment to say a blessing as we looked around. From there we were off to the miniature house park which displays various replicas of traditional houses of different ethnicities of Indonesia. While the mini houses were cute and a cool way of seeing what traditional houses looked like, the park itself was a bit in disarray and not well kept. From here we went to 70 Fahrenheit Koffee where Jacky arranged a private tour for us even though the factory was closed to the public. We learned about various types of coffee beans and also got a private tasting. It is here where we fell in love the peaberry coffee bean. The bean is fully round in shape unlike other coffee beans and is technically a mutation of the coffee bean as the peaberry is a singular bean in its cherry and only occurs in about 5% of a harvest. Peaberry coffee is more flavourable than other beans we've tried and carries a higher amount of caffeine requiring less beans to brew a perfect cup of coffee. This was a perfect stop for this coffee lover and we bought several boxes to bring back home. After getting re-caffeinated, we drove about an hour to Barelang Bridge 1. This bridge is the first in a chain of six bridges that connect the Barelang island group of Riau Archipelago. Bridge 1 is the most popular stop and again conveniently had photographers situated there available to take and immediately print your photos. Jacky told us there wasn't much to see or any facilities after the first bridge so we didn't venture the remaining 50 kms to the end. Not sure if this was entirely true, or he didn't want to drive it, but we believed him and instead enjoyed some barbecued corn on the cob as a snack before heading off to lunch at a restaurant built on stilts over the water where Z got to literally pick his seafood lunch fresh from the day's catch. This driving tour gave us a good view of the island and opportunity to see the main sites. Other popular activities on Batam are shopping and spa treatments. While we didn't do much in the way of shopping, we did indulge in a couple inexpensive massages. Z also determined that he needed a haircut and found a local barber who gave him a great cut, despite a bit of a language barrier. The cut cost him around $10.

Indonesian cuisine is influenced by Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese and European cuisine and we immensely enjoyed a variety of delicious food full of complex flavour. The fish options were abundant for Z and the non-fish options equally abundant for me. After our four days exploring and eating far too much, we took the ferry back to explore Singapore. 

Malaysian Memories

This trip gave us a glimpse into a part of the world we haven't explored much yet. From the diversity of cultures melded together, to the incredible food - a direct result of this diversity, to the breathtaking natural surroundings and wildlife, and the hustle and bustle of the big cities, Malaysia has a lot to offer. Splitting our time between exploring the big cities, KL and George Town before moving on to more of an island vibe was a great way to see and experience the differences in lifestyles of the Malaysian people. Aside from the delicious food, some highlights of the trip were the cooking class and the interactive wildlife park in Langkawi, the street art in George Town, and the Batu Caves in KL. I have the best partner in the world to explore the world with and we are blessed we could explore this beautiful country and the unique experiences it has to offer.

To live is to travel... until next time. Life is good! 

Langkawi

After a week exploring two large cities, KL and George Town, we made our way over to Langkawi for a week of beach and island exploring. A quick flight over from George Town, we quickly got our luggage and found our car rental rep waiting for us at arrivals and not too long after we were in our way with Z driving on the other side of the road. He made it seem quite easy though at one point trying to signal for a turn he engaged the windshield wipers instead out of habit of where he’d think the signals should be. We had a good laugh and he never did that again. He was quite skilled at driving and never ventured into the wrong side of the road. The roads in Langkawi are fairly good and traffic is usually fairly light. The only thing to really be on the look out for are wild monkeys who often line the sides of the road and decide to randomly cross whenever they feel like it. We decided to split our time on the island at two different resorts. The drive to the first hotel was about 30 minutes from the airport. 

Langkawi is an archipelago of 99 islands about 30km off the coast of northwestern Malaysia. It's a duty free island which makes is great for shopping with a lot of liquor stores, but surprisingly we did not find the prices to be much cheaper despite being duty free. The island is a beautiful outdoor playground with great beaches and tropical forested mountains inland. The island has a fairly long rainy season and we thankfully visited at the end of its dry season and only encountered one evening of a slight tropical rain shower that didn't last very long. 

We stayed at the St. Regis beach front resort situated on the Strait of Malacca which connects the Andaman Sea with  the Singapore Strait and the South China Sea. The resort was located in a bay and as such it was really evident when the tide was out because the water receded well away from the resort and left a muddy bay floor. When the tide was in, it was a great place for swimming so long as there were no jelly fish present and we lucked out with none visible during our stay. The water wasn't the clearest given the muddy bay floor, but it was very warm with gentle waves and wasn't deep. We had a lovely spacious villa with a plunge pool and deck overlooking the bay. The pool was a great place to cool off from the hot 38C but feels like 45C with humidity weather particularly when the tide was out. The resort itself was a bit spread out over a beautiful property that was both beachfront on one side and jungle on the other. We got to see a bunch of wildlife as a result including two different monkey species, eagles and other beautifully coloured birds including one that was a shiny emerald green. The bay also had a lot of fish that were particularly visible when the tide was in. It’s quite possible Z may have even eaten a few of these fish as the seafood options were abundant and always fresh. 

We explored the island a bit; Z found a barber shop as he felt he needed to get a hair cut. I guess the heat and humidity made his hair grow faster than anticipated. The rest of our exploring was tailored to taking in the outdoors and wildlife. We spent one morning at the Langkawi Wildlife Park. This interactive zoo was a really cool experience. The zoo is situated over five acres and allows guests to wander throughout at their leisure with opportunities to feed the animals. At the entrance you can purchase a little bag of food which contains a variety of different seeds and vegetables that the animals eat. At each different animal station there is a sign indicating what that species likes to eat or whether the animals prefer not to be feed. At one point you can walk through an aviary filled with hundreds of different bird species. If you have bird feed in your hand, the birds will happily come and eat from your hand as well as we got to experience with a swarming of budgies. There were a lot of birds I did not recognize, but also peacocks, parrots, swans, ducks, and turkeys. One of the more unusual animal pairings was an enclosure that contain turtles and deer. This enclosure was one you could walk into and Z had the deer following him as soon as he entered. We got to see a couple emu and learned they like to eat peanuts. 

After spending this time interacting with animals directly, our next excursion took us on a boat ride in Kilim Geoforest Park. This park is part of UNESCO's global network of geoparks. We had a private boat which took us through the sprawling mangroves and gave us a relaxing view of the diversity of the park including the limestone rock formations that lined the river behind the mangroves. We got to walk through a real bat cave; thankfully the bats remained stuck on the cave walls even when we shone a light on them. We also got to witness an eagle feeding and stopped in at a fish farm where Z took the opportunity to volunteer to feed manta rays. He says they were gentle in grabbing the food from him, and I'll take his word for it... I was not in the least bit interested in trying. 

The Langkawi Sky Bridge is located closer to our second hotel stay. The sky bridge is situated a top Mount Machincang and is an engineering marvel. You get up to the sky bridge via a cable car that takes you up 700 metres while you enjoy the magnificent, unobstructed panoramic views of the island and the dense green forest of the mountain. As far as your eyes can see you have a view of the Andaman Sea once you get to the top. This sky bridge is the longest curved hanging bridge in the world at 125 metres in length. It's 708 metres from sea level and is not for the faint of heart. On really clear days you can see over to Thailand and Indonesia. It was so beautiful up there! 

Our second hotel stay was at the Ritz Carlton. Yes a bit of a splurge and a once in a lifetime stay for us. This hotel resort was wonderfully situated in a private bay with a pristine beach and expansive rainforest grounds. The hotel's residences are built to blend in with nature and provide complete privacy from other guests. It was quite a spectacular place. Our room faced the ocean and was sunrise facing. One afternoon as we were lounging by the plunge pool a family of monkeys decided to pay a visit and invade our deck. It was quite the experience, but they kept to themselves and didn't really come close to us. We had booked a special wellness package which included a vegan cooking class which turned out to be such a special and amazing experience as we got to make a three course delicious meal under the supervision of one of the sous chefs and then the pastry chef for dessert. This experience opened both our eyes to a different style of cooking and food that we could see ourselves emulating back home every once and awhile. We also got to enjoy a sunset at the beach experience with fresh coconut drinks and what made this even more special was that there weren't many others at the beach then so we pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves. Z enjoyed our sunrise kayak session; I wasn't feeling too great that morning so decided to stay behind. What is it with me and having days of not feeling well when we travel? It's getting a bit ridiculous I must say. Each night we were supposed to have a curated three course vegan meal at the restaurant of our choice, but the first two nights the restaurants couldn't figure it out correctly so we just enjoyed a three course meal of whatever we wanted. The last night we had a lovely specially curated vegan meal and were surprised at how quickly we actually felt full after the first couple of courses. We had the option of having breakfast each morning in our room, and tried it the first morning, but then decided we wanted to experience the breakfast buffet instead and switched to that for the other couple of mornings. And I'm glad we did because we sat outside and got to eat breakfast while watching really cute monkeys playing and eating in the trees. This stay was super special not only because we had booked the wellness package and got to experience a whole bunch of activities we otherwise wouldn't have, but because it was also such a tranquil and peaceful place set amongst nature. And getting to have this experience together was the best part!!