Ghent the place to be!

Ghent

In april we made a citytrip to Ghent.

Have you ever experienced coming to a place and thinking, wow I do not want to leave here? Well, I had that with Ghent. Ghent is amazing!!
It is a beautiful town, really nice, people very friendly and the atmosphere is great. They say you must have seen Rome before you die, but you have to been to Ghent  too before you die!

Ghent has beautiful architecture, a lot of boats on the water, a lot of nice places to eat and drink, a must visit!!

One tip! Put on good walking shoes, they have cobblestones as roads, they don't walk really easy with high heels! Might you have sore feet from walking around, you can go to Zen Senses at Reylof! This is a beauty/welnesscenter situated by Sandton Grand Hotel Reylof and they have the best treatments for your feet and the beautiful part you can do them together with your partner!! 

And if you are looking for a place to sleep, the best hotel in town is Sandton Grand Hotel Reylof!! It is a very beautiful hotel, very friendly staff, great breakfast and on walking distance from the center!

We wanted to eat Ghent-style stew or Flemish beef stew with fries, but everything was full. We could eat no where!! Make sure you make a reservation if you have a nice restaurant that you want to visit! Finally we found this little Chinese restaurant at de Korenlei named Jin Jiang. It smells funny inside, but the food is excellent! You can have a look in the kitchen from your seat, that is nice to watch! Even if it is not on the menu, ask if you want something because maybe they can prepare your dish anyway, they made my special request!

I personally recommend the beef in black beansauce, really great!!

The weather wasn't really our friend, so I hope to come back some day, to have that Belgium beer and stew and see some museums!

I love Ghent, Belgium!!

Cabo Verde Ilha do Sal

Here is my travel diary from my dream trip to Cabo Verde!

Thursday
On the 6th of August 2015 we went to Cabo Verde. The plane-trip was horrible, there was a crying child which cried for 7 hours!!!! First we made a stop in Boa Vista, but we were not allowed to leave the plane and then we were finally in Santa Maria, my first time outside of Europe! We went with a transfer to our hotel Riu Garopa. The welcoming there was amazing and unforgettable. That evening we got a little glimpse of the Cabo Verde life. There was a market in the resort, where locals sold there handmade souvenirs and there was live music and people were dancing, it was great. That was our Thursday.

Friday
On Friday we went to the beach, because the pool was too crowded for our taste. The beach is very beautiful, there are palmtrees, very lovely. When you go on to the beach there are locals who try to sell you excursions, please do one or two excursions!! It is very nice to do, very interesting and the locals make money. If you need a reference who to pick, I can refer you to Discovery Tours from Janilson, we had Emerson and Danny as our guides and they are great!

We went to walk to the right on the beach from our resort. You end up on a piece of beach with only rocks, black sand and there are even a few homeless people living there, they made houses of cardboard and garbage, old wood etc. So right from the resort is not very interesting.

Saturday
On Saturday we went to Santa Maria to the pier. This you should really do and experience, this is great. You can walk from our resort it is 15 minutes by street or by taxi, that would cost you 3 Euros. On the pier there are the local fishermen catching fish and the wives are trying to sell the fish. The children are running around, happy with only the sand and the water. And there at that exact moment, I cried. It just hit me, these children have nothing and our children have never enough! We were in a perfect resort with so much food in abundance and outside the resort is poverty, it didn't feel good to be in the resort and to be there. But my husband told me we had to be there so they can live from the tourism. So everybody needs to go to Cabo Verde!!! We took pencils and ballpoints with us for the school, unfortunately there was a holiday so the schools were empty and we left our stuff for the local kids in the hotel.  By the beach near the pier is a very lovely bar/restaurant La Villa, you can sit here and have a drink, and the service is very good and they have free WIFI!

There is only one thing you have to watch out for and that are the Senegalese salespeople. They can be very persistent and the souvenirs they sell are not handmade and are certainly not from Cabo Verde.

Sunday
On Sunday evening we went on our turtle tour. It was a three hour tour from 20.00 until 23.00 usually. Now we arrived at the hotel at 01.30, because the turtles wouldn't show themselves and Emerson wouldn't give up looking for them. The tour is an adventure. You go in a jeep, we were with two other family's. And then you go to the beach. At the beach it is very dark, the only thing you hear is the amazing sound of the waves hitting the beach and above you a very starry night. It is a very impressive experience, everything is so quiet and there are so many stars, in our town we don't see much stars because of all the light there is. It is so beautiful, inspite of not seeing any turtle I wouldn't want to have missed this in the world!!!!

Monday
On Monday we went to walk to the left from our beach. This you should do!! You walk for miles and don't meet a soul, miles and miles of beach only for you and your loved one! After a walk of 45 minutes we saw the pier in Santa Maria. The beach here is so beautiful and so very quiet!

Tuesday

On Tuesday we did the Island Tour. You should really do this if you would like to see more of the island. We went with Discovery Tours and took the private tour. So you can go where ever you want to go, the trip took almost all day and our guide Danny showed us everything we wanted to see!! So remember Discovery Tours!!!

You start at Murdeira Bay.

Then you go to Monte Leao (Sleeping Lion mountain) . It is very beautiful up there and tourists make piles of rocks and come back years later to see if their pile still stands.

Then you go to Palmeria, the fishing town. Here are a lot of aggressive Senegalese salespeople, be aware!  The women are waiting for their husbands to return from the waters.

After this we went to Regona, where you can jump off the rocks into the water! This is a very beautiful spot, people like to picnic here but also leave there trash behind unfortunately!

Then it was time for Buracona, the Blue Eye. 

Then it was time for the Mirage, Terra Boa. It looks likes water, but there is only sand!

Here you find an original souvenirshop run by locals, who make the souvenirs while you watch.

You can also get a refreshing drink here.

In Espargos we had lunch and on the way you pass shanty towns, where the poor people live.

It was time for a little danger, Shark Bay. Here you can rent water shoes for two Euros per person, you will need those because the water is filled with sharp rocks. With renting those shoes you help the locals a little. For those two Euros you get a guide, who guides you through the water near the sharks. We have seen some shark tails, but it was very busy and crowded.

Last but certainly not least we went to Pedra Lume, the Salt Lake, which is really cool to swim in or I could better say float in. You should really go here, this is a very nice experience.

Wednesday

On Wednesday during the day we had a little rain. But in the evening we went to photograph the sunset. 

Thursday

On Thursday it was time to go home already, with tears in my heart I said goodbye to this beautiful country and the beautiful habitants!

So don't let anybody tell you Sal is boring and only sand. If you stay in your resort, then the only thing you will see is beach and the resort, but go outside and see the beauty of the whole island! Sal is beautiful, some parts look like a desert in Africa, other parts look like the beach of a Bounty island, the fishing city's look like fishing city's, but everything combined it is just beautiful. The people ar very nice and beautiful, the country is amazing.

I made this blog in English, usually I write in Dutch (you can probably tell by my poor English), but I want to reach a bigger audience. People should know about Cabo Verde. Sure you can go there if you only want a sun and beach holiday, it is perfect for it. It is perfect if you want to surf or dive, but if you want to see something rent a car and drive across the island or even better book an island tour. The beauty of the island will then be revealed!!

Surprising citytrip to Bucharest!

It is 25 years ago that I first set foot on Romanian ground and it immediately felt like home! We went there and brought clothes and toys with us and we helped out in orphanages. We saw a lot of places then such as, Brasov, Cluj Napoca, Timisoara, Hunedoara and my favorite Suceava. The summer of 1994 was the last summer I was there and I planned to go live and work in an orphanage, but fate had a different plan. In November 1994 I met my husband and Romania became a warm memory.

Until last month, when we went to Bucharest for our 18 years anniversary! For the both of us Bucharest was new, I had never been there and he had never been in Romania.

At the airport we were picked up by Stefan from HolidayTaxis.com in a very luxury car. Stefan told us a lot about the city while driving to our hotel K&K Elisabeta. I can recommend HolidayTaxis and Stefan in particular!!

K&K Elisabeta is a great hotel, very nice staff and they speak very good English, they tell you what to see and what you can do on your trip. The room was very beautiful, nice airco, minibar and coffee and tea and in walking distance of the centre.

On Saturday we decided to take a day trip to the Peles Castle, we had our own personal guide via Travelmaker, Serban. He made the two hours long drive a big party, he told us something about every village we passed. And then I saw a little of the Romania I knew. Little old ladies by the road selling berry's and other fruit. Old man on a horse and carriage. I loved it, I was back!!

The Peles Castle is a very beautiful castle, for an additional 32 Romanian Lei you are able to make pictures inside the castle.

After this beautiful castle we were going to Azuga cellars now called Halewood. Here we got a very nice wine tasting , they supplied the Romanian Royal Court between the world wars. Today the supply The House of His Majesty King Michael the First with their famous sparkling wine, Rhein Extra and we tasted that!! During the taste we got dinner Mamaliga and Samale!

I have thought of sample so many times, I was so happy we got this meal!! I remember one time, we were in Cluj Napoca, they wook us op with Samale. We got it as breakfast, that was a bit to much for me, but after so many years I sort of missed it and was glad we took this trip!

The way back to Bucharest was a party again, thank you Serban!! You know so much about the history of your beautiful country!

I also found that Romania has the best pastry and cakes! I didn't know that, my husband said that is why I love Romania because I love eating cake ;-)! We found a little gem, and I will share my secret with you. It is on the Reg. Elisabeta 3-5, here is a little shop where you can eat the best cake in town and very very cheap and very good! You find the Ursus Minimarket and there you walk around the corner and there it is!

If you want to get something to eat, good food for little money go to the Old City. There are streets and streets full of restaurants, bars etc. We went to Food Hood, if they are there next year, which I hope they will, you have to pay them a visit. It is a little square with a bar and a few food trucks and they have a very nice ambiance. There is even a beach corner, so you can imagine you are on the beach! We had pizza from Squadrapizza, just as good as in Italy!!

On Sunday we had to go home, but three days in Bucharest is too little time. We wanted to see so much more, for instance Muzeul Satului and other great museums. I would have liked to shop, they have very big stores now, which they didn't have 25 years ago!!

Romania I hope I will not have to wait another 21 years to visit you again, you are still in my heart, always!! Thank you for a great weekend with very friendly people, nice food and beautiful places!!

If you would like a transfer from the airport to your hotel look at: HolidayTaxis
For a very good hotel in Bucharest, I would recommend: K&K Elisabeta
And if you are looking for excursions, day trips of multiple day trips look at Travelmaker and ask for Serban Riga (You know the capital of Latvia ;-)).