Rome (part 2) - Eating out, where to stay and getting around

Italy is famous for a lot of things - football, the Roman Empire, looking like a boot - but one of their greatest feats has to be their food right?!

So of course, a good proportion of our time in Rome was spent eating! We did do the cultural things too, promise, so for things to see and do in Rome, see part one here. 

Eating out

Here are some of my suggestions where we were eating and drinking...

Vacanze Romane, Piazza Navona
We ate here on the first night, opting for the calamari (a holiday standard for me) and pizza. The food was good, the rose not over sweet and the atmosphere was bubbly, probably helped by the waiter who went around signing and dancing to the music being played by the buskers in the square. This was quite a pricey place thanks to its prime tourist spot.

Rome (part 1) - Things to see and do

When I got my promotion back in December, I told The Boy that I would treat him to a trip away. Fast forward 8 months and we’re taking a five day break in the magnificent capital of Italy – Rome. 

I have actually been to Rome twice before, but once when I was 18 months and the second on a school trip (as part of our classical civilizations GCSE). But seeing as the first time I was barely out of nappies and the second time I was an annoying teenager, I didn’t really have that many memories of Rome and its offerings.

Being somewhere The Boy has always wanted to go and a place hyped up by friends, this trip had a lot of live up too…. And it did. It’s a beautiful city; full of history and culture, bustling side streets, glorious food and random ancient roman ruins.

The must see

There is no shortage of things to see and marvel at in Rome. 

A weekend skiing in Andorra (part 2)

The weekend before last, I was in the glorious slopes of Andorra, on the resort of Pas de la Casa (or as my friend told the guard at passport control “Casa de la Pasa”!!!)

In my first post I shared with you the more trivial and embarrassing side of my trip, just the usual things we get up to skiing... such as me skiing on my chin or upside down.

But anyway, this post is to share with you my favourite spots of Pas de la Casa.

  

The hotel and spa:

I will be honest with you on this one, me and my friend Sophie chose this one completely by chance. Not cos we are experts and researched it for days. We were going to do the easy and stay in the hotel she stayed in last time but then we found the Font d'Argent hotel for just a few quid more and that came with a spa!!! Sold!!! A hard days skiing followed by a bit of Jacuzzi time sounded great!

For £35 a night each, I would definitely recommend this hotel! 

the bathroom was large enough for all my toiletries! 

me and Rachel shared the double couple's room! 

The staff were absolutely lovely, the hotel clean and beds were seriously comfy (although you might see that as a down side when you have had three hours sleep and you need to drag your arse out of bed for a morning’s worth of skiing?!) 

A weekend skiing in Andorra (part one)

I have just come back from a brilliant weekend mini break in Andorra, which my friend Sophie suggested last year that we went as she had been before and absolutely loved it. Personally I have never heard of Andorra and didn’t even realise where it was or that it was a separate country* (well, more of a mini state actually) so I really didn’t know what to expect.

As soon as we got there though we knew it was going to be a good weekend! We had an amazing time in Andorra, albeit it was just four days and three nights - I would definitely recommend coming here! The long transfer is a bugger though as it didn’t match up with our flight times very well but it was a sacrifice worth making.

beautiful slopes of Andorra

nothing like a chilled rose with lunch on the slopes! 

Landing from our 7am Gatwick to Toulouse flight and a 2 hour mini bus transfer with an angry driver bombing it up the mountain, we arrived bleary eyed to the “Pas de la Casa” resort of Andorra at about 2pm, and like any pro-skier, we decided as a group that the best thing to do was to check in, dump the bags and head out for crepes and cocktails!

our chosen spot for cocktails and crepes

Unfortunately we arrived on the 14^th March which happened to be a national holiday of some sort, meaning a lot of shops, bars and restaurants were shut. Annoyingly also meaning that we couldn’t pop to the supermarket and make the most of the cheap alcohol on offer (3 litre Absolute vodka for 20 euro! Hello!) We didn’t do much better the next day either when we didn’t realise that the shops shut at 8pm.