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.

Hog Hollow Lodge at Plettenberg Bay, South Africa

The other day, me and the Boy were reminiscing about our time in South Africa, the adventures and most important the food and luxury accommodation! South Africa is home to three of my top five favourite hotels I have stayed in so far (Camp Bay Retreat and Bayethe in Shamwari) so I want to share with you our experience of the Hog Hollow Lodge in Plettenberg Bay. 

stunning - low clouds and dense forest

These private lodges with roaring fires ad balconies overlooking the forest, and the little touches that make a hotel stay cute  (my favourite being tubs of popcorn and biscuits, the hot water bottle at night and a bed time story left on our pillow), the stay here was oh so comfy and absolutely welcoming. I didn't want to leave!!! 

roaring fires in the rooms 

cute - bedtime story on the pillows 

Three nights in Dubai (UAE)

A few weeks ago me and the Boy were in Dubai. Dubai is one of those places that hasn’t made it to the “must have” list (that is reserved for the likes of South America, New York and Japan) but it is somewhere I was curious to go to, simply because I know so many people I know have gone there!

So we decided that, seeing as we were flying with Emirates, we would stop by there on the way home from our honeymoon in South Africa.

The flights time from Johannesburg to Dubai is just over 8 hours, so with our night flight, we landed in Dubai at 5.30am. Luckily the hotel had organised a transfer for us and the hotel was only 25 minutes drive away (and yes I did sleep the whole way) so we had a quick check in and helped ourselves to the amazing buffet breakfast.

Having not slept, a nap was definitely in order but we never actually managed to get ourselves back out of bed until midday! We had already booked cocktails for 5pm at the Burj Kalifa, so spent the interim wandering around the Dubai Mall which is kind of attached to the Burj Kalifa. Although we didn’t really see that much of it, as it is absolutely huuuge – the world’s largest in fact! It even has an aquarium in it (albeit a small one). 

watching the rays being fed at the mall

Safari, Shamwari, South Africa (part 2) - "don't pretend you are an animal in the dark"

As you  know, I have recently  returned from a trip of a lifetime to South Africa which included three amazing nights at safari. It was such an blockbuster of a trip, for just those three nights, 
I  have had to split the blog into two parts. 
Here is part two, but read part one -  "Don't base your expectations on the Lion King" here

….To really get into the thick of it (as if being in a jeep 2 meters away weren’t close enough )we went on a ‘bush walk’… in a nutshell, we stalked some lionesses and cubs on foot. Seeing them without the safety of a huge vehicle is amazing (although he did have two guides and two shotguns).

look closely and you'll see giraffe in the back ground

When on a walk, you really wake up to what’s around you, becoming more alert to sounds and movements in the bushes. You’re pretty safe to be honest as the lions warn you with their gruff roar that you’re getting uncomfortably close into their territory!!! The worse thing that happened to me, was picking up a giant earth worm and it pooing on me (it is ok, I was wearing the Boy's coat, so just wiped my hands on that). 

the greenery of the scenery 

We had three nights on the Shamwari reserve, about an hour or so drive from Port Elizabeth, but to be honest, I don' really know as I was doing my best at being a navigator and was asleep for most of the journey. Anyway, Shamwari is a 25,000 hector area of land which helps protect, preserve, and rehabilitate the endangered safari animals, so as  well as seeing these beasts at their finest, you are also doing your bit to help conserve them!!!

St Francis Bay (and Jeffrey's Bay), South Africa

Being pretty much slap bang between Plettenberg Bay and Shamwari (our game reserve destination), we stopped off at St Francis Bay for two nights. On our first night, we didn’t arrive at our B&B “Sandals” until about 6pm, so we went straight to dinner. We ate on the recommendation of the guy who checked us in, going for seafood and sushi at “Christy’s Catch” a cute, down to earth, family run restaurant, two minutes walk from the B&B.

you can see our room's balcony top left

enjoying a kaluha 'don pedro' at Christy's Catch 
(ice cream and kaluha liquor)

Our hotel had a convenient location of being round the corner to the high street and main area, but when I say high street, this isn’t a hustlin’ and bustlin’ strip but a small collection of shops and eateries.

There is actually quite a bit to do around St Francis Bay, from boating activities, hiking, deep sea fishing and quad biking etc, a bit similar to Plettenberg Bay.

One of the reasons the Boy wanted to stop here though was for the surfing. 

Camps Bay Retreat Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa

For the start of our adventure, we had four nights in Cape Town. When we left the capital for our twelve day road trip along the garden route, one of the things I was sad to leave was our hotel. Less of a hotel actually and more of boutique B&B set in some lush surroundings, this is one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in.

the veranda and gardens overlooking the sea

We stayed at the Camps Bay Retreat, in the laid back beach area of Camps Bay, which we were informed, numerous times, that Camps Bay was the area for the rich and famous! 

one of the lounges