We woke up bright and early one morning and hit the road to Granada…
The Alhambra!!!
I really don’t have words for how grand and beautiful the Alhambra is…simply stunning.
Next up…Christmas in Spain xx
Tag Archives: vacation
Sunrise Hike in Alcalá la Real, Spain
I’m currently enjoying a fabulously relaxing holiday in Spain with my gorgeous husband and beautiful Sister and Brother-in-law.
Every day has been full of treats, big sleeps, and lots of photography!
I decided I wanted to wake up before the sunrise on December 21st and hike up the hillside to watch the sun break through the fog and hopefully bring with it a new age and happier days for the world.
My husband helped me navigate through the dark and find the best boulders to stand on the get these glorious shots.
The sky went through so many colors and the clouds created an amazing collection of patterns all within the span of 20 minutes or so…
All the tiny things come to life in the early morning light…
La Mota sits high above Alcalá…
The fog lingers…
Then the blue sky pushes through…
We feel lucky to be alive and refreshed to be in such a special part of the world together!
I hope you are having a wonderful holiday wherever you are. xx
Barton on Sea
I was just about to post the first batch of my Spain photos and realized that yet again, I’ve got photos from other trips that I’ve not posted!
I’m not sure how my spectacularly magical Summer trip to Barton fell through the cracks of my blog posts, but I’m here to rectify this oversight!
Beaches, flowers, forests full of ponies, frolicking puppies, and double rainbows.
Pretty damn magical.
Enjoy!
Rainbows and wild ponies in New Forest!!!
Amazinggggggg!!!!
xx
A Very Cold Venetian Holiday…
Ahhhhhh Venice!
The last stop on our honeymoon tour of beautiful and unseasonably wintry Italy.
When we planned our trip, we did zero research on what events would be going on in the various cities we were visiting.
We just had 14 days to burn and decided on February at random.
Much to our delight and complete surprise, Carnival was in FULL SWING when we arrived in Venice.
Costumes, music, FOUNTAINS OF RED WINE, and confetti, confetti, confetti!!
We stayed at the Hilton because we got a super good deal for it being such a high-end hotel-http://www.molinostuckyhilton.it/index.php
Although building is beautiful and the view was amazing…(view from our room…that’s Venice across the way)
…we would never stay there again, for the following reasons:
It was simply too damn big, too far from the mainland, food drinks etc. were SO OVERPRICED, Wifi was like 25 euros (barf), and it was freezing so the gorgeous pool was closed.
We felt like we were missing out being so far away from the center of Venice.
We got up and ready and out the door everyday and then had to wait for a water taxi and then another 25 minutes to get into Venice.
By this time, we were HANGRY and GRUMPYFACED.
We did Florence and Rome via Airbnb https://www.airbnb.co.uk/
And has such great experiences with this that we will never ever book hotels again.
We learned our lesson in Venice!
So onto the fun part! PHOTOS!
I took a massive amount of photos.
Get a cup of tea, sit back, and relax because I’m going to post them all in one go.
Venetian shop windows…!!!
My most favorite book…
Rialto Bridge at night…
A night of glorious Italian opera (birthday gift from the super sweet hubs)
Day in Murano…
The Venice Cemetery…
Ponte dei Sospiri (The Bridge of Sighs)
Confetti covering everything…
Pups!
St. Mark’s Basilica
It was cold, but it was still dreamy. Ciao Venice xx
Grouse House Bed and Breakfast Edinburgh
How have I lived this long and not ONLY stayed in bed & breakfasts when I travel?
Somehow I had it in my head that they were these weird old musty houses with green shag carpeting stocked with uber creepy victorian doll collections.
I don’t need some demon doll glaring at me in its crocheted doily dress as I chow down on my cornflakes the next morning.
Not my idea of R&R.
Are they not strictly for couples going away to have a zen weekend to fix some personal issues and sleep in all day?
Apparently you can just stay in them like regular hotels, except for the fact that they are adorable and cozy and don’t charge you for every little thing.
WHO KNEW? AND WHY DID YOU KEEP THIS FROM ME?
Grouse House is sort of the champion of the B&B. No really. It is.
The ideal that all other B&B’s should model themselves after.
Pretty much every little detail you could dream up, the owner Dean has already got sorted out for you.
And he’s actually a NICE person.
He’ll talk to you and give you sound advice on where to go and what to avoid while you are visiting and really mean it!
And the rooms are decorated with charm and modern style.
No crappy wallpaper, no pink carpeting from 1983.
Warm and inviting with tons of character and whimsy. Without being cutesy.
Just clean and calm and CHILL.
Dean was nice enough to let me poke around and take photos the morning that we checked out.
(After the biggest most spectacular breakfast accompanied by awesome tunes and candles glowing on the hearth!)
EVERY Bathroom should have room spray. Period. End of discussion. Dean knows!
The dining room is incredibly beautiful and peaceful.
Grab a seat, have a cup of coffee.
R-E-L-A-X.
If you ever find yourself in need of the best sleep of your life, the friendliest B&B host, the heartiest breakfast, and the hottest shower you have ever taken…look no further my friends…mystery solved!
http://www.edinburghsgrousehouse.co.uk/index.html
Til we meet again Grouse House! Keep making people happy! xx
