vacation Archives - Zeens and Roger

Menorca. Our Half Term Holiday

June 15, 2018July 26, 2020holiday8 Comments

For the longest time I have really, really wanted to go to Menorca. I don’t know why, I’ve just had it in my head that that was where I wanted the next family holiday to be. I probably saw it on the telly and thought it looked like a paradise that was easy to get to. Also, I was vaguely aware that there was good food to be found!

Mitjana. Probably better when it’s not raining and you don’t have to hang out with nudists.

Getting There

We got there the usual way, EasyJet from Bristol. It worked out to be about £400 cheaper than flying via Flybe from Exeter, which annoys me because I could easily walk to Exeter airport from home.

Where to Stay

I spoke to a friend who went a year or two ago. She told me where she’d stayed and where she wish she’d stayed instead. The wish place was Ciutadella. It’s just under an hour by car from the airport, which is pretty much the entire length of the island.

We Airbnb’d it. I won’t tell you which villa we stayed at cos we didn’t like it. It looked the part but not only was it on a busy road, it also reeked of must and damp. It’s such a shame because it was a beautiful space, the gardens were big and the pool was lovely. If they’d looked after the inside like they did the outside, it would have been perfect. It was only a ten minute stroll to the nearest beach (Sa Caleta) and a supermarket wasn’t that far either. We booked in February, if we’d done so a few months earlier there probably would have had a better crop to pick from (I fell in love with a farmhouse surrounded by beautiful fields but nope, someone else had got their mitts on it first).

An avarcas wearing, beer drinking, lie down near the pool.

What we ate

Menorca has a reputation for its very good food. Therefore I assumed it would be dead easy to find a cheap little cafe or restaurant that local people loved. We didn’t eat out at any of those wherever they were. One place (a cafe in the main square of the capital city, Mahon) barely served real food at all, it was nasty. I also disliked the food at the restaurant we went to in Fornells. We chose a busy one (that’s what I thought you were supposed to do) but it was half arsed. I had stuffed aubergine as it’s a Menorcan classic but it was some disappointing brown slops on a plate. The other place we tried was in Ciutadella and it was the nicest. We ate grilled cuttlefish and patatas bravas and we enjoyed that, even with the party of ants that had joined us at our table.

It boiled down to this: we couldn’t afford to eat in the restaurants that give Menorca its good food rep. I didn’t get to eat the caldereta de langosta that I had my heart set on because it was too expensive. It’s sad day when you can’t even afford “peasant” food.

The markets? Sooo good and loads of fun!! I really enjoyed using some dodgy Spanish to ask for what I wanted (a huge change from my chickening out on last year’s trip to Spain). We went to the fish market in Ciutadella twice. We came back with loads to put on the bbq and it was delicious. Then there was a food market on the Saturday morning too where we bought locally made bread with sobrassada, eggs and some fruit n veg. We took it all back to the villa and had a lovely lunch with yummy stinky cheese that’s made on the island as well.

I almost forgot the fish market/deli in Mahon. That was fab but I was too full of crappy omelette from a crappy cafe to enjoy all the pretty tapas. We got a couple of things but dammit, I wanted it all! Gutted.

Meh, I didn’t research and paid the price. I’m forever cursed with being a lazy food snob.

Oh, I liked the gin a lot even though it’s “not real” gin (it’s distilled from wine not grain). It was interesting, refreshing and tasty. I liked it with schweppes, not lemonade as is traditional in a pomada. Came home with a bottle of that, some vac packed cheese and sobrassada. Yum.

When you tell the kids that conejo is chicken…

Fella selling pineapple from his wheelbarow. He was lethal with his blade

Stuff to do

You go to Menorca to go to the beach. You just do. It has loads of them. Beach too full? Walk to the next one. That one full? Pop across to the next etc… This is another reason why it’s a good idea to come in the half term hols. I gather that in July and August Menorca is heaving with people. Like sandy sardines in a tin. We avoided all the ones near resorts assuming they’d be busiest. We parked at Son Saura twice. The first time we went to Bellavista, which was very nice but the next time we parked here, we walked a bit further to Es Talaier. It was stunning. A beautiful, beautiful beach. There were a few jelly fish but we swam in the warm water anyway. The boys had never swam in the sea before and were beyond excited! I, however, didn’t swim too vigorously because a boob would bounce out the bikini if I got too enthusiastic.

Oh, and Mitjana is gorgeous too. Sort of. There was a big group of loud teenage school kids on a trip plus a load of crusty seaweed spread across the shoreline. We walked further on and found a teeny cove to climb down to but I bust a flip-flop, which put me in a mood and there was nowhere to sit apart from a small spot next to Ugly Naked Guy.

Caves! There were cool caves. Man-made by real cave men! We all really liked it here. The youngest boy absolutely loved clambering all over these. And you do have to climb a little bit to get to them. Good views when you’re at the top. I don’t think I’d want to live in a cave but they were fun to stop by.

What else? I dunno. We went to Fornells but thought it soulless. Very grey. The littlest boy said it was like being on the moon. It wasn’t bad but it didn’t do it for us.

I’d like to have tried a couple more towns such as Es Mercadal and Ferreries. We ended up running out of time and felt like it wouldn’t be much of a holiday if we were rushing round trying to squeeze in as much as possible. The aim was to take it easy so we missed out on a few things.

I did go shopping though! Got some new shoes! Oh my, they are so comfortable and I’ve worn them everyday since I got them. If you find avarcas, get yourself a pair. I’d like all the colours of the rainbow, please!

In Ciutadella I found three (or even four) fabric shops and two places that sold yarn. Can you believe I didn’t buy any?! It’s not a woolly sort of place. The yarn wasn’t Spanish, so I wasn’t interested. OK, there was some Katia in an indoor market in Mahon but that’s not what I wanted.

Conclusion

It’s more expensive than Venice! I feel naive for not knowing. But I’ve been and I’m glad of that. Box ticked. We’ve got some saving to do now. No more holidays abroad for quite some time. It’s been an indulgent couple of years. The children are old enough to buy us some freedom so we’ve been taking advantage of that. I also received a little bit of money when Nanna and Grandad died; I think they would have wanted me to enjoy it. I certainly did! Thanks N&G for Amsterdam, Spain, Venice & Menorca! It’s back to camping in Dorset!

A few more pics below.

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Can you imagine what this terraced garden would look like in top notch condition?

Sa Caleta. Lots of pretty rock bits for clambering over. “Don’t go near the edge!”

xxx

Two Nights in Venice (On the Cheap)

April 17, 2018April 18, 2018holiday20 Comments

This time last week I was in Venice. It is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. It was awesome, I was literally in awe. Every five minutes someone heard me say “this place is amazing, I love it!” The husband started getting annoyed, “you’ve already said that.”

Have you been to Venice? It’s amazing, I love it! I went expecting to say goodbye to a lot of cash and, if necessary, sell my soul. Yet, our budget didn’t burst its banks at all. This wasn’t actually going to be a post about how you can do Venice on a budget, it was just going to be my usual thing of whacking up pictures and saying what a nice time I had. However, I want you to go to Venice too and I don’t want you to dismiss it because you think it’ll cost the earth. It doesn’t have to.

Getting There

We did Ryan Air on the way there and Easy Jet on the way back. This wasn’t my job. Another person in our party of six sorted out flights. He found the best times and prices. It didn’t occur to me to choose two different airlines but this saved us money. We booked in November/December so I can’t remember how much it was, around £100 pp return from Bristol. Just over, I think.

Once you’re at the airport you can get a water bus but it’s half the price to get the train. We wanted to be fancy so we got the bus. A private taxi would be even fancier and they really zooom across the water!

That building in the middle? A hospital!

Where to Stay

It’s Airbnb all the way for me. My job was to find accommodation and I didn’t bother looking anywhere else. Seeing as we were three couples, we needed a three bed place. This was also booked in November/December and I think that was too late. Many suitable apartments had already gone and there wasn’t loads of choice for nice places. The best bet is to leap on flights as soon as they’re released and book somewhere to stay at the same time. Don’t dilly dally. However we did manage to find a clean place with a nice view out the back and three bathrooms. It was right near a stunning looking hospital in a pretty square with plenty of bars. Nowhere took longer than fifteen minutes to walk to. Unless you got lost, which we did. Frequently.

The view from our kitchen window. Sadly, there was no access.

What We Ate

Oh my goodness! Everything I ate was fabulous. The only thing I didn’t care much for was the gelato. I don’t know if I had a duff one or if it’s because I’m normally all about umami but I didn’t like the dense texture. It was sturdy ice cream! If we’d have had time (and emptier bellies) I would have gone to the Boutique del Gelato; apparently it’s top notch.

Cichetti. I don’t know the name of this place. It was our first bit of Venetian grub.

Cicchetti!! Wowsers, I loved all of it, even the salt cod and pickley fishy things! Cicchetti is a bar snack a bit like tapas and you need it in your life. We went to several places to get our fill and each time we also ordered prosecco. Yuuuum!!! Stand at the bar and eat or you can sit too. You might have to pay extra to sit though. Cicchetti is cheap and you can easily fill up on it for a few quid. Try All’ Arco for traditional/local and also Acqua e Mais for a cone of deep fried calamari and shrimp. If you’re on a super tight budget, this sort of thing is great and you don’t need to go mad on the drink, which bumps up the cost. Having said that, a bottle of prosecco is pretty much the same price as a pub here, so much cheaper than I thought it’d be. And so much tastier.

Seafood spaghetti at Trattoria Alla Scala

I don’t remember the name of the place this was from. But it was so good!

Waiters will tell you that you must order seafood. They’re not wrong. It’s what I ate both nights and it was delicious. The first night we went to a restaurant we’d found on Trip Advisor. In we went, winding our way through tables whilst chatting to the restaurant guy about reservations. As we talked, he escorted us right past all the diners, through the kitchen and out into the alley at the back. We thought we’d been kicked out but actually we were waiting for a table. Others were already there, snacking on chilli pesto gnocchi and little glasses of spritz. We were given the same and told how to hold our plate and glass (!). A few minutes later the guy we’d spoken to introduced us to a bemused looking man in blue gloves and an apron. We were told to follow him. We did and ended up in another restaurant a two minute walk away. At the Tratorria Alla Scala there were no tables for six so they got some other diners to budge up and in we squeezed. We got complimentary glasses of prosecco, grissini and gorgeous garlicky tomato bruschetta. Main meals were around 18 euros, which I think is ace, especially as we paid that much for dinner in Amsterdam last year and didn’t get any extra stuff (not even a smile).

I can’t remember the name of the restaurant we went to the second night but it was a lot of sharing platters and ours were delicious. Oh man, I ate way too much in 48 hours. I haven’t even mentioned, the sneeky chips, pizza, sweets, pastries or any of the other things I stuffed in. I couldn’t sleep the first night cos my tummy was so full. Yet I still didn’t spend that much money! Honest! And I bought yarn! (Not from the posh wool shop though as I had Pretty Woman experience in there, so… big mistake, huge!).

Stuff to do.

I think it’s safe to say that this was very much an eating holiday. I’m a big foodie and my bestie’s husband is a chef so it was always going to be about food. That means we didn’t have time to visit other islands or go into any of the touristy places you’re supposed to visit. If you wanted to go up the tower in St Marks’ square though, I think it’s only 6 euros. The Basilica di San Marco is free to enter, as are a couple of other places. Just standing in St Mark’s square is breathtaking, you don’t need to spend money there! You don’t even need to go there at all. The whole of Venice is amazing to just walk around and gawp at.

More pictures below, ones where the tower isn’t chopped off!

One thing which was total bucket list territory was a ride in a gondola. It was made cheaper by the fact that all six of us squeezed into one boat. It was essential that our tour included a goggle at the Bridge of Sighs but the bloke we chatted to said it didn’t work into his 30 minute route. We wangled a 45 minute trip for 120 euros. Usually they’re thirty minutes for 80 euros. The alternative was spending more on an hour or finding another fella who was nearer to the prison. Whatever, it was worth every penny. We all loved it, I even got over excited when I saw a little crab perched on the side of a canal! If you want the gondola man to sing you have to pay extra but I would probably pay for him not to sing. Luckily our guy only came out with interesting facts about what we were seeing. He even knew where George and Amal got married and had their do. Real Venetian culture!

The Bridge of Sighs. Casanova is the only man to have escaped from prison here. Thanks for that bit of info Gondola Man!

Things I wanted to do but didn’t get the chance? There’s a market by Rialto bridge. I’d like to go there. Next time I’d go to art galleries too and time it with Carnevale! That sounds like an alright weekend…week? There is loads to do and I did what I wanted to do, saw the things I wanted to see and came home happy.

Basically, if you want to do Venice on the cheap don’t spend money in the San Marco area and you’ll be fine. Eat cicchetti and get the train over. Also, you don’t have to have your accommodation on Venice itself. Burano or Murano would probably work out cheaper. There you go. Boom. Bargain holiday in one of the most beautiful destinations in the entire world.

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A book shop with a lot of books. We could see the back of our flat from here.

I’ve now got sucked into buying a tacky fridge magnet wherever I go.

Rialto Bridge. 11pm. Over sunned, over proseccoed, up since 3.30am.

Breathtaking. We wandered into St Mark’s square quite by accident. The best way to “discover” it, I thought.

To commemorate the people who died of the plague. I think. That’s what we were told.

I’ll give you ten points if you can spot it.

All pics are my own or the husband’s, taken on our phones. xxx

A Holiday in Valle De Lecrin.

June 1, 2017April 18, 2018holiday, outside, walking11 Comments

I’ve been on holiday! About a month ago one of my sisters asked me if I fancied a trip away. She had a week off work coming up and was planning a holiday. Originally she was going to go with a friend but her friend had had to back out. Her misfortune was my gain because I said “Yes!” (If you’ve seen my crochet vlogs on YouTube, you’ll know I’ve been saying yes to everything this year in a bid to be more brave). It all happened very quickly; all of a sudden four nights in Andalucia had been booked!

Looking out of the aeroplane window got me excited. Before that I was kind of anxious about the whole thing. I barely slept the night before, knowing that I had to get out of bed at 3.15am and drive us an hour and fifteen to Bristol airport. Other people do this sort of thing all the time but to me it’s pretty alien. Honestly, this year has been nuts. Saying “yes” to things has meant that I’ve been to Edinburgh Yarn Festival, had a weekend break in Amsterdam and now I’ve been to Spain for the first time. All of these have been brilliant but also very budgetty. (By the way, I’m also “yessing” to less extravagant stuff too, I’m not about to leave us penniless by jet setting all over just cos I want to. You know, simple things: Do you want to go for a walk? “Yes”).

Our destination? Saleres, a small, quiet town in Valle De Lecrin, an absolutely stunning part of Spain near the Sierra Nevada mountains . Read about the area here. Isn’t it lovely?! There are no shops in Saleres but there is a bread man who comes round twice a day in his van. And there’s a fish man too who visits everyday. If you hear a tooting horn, then you know someone has come to sell you food. You don’t need a fruit man as there’s loads of it growing on your doorstep. It was wonderful to pluck your own sweet oranges from trees that are in all directions. Lemons were huge and we needed those for G&T’s. We braved the prickly pear fruit, burning the spines off before we handled them and we weren’t sure whether the other things we spied were persimmon or not. It was awesome and I was greedy. We spotted almond trees too and there were allotments aplenty, quite sporadic in their placement but I’m guessing those local guys knew what they were doing. Lots of broad beans, onions and happy tomato plants . The area was abundant in everything. Super lush.

It was AirBnB time. My sister was clever enough to find decent accommodation. I was searching in the wrong places. Just because the airport was in Malaga, did not mean we should stay in Malaga. We stayed in a lovely house, which was traditionally moorish in style. We had three terraces to ourselves and they were mostly private. I did notice an old man in the distance whilst I was using the outdoor shower. He didn’t seem to mind me having a wash. In fact, I think he was rather enjoying himself until he realised I’d turned round and seen him! The house was cool inside and the terraces had hot hot sunshine from morning until sunset. Bliss.

The very first stop was a supermarket to stock up on food and drink (cava and rioja obvs). How I wish I could have fit a jamon into my suitcase. I did squeeze in a fat chorizo and a packet of morcilla (Spanish black pud). Yum!

On our first full day we flipflopped down to Canuelo beach, a very nearly desserted shingle beach. It’s quite a walk down to get there. It’s so worth it though. Stunning, I tell you! Walking back up the hill left me with a beetroot face. It was very hot and super steep. I understand that in peak season there is a bus. You’re not allowed to drive down, you park at the top. We saw police come and put a ticket on the only car brazen enough to break up the beauty of the place. I minded my own business and got on with some beach crochet (there’s a post coming soon about Wool and the Gang’s Tina Tape yarn).

The next day was a trip to Alhambra, a palace/fortress that we couldn’t get tickets for. It was completely sold out. We learned that it’s usually booked up weeks in advance. However, what the official people didn’t tell us (but a friendly guide did) is that there is half a day’s worth of stuff you can do for free! It’s a bonkers place, absolutely massive and I’m kind of glad of all the stuff we couldn’t see (I would have been seriously worn out). We did get to see extraordinary, imposing architecture. There is also an art gallery and museum on site, which we had a wander round.

In the evening we thought we’d stroll over to the next town for a drink and some tapas at one of the bars there. We got lost. Quite a few times actually. After stumbling through some oranges groves and making a couple more wrong turns, we reached our destination. Restabal is another of the towns in Valle de Lecrin, a sign told us it was 1.5km away from Saleres. We found Bar Jovi, which served cold beer (dos cervezas por favor) and delicious tapas. The gubbins that we read at the house told us Restabal was a twenty minute walk away. Hmm, it was a twenty minute march not a casual stroll (we didn’t get lost on the way home, despite it being dark). Whatever, we’re young and fit, it was fine. And the frogs we heard! On the way home, we passed a giant round metal vat/reservoir doodah with water in it. There were frogs hanging out in there and the sounds bouncing off the walls were incredible!

Squeezing in more terrace top crochet.

The last day was a walk to Albunuelas, which was about 3km in the other direction. The path we took is part of the GR7. The GR7 goes through several European countries and is a walkers dream. Or so I understand. Read about it here. The views were awesome, the pathways were brilliant, and we didn’t get lost! It was ridiculously hot though and there are very few shady places. We took plenty of water and when we got to Albunuelas we found a quiet bar (we followed old guys after their sherry). My Spanish is awful but my sister is way better than me. She got across to just keep the tapas coming. There was confusion about menus, I don’t think it was one of the places we’d been told would do three course lunches for 9 Euros. However…

Goodness me! I loved the tapas, it was completely fabulous. (Top right pic is from Bar Jovi). The woman behind the bar was lovely, she made a huge effort to impress us (flaming sausages!). We only had a couple of beers each yet we got through six plates of yummy snacks.

Interesting wildlife too. House martins and swifts zipped about the sky and a gecko sat with us on our top terrace. I know we get lizards here, in fact, there’s a dead slow worm in the garden right now, but I do love seeing them skitter about the place as you walk past. We also saw an eagle owl living on some bloke’s balcony. There were half a tonne of cats on street corners too. They’d come in the house if you let them but we were told to discourage them. A wise decision unless you’re a legit cat lady.

On our last night we steeped in the outdoor tub. Sat neck deep in hot water, we listened to the frogs sing and gazed at bats and shooting stars. Then it was time to go home. Over so quickly. Everything was properly enjoyable. I don’t think I was ever unhappy at all. I wonder where we’ll go next time?!

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A Weekend in Amsterdam.

April 5, 2017April 17, 2018holiday, outside34 Comments

Did I catch my cold in Amsterdam or did the kids give it to me when I got back?! Either way, it’s snotsville here at the minute and I’m not sure if I can coherently conjure up words. If you would like to see what happened this weekend then please come, come on a virtual tour of my one of my favourite cities (I’ve been to Amsterdam four times!!). I will bung up pictures and see what I can do! Beware, many pictures of wool skeins will appear at some point and then it’s back to the tour via some phone pics.

I love Amsterdam, it’s friendly, it’s easy and it’s fun. The architecture always blows me away, the canals too. The last time I went was ten years ago and what I didn’t realise then is that it is a city full of young and beautiful people. I didn’t quite feel old this time but if you’re not quick on your feet then tram/bicycle squashing seems pretty inevitable. I don’t recall feeling panicky before, but this time round my brain wasn’t quick enough to feel casual about crossing roads. I didn’t think to get a photo of the crazy crisscross of multiple lanes for cars, bikes and trams.

The weather was mostly good. On our last day it was glorious sunshine. The day before was overcast and we didn’t mind a bit of rain. There was no need for a real coat or anything.

Upon arrival the first thing I made everyone do was visit Stephen and Penelope’s. It’s the “home” of knitwear designer Stephen West and someone not called Penelope. I dragged seven other people on my mission for wool. I felt marginally guilty; not a single one of those people was remotely interested in this pilgrimage but it was alright cos we went for beer straight after. I had to take lots of photos because it would have been taking the Mick to spend too much time in situ. Oh, crikey I wanted to buy it all. I went in having already decided to at least come out with a tote bag. They didn’t have any left and that made me sad. So I spent 5 Euro on a teeny drawstring bag instead. And two skeins of souvenir dutch yarn to squish.

Undercover Otter is a yarn actually from Amsterdam, you can’t get more souveniry than that! I’ve got plans for this yarn but have no idea when I’ll get the time to make anything (certainly not for the next couple of weeks whilst the kids are off school).

Being a dweeb.

Look at what I missed here?! Right next door to Stephen and Penelope’s is a gorgeous looking fabric shop! I didn’t take this pic until the next day (when it was closed, boo). In all the yarny excitement I was blind to all else. Gutted. Anyone know where I can buy geo patterned fabric? What makes me cross is that it was all so bargainous, I missed out on bargains!

We spent half a day in the Rijksmuseum. Yes, it’s pretty impressive but my back ached far too much to give a stuff by the end of floor two. Look, I have a degree in Art History but even I thought it all looked the blinkin’ same. Floor three should have been my favourite but I hardly saw any of it. By that time I’d given up.

Highlights of the museum included Petronella Oortman’s dollhouse. No one was looking at the painting of it (see above) but everyone was clamouring to get a look at the real deal. I was interested to see it because I’ve just read The Miniaturist (it was OK, not as amazing as I was lead to believe). The Miniaturist is set in 17th century Amsterdam and was inspired by this very dollhouse. Not sure how the real Petronella would have felt about someone making up a fanciful story about her though. Also, there was the other “must see” that is Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. We kept calling it The Night’s Watch and wondering where Jon Snow was. Hilarious.

We walked all over the city. People’s fitbits confirmed well over twenty thousand steps per day. Fitbits! We all loved the Albert Cuyp market. Loads of great stalls. Wool, fabric and food. I was very happy.

Amsterdam’s night life is notorious and you really shouldn’t miss out on it. It is a marvel to walk the streets and see with your own eyes. Sadly, pictures taken in the dark, on my phone after a few beers; I didn’t get anything to even come close to capturing the true nutjobness of the red light district. You have to see it for yourself. The city’s lights at night are stunning too. The canals are lit up, it’s magic!

A fab way of seeing the city is a trip on a barge. We did this on our last morning, with the sun out and jumpers off. I learned loads about the history of the place and it was a good accompaniment to The Miniaturist. We chugged down the Herengracht (where all the mega rich people used to live) and around the Golden Bend. There are certain sights you can only see here by boat and I think it’s essential if you’re after a touristy excursion. It was just the right thing to end the break on. Thoroughly enjoyed it!