The Cape of Good Hope

We just got back to Johannesburg after a wonderful trip to Cape Town! We arrived in Cape Town late on Wednesday last week and it was great waking up on Thursday morning and gaze out over the Atlantic Ocean and Robben Island. Me and my little family enjoyed a breakfast at Tasha’s in the Waterfront Mall (love Tasha’s, especially their breakfast) before we loaded up with tons of snacks and drinks and started the drive down to The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Claudine was asleep within 5 minutes and slept all the way there, a scenic 1,5 hour drive. We started with going to Cape Point – a good hike up the mountain to a lighthouse. (If you don’t like hiking you can always take the little train. There’s also a restaurant and a gift shop.) I took Claudine in the carrier on my back and walked up and the view was absolutely spectacular!! There was a lot of wild baboons on the path so Claudine thought it was very exciting! The nature in this area is really cool, it’s like the moores of Scotland meeting the French Riviera with crystal clear water, white beaches and mountains. It’s very green and flowers everywhere, funny how much it felt like being back in Europe! We finished with stopping by at the Cape of Good Hope to have our picture taken just like all the other tourists. It’s mindblowing to think that south of this point there’s just a whole lot of water and nothing else until you reach Antarctica! Then we got back in the car again, Claudine fell asleep like a true champ and slept all the way back to Cape Town. My little globetrotter ❤

Views from the drive there

Resting at the top! You can see the parking where we started from behind us.

Look daddy, baboons!

Yay! We made it too the cape!

By the way, if your going to the Cape of Good Hope you should stop by at Boulder’s Beach right outside Simon’s Town to look at African penguins in the wild!

 

 

5 tips for exploring a new city

Since we’ve been traveling quite a bit and always find ourselves having a great time I thought it would be an idea to share my best tips when it comes to exploring new places. I wrote this post when living in Geneva and we explored new cities and small villages almost every weekend but never published it. All the pictures are from our babymoon in Milano last April ❤

Don’t overdo it – first of all, having a too tight schedule when traveling can destroy the whole experience. Allow your self some time to explore new places without rushing to the next thing and do not book to many things in one day. We prefer to play it by ear when traveling and for us half the pleasure is having that time to sit down and enjoy a long lunch, glass of wine or coffee without feeling that we have to rush to the next thing. Leave the stress at home!

Be picky – There’s no way you can do and see everything when visiting a new city, especially not if you are just there for a weekend. Doing something you’re not really that excited about might ruin your day! I just hate standing in line so I would never consider attractions that would make me wait for hours. I like to keep it simple! When in Milano we got to see and do much in a short time but didn’t do anything that kept us waiting and it all was just a great blend of things – shopping, food, walking around seeing all the historical buildings and hanging out in a park.

 

How to find the good restaurants – finding good restaurants can be quite difficult in a new city. My tips is to forget about the restaurants in the tourist areas, they are usually far too overpriced and the food is rarely any good. We like to use Tripadvisor to find good restaurants and as it’s the guests who rates them we rarely get disappointed. We have found some of my absolute favorite restaurants by using this website, restaurants we never would have found otherwise!
Dare to explore – a lot of times it’s first when you leave the crowds and tourist attractions that you get to explore the real culture in the city or country. Try to take a small detour from the tourist areas and you might just bump in to some hidden jems you never knew you could find!

Comfortable shoes are essential – for me, the best way of exploring a new city is by foot. Bring some comfortable shoes and clothes that makes it possible.

Xo

Lake Como

 

On the way back from Milano to Geneva the other week we decided to stop by Lake Como and Lugano. I never seem to stop being surprised by how many beautiful places there are in Europe and I’m such a lucky girl who gets to visit so many of them. What I love most about Europe is all the old beautiful architecture – you can almost feel the history and also that all countries and areas have their own style. 

Como is a small Italian village located by lake Como on the border to Switzerland. We didn’t see much of the village but it holds numerous works of art, churches, gardens, museums, gardens and palaces. What is the most spectacular about this village is it’s location by the water with houses built on the hills facing the water. I can imagine that this is a great place bringing a family to spend some hot summer days! 

We had to get rid of some energy before getting in to the car again so me and London chased each other – I just love these pictures as we always do this when we have to cross a field, haha! ❤

Ivory Tree Game Lodge – safari in South Africa

So this year we’re in Milan but last year we spent the Easter holiday in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa. Wow what an experience that was, no doubt I’ll remember that trip for the rest of my life! We stayed at the amazing Ivory Tree Game Lodge, situated in the North Eastern region of the park. The bungalow faced the open savanna with spa part of the room open to the stars, where my husband left the candles lit through the night with the consequence of having the entire floor drained in stearin in the morning. During the game drives our ranger put on that extra effort chasing from one part to the next searching for the big 5. I vividly remember coming back from our game drive on Saturday eve, getting something warm to drink before going to a barbecue with live African drum music, heading back to our bungalow to take a long bath and then a shower outside under a starlit sky, about to snuggle down into bed early to prepare for another game drive at 5 am and discover that the staff had put some chocolate eggs on our pillows. Oh how I loved that place!

Here’s a photo bomb from the game drives – we got to see all of the big 5 except from water buffalo which means that I just have to go back!

 

Our favorite thing to do in South Africa (apart from safaris and wine tasting that is) is to play golf – me and my husband actually played 10 rounds of golf together in my month in the country last year. Before heading back to Jo’burg we just had to play the Lost City Golf course in Pilanesberg! I can honestly admit that I didn’t play very well on this course, but I still enjoyed playing in the beautiful settings overlooking the Sun City and driving the golf car through herds of warthogs, haha!

 

Babymoon coming up

On Thursday we are leaving for a babymoon in Milan, Italy and I’m so excited! It’s the first time we will be visiting the city and who knows when we will be able to leave a romantic get away again – just the two of us! I’m looking forward to drinking tons of Italian coffee, eating pasta and to do some shopping but mostly just spending some time alone with my husband, strolling around the city and sitting for hours in restaurant or cafés just enjoying life and early spring.

Has anyone of you been to Milan? Maybe you have some tips that you could share? What to see, what to do, where to eat?

 

 

 

(pictures borrowed from Google)