SALZBURG, AUSTRIA

Ste and I went on a weekend away to Austria, first stop Salzburg. We had such an amazing time, we had a ride around the town on a horse and carriage and learnt a lot about the history there. Some of the buildings have been there since the 16th century and coffee shop, Tomaselli opened in 1700 and is still open today. The architecture was beautiful and there was a big food market which was great to grab a spot of lunch. For the evening there were lots of lovely restaurants down cobbled alley ways.

Hannah xo

IRELAND | The Seaside

Union Hall

 

We saw lots of beautiful beaches in Ireland my favourite was the one in Inchydoney, it was a lovely big sandy beach surrounded by rocks so we had plenty of room to kick the ball around with Ste’s little brother.

At Union Hall we saw fishermen feeding seals and we played fetch with a friendly dog on a small beach.

I also went crabbing for the first time and I was the winner with the biggest crab!

 

Hannah xo

IRELAND | The Countryside

Killarney National Park

Mizen Head

My boyfriend, Ste and I went to the Republic of Ireland for a week to visit his family. We went to some beautiful places where the air was clean and the water was fresh.

We went to Killarney for a day and went on a lovely walk to a waterfall, saw the castle and had a ride around the national park on a horse and carriage.

To get to Mizen Head museum we had to walk across high bridges where we had a great view of the cliffs and ocean.

Hannah xo

LOS CAHORROS, MONACHIL, GRANADA

One day during my family holiday to Granada, Spain we went for a walk to a place called Los Cahorros, Monachil. If you love nature and don’t mind heights I would definitely recommend going here, it was lots of fun and we felt like little explorers walking along cliffs edges and rope bridges.

GRANADA, SPAIN

Summer 2017 I went away to Granada, Spain with my big family of 12! We stayed at a beautiful villa where we could spend all day in the pool. The weather was beautiful, with some days as hot as 40 degrees. My family enjoy being really active so we were constantly on the go. Some nights we would stay in the villa and cook, we would eat outside where we had a beautiful view of the sunset.

Side note: On this holiday I really enjoyed working out. In the mornings some of us would go for a run and do various exercises up and down the steps leading down from our villa to the pool.

It was quite a drive to our closest beach but it was definitely worth it. There was such a busy, lively atmosphere there, with performers and restaurants running along the beach. Amongst the hustle and bustle was a Paella restaurant that we went to for lunch. There were huge pans of paella cooking with queues of people lined up for seconds.

I hadn’t heard much about Granda town so I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it was. We went for a walk and found a beautiful view of the castle. In Granada, the locals would often go out and have churros and chocolate for breakfast so we obviously had to give this a go once or twice. For lunch, we often had tapas dishes and there were lots of lovely restaurants that we went to in the evenings where I had paella almost every time. My favourite place to eat was a quirky restaurant out of Granda town called Jardines Alberto. It was drenched in flowers and plants and empty wine bottles and lights hung from the trees.

I had so much fun on this holiday with my family, I wish it could have lasted forever.

Speak soon!

Hannah x

SARDINIA

Capo D’orso, Palau

Siniscola

 Spiaggia Le Piscine

Cala Gonone

Ste and I visited the Italian Island Sardinia for a weekend in May. We spent the majority of our time discovering lots of beautiful beaches! There were lots of different types of beaches, some were big open, white sand beaches and others were more hidden and surrounded by trees and rocks. One thing they all had in common was how still and clear the water was. My favourite beach was in Capo D’orso in Palau as we had the entire beach to ourselves. Everywhere we went was really quiet due to us going out of season but it was so peaceful and relaxing. The food was amazing, everywhere we went made stone baked pizzas and I definitely had two a day… every day!

Hannah X

MALTA

We went away for another long weekend, this time to Malta. Ste made fun of me for packing sun cream but soon took it back as we were super lucky and had gorgeous weather. We didn’t spend long at the beach but I think it would make a lovely destination for a family, beach holiday. The highlight of our trip was visiting Popeye village. It was the set where the 1980 film Popeye was filmed. Ste and I had a game of mini golf (I’d rather not mention who won) and grabbed an ice-cream. 

Speak soon, Hannah X

MONACO

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We went to Monaco for a long weekend to celebrate Ste’s birthday and valentines day. We had such an amazing time and it is unlike any place I have ever been before. It was very glamorous, quite quiet and not very touristy, which is what we like. The only way I can think of how to describe Monaco is that it looks like a ‘make believe’ land, almost like a village from the game Sims.

We stuck to our usual ‘weekend away tradition’ of walking around all day. Although it did seem a lot more relaxed this time as there were so many beautiful parks and gardens for us to walk through.

Before we went away people told me that there would be a lot of flashy cars and they was not lying! I don’t have the best knowledge when it comes to cars but we saw a lot of Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s. Outside one of the restaurants we ate at, there was a Rolls Royce parked up with diamond encrusted wheels! The boats were just as extravagant, I’m sure some of them were bigger than my house!

The night we celebrated valentines day we booked a table at Le Louis XV. It was a real fine dinning experience and one I’ll never forget. The food was out of this world and it really was the most perfect night.

Speak soon! Hannah X

VENICE

So after spending a day in Milan, Ste and I then got a train and boat trip to Venice. I always say how beautiful Italy is and Venice definitely exceeded expectations. You really get a feel of the culture with the contrast of huge, beautiful buildings and then the cobbled alleyways with little boutique shops. There was the best of both worlds – you could grab an ice cream from a small parlour and opposite would be a huge Prada shop. It was like walking through a maze with the canals winding through Venice. Going on a Gondola (which I may or may not of kept calling a Granola by mistake) was such an amazing experience. It’s a very romantic place and we finished our trip off with a lovely meal in a restaurant on the edge of a canal with flowers and lanterns hung above us.

Speak soon, Hannah X

MILAN

To celebrate being together for 2 years, Ste and I went away for the weekend to Milan and Venice. We spent the first day in Milan where I was blown away by the architecture, I really do think Italy has the most beautiful buildings. The Duomo Cathedral and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele Shopping centre are right next to each other and are both a must if you visit Milan, I can’t emphasise enough how overwhelmingly amazing they both are. 

The Galleria Vittrorio Emanuele shopping centre was full of luxury brands. We had lunch in there where I had my favourite food – pizza. I couldn’t go to Italy and not try the pizza there and trust me, it did not disappoint!

Speak soon, Hannah X

PORTUGAL | Summer 16

Summer 2016 I went on a family holiday to Lagoa, Portugal. We returned to the same villa that we went to the year before. This suited us well as we already new the best places to go and eat! However that didn’t stop us discovering new places too!

I went with my big family of 12! With 4 of them being children, you can imagine it wasn’t a very relaxing holiday, we had non-stop fun and games. The villa we stayed in had its own pool and tennis courts, which kept us entertained so some days we stayed at the villa having silly lilo races.

The beaches in Portugal are out of this world! I had never seen anything like it before, with cliffs and caves surrounding the beaches it was so picturesque. One day we went on a boat trip exploring the caves and I would say this is a must if you are visiting there. We stopped off inside one cave that had its own tiny beach. Another day, some of us adults went exploring the rocks and caves, we climbed up along them and then jumped off the cliffs into the sea (those who were brave enough).

One day some of us went to the water park which was insane! I’m embarrassed to admit my 11 yr old sister was braver than me. We had so much fun and spent the entire day there and raced back up to have one last go on a slide before it closed.

Aside from the cliff beaches there was also surfing beaches. They were super windy so I would only recommend going if you are going to surf. I tried it for the first time and had so much fun even though I was completely awful. There was another beach not far from there that we had to drive along windy roads on the edge of cliffs to arrive there. We call this the sunset beach. The sun sets directly in the centre and is so beautiful, we had a barbecue there watching the sunset.

I would definitely recommend going here for a family holiday, there was something to do for everyone.

Speak to you soon!

Hannah X