DOURO VALLEY, PORTUGAL

12.29.2019 by Passports and Provisions //

After leaving Porto, our journey continued about an hour and a half East to the Douro Valley wine region. The Douro River goes all the way from central Spain to Porto. The waterway served as the original mode of transportation for wine barrels to be stored near the city of Porto, and to get to sea. Douro Valley, specifically, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

WHAT TO DO:

Visit the wineries, taste the olive oil, see the historic town and Roman ruins, hit the water for rafting, kayaking and boat tours. If you want more adventure, try canyoning or mountain biking. If you are a foodie, visit the DOC restaurant by a Michelin starred chef. There’s plenty to do, or choose to get some r&r in beautiful surroundings.

We arrived in the Douro Valley on Steve’s birthday, and pre-selected a winery to do a tasting at that day. We decided to skip all the big name Port brands and go with a smaller, family-owned, certified organic wine estate, Quinta Do Tedo. They are located at the confluence of the Douro River and Tedo River, and they make port and red wine, plus olive oil. I ‘m glad I made a reservation in advance, because a big group was leaving as we entered. Our tour ended up just being the two of us. The guide was very informative; we learned more than I can remember now!

While I know a decent amount about Scotch whisky production and classification, I know very little about wine, let alone port specifically. Time to taste and learn! For starters, this estate has ‘single quinta classification’, and uses 100% estate grown organic grapes on class ‘A’ vineyards. This means the product is sourced with and produced on one estate. Only 2% of vineyards in Douro Valley receive the ‘A’ rating, making this a coveted classification.

Beyond these basic classifications, there’s vintage, late bottled vintage, tawny, ruby, and even rosé varieties. I won’t bore you with the details, you should just go visit yourself to learn more!

Something I had never heard before: Port can be made anywhere, but Porto must be from the Douro Valley in Portugal. If you want authentic Port wine, make sure the label indicates it is ‘Porto’. Also, some types of Port can be stored opened for quite some time; our tour guide explained that the Portuguese drink Porto for special occasions, perhaps opening for Christmas and finishing the bottle around Easter. I’m sure part of that is personal taste preference, but if you can make it last longer to savor it, I say go for it! Keep in mind that port wine has a higher ABV than regular wine; sip responsibly!

Anyway, enough education. To sum it up, the tour was very informative, the wine was great, the olive oil was fresh and the cheese plate with the tasting was delicious. It was an excellent way to kick off our stay in the Douro Valley.

WHERE TO STAY:

I use Hotels.com for work travel (that link gets you 2 bonus night toward your first reward night!), which gives you a free hotel night after you book 10 stays through their site. I had a reward just burning a hole in my pocket, which led me to search for options in the Douro Valley. Surprisingly, I saw few options. I’m not sure if local hotels don’t participate in the website, or if there really aren’t many lodging choices. Either way, that is where I found Six Senses. After checking out their website, I had a hard time looking elsewhere. It looked amazing, and it really exceeded our expectations in person. I think it was also discounted for the off-season, which really helped.

Apparently, they have a hotel dog. I am very sad to say we did not meet her. Besides that, everything was fantastic. The hotel is set on a large plot of land with hiking trails, atop a hill overlooking the river. The weather was overcast and cool, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the fresh air. I can imagine the outdoor pool is the place to be in warmer months!

The indoor pool hit the spot during our visit, as did the saunas and steam rooms. The hotel provided a day-by-day schedule with the offerings like fitness classes/group runs, wine tastings, garden tours, pickling and tonic classes, and DIY body scrub classes. The spa looked very inviting, too!

The breakfast buffet was insane. Maybe it’s a good thing we did not go in warmer months because it would not pair well with summer beach bods.. Another dangerously amazing feature was the wine vending machine. Slip in your room key, select one of three wine pour sizes, and voila, a self serve station! We had a little pre-dinner sample and a post-dinner fireplace nightcap, all with a little swipe of the key.

TIPS:

To get to the Douro Valley, we chose to drive. There was essentially no traffic, and the directions were very simple. Gas and tolls were costly, so keep that in mind when weighing options for transportation.

The weather in November for the Douro Valley (town is called Lamego for forecasts) is an average high of 57° and low of 43°, and 10 days of rain. When we visited, it spritzed a little on and off, but we also enjoyed some spurts of sunshine.

See you next year, friends! To see the rest of my Portugal posts, check out my recap of Porto here, Lisbon here and here, the Algarve, Sintra, and Évora.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

10.19.2019 by Passports and Provisions //

South Africa has 3 different capitals- Cape Town is the legislative capital , Pretoria is the executive capital, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital. However, the biggest city is Johannesburg. We chose Cape Town as our starting point in South Africa to be close to the water and enjoy the balance of nature and city with some side trips. The climate in August was ideal for visiting as that is their winter.

WHAT TO DO:

My number one to-do is hike Table Mountain! Apparently this is very weather-dependent, and we absolutely lucked out. The odds of a clear view without the “blanket” of clouds obstructing if hard to get. Usually, we would wing it and hike on our own (see Aconcagua in Argentina). However, after seeing so much about crime in Cape Town, including mountain muggings, we decided to do a guided hike. I’m so glad we did! We found Hike Table Mountain online, and booked ahead of time. There are multiple route options, and we settled on India Venster for the best views. The trail name comes from the ravine shaped like subcontinent of India, and Venster (window in Afrikaans) for the view framed by rocks. The company we used does offer the option to reschedule if the weather doesn’t cooperate, but we had little wiggle room in our schedule. So, we had an early 6am wake up after getting in at 10pm the night before from the U.S. and hoped for the best. Our guide picked us up from our hotel, and drove us to the mountain. The hike wasn’t high altitude or super long, like Aconcagua, but it DID have some technical sections. Some parts of the trail required actual rock climbing with strategic foot holds, so I was glad to have a professional watching!

Our guide was a born-and-raised South African with a wealth of knowledge on Table Mountain and the flora/fauna. We were part of a group including a German family, a British couple, and ourselves. The guide took us up to the top, stopping along the way to take in the views and amazing sunrise. She also pointed out different plants, like what to NOT touch (blister bush sounds like poison ivy x 1000).

We crossed paths with another guide and his adorable dog, who definitely put us to shame as she bounded up the rocks gracefully. Once we got to the top and soaked in the views, we took the cablecar back down. The car itself rotates as you go down, so you can see a full 360 view of Cape Town and the coastline. If we really wanted to, we could’ve hiked down, but time was of the essence! Lots to do in a little amount of time. For a shorter hike, try Lion’s Head.

Bo Kaap: Take a stroll through the brightly colored houses in this neighborhood. This predominately Muslim area is home to Indonesian, Malaysian, and African descendants of slaves from the 16th and 17th centuries. It is thought that residents painted their homes bright colors to celebrate their new-found freedom and individuality after Apartheid. Stop in Atlas Trading Co. to find just about any spice under the sun for dirt cheap. Check out Bo-Op, a co-op of local designers. Steve found some lemur swim trunks, which are certainly one-of-a-kind. I found free walking tours online through Bo Kaap, but it didn’t align with our schedule.

V&A Waterfront: It’s pretty touristy, and reminded me of National Harbor in Maryland, but it’s right on the water and bustling with live music, shopping, and restaurants. One place to check out is the Watershed building full of South African artisans. It’s a one stop shop for all your handcrafted souvenir needs. There are some hotels down here as well.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens: Back to the recurring theme of crime…. We rented a car on the back end of our trip so we could take some side trips, and were concerned about parking in the city with all of our stuff in the car. Our flight out of Cape Town was really late at night, and we were told not to be out driving after dark. Maybe that was extra cautious, but better safe than sorry, right? We decided to end our trip at the botanic gardens, because they offered free, secure parking on-site in a nice neighborhood. We wandered around the grounds and in the greenhouses until sunset. It was a beautiful way to end our trip!

Things I would’ve done if I had another day:

Robben Island Museum: If we had another day, we would’ve taken the ferry over to Robben Island to see where Nelson Mandela was held.

Parkrun: this is a worldwide 5k “club” that does free races. What a great way to see the city and meet locals! And get this: they have a run in Hoedspruit, where we did our safari! Imagine that run!

Sofar Sounds: Worldwide concert series where local musicians perform in secret locations with the address revealed the day before. Who knows, the artists may be the next Billie Eilish (famous Sofar alums)!

District Six Museum: a memorial to the 60,000 inhabitants of District Six forced to move during Apartheid in the 1970s

This post will get extremely long if we include the side trips from Cape Town, so stay tuned for Stellenbosch/Franschoek and Cape of Good Hope side trip posts!

WHERE TO EAT:

Swan Cafe: Parisian crêperie with good salads

Haas Coffee: Really loved this spot, just down the street from Swan Cafe.

Deluxe Coffeeworks: Super tiny coffee shop connected to Bo-Op in Bo Kaap

Harvest Cafe & Deli-: In Bo Kaap- Great smoothies and a nice view of all the colorful houses

Gorgeous George: The cocktail was great, and dinner was really good, but the service was soooo sloooow. This may be a Cape Town thing, but it took forever!

Yours Truly: Nice and casual, order at the counter restaurant with huge salads. They had the best kombucha ever- African rose made from rooibos tea. SO good!

Today & Tomorrow: Same owners as Yours Truly, with a bigger menu and table service. Same delicious kombucha though!

Truth Coffee Roasting: Very unique space with excellent breakfast and coffee fuel before road tripping

Here are a few I wished we had hit:

Raptor Room: Wanted to go to the Dino-themed spot, but they were closed the days we were in town

The Company’s Garden:Cafe in a little park!

Shortmarket Club: A fancy pants dinner spot if you get a reservation

Commissary: The more casual, small plates sibling to Shortmarket Club

Old Biscuit Mill: It’s off the beaten path, but may be worth the trip to Woodstock when the Neighbourhoods Market is open on Saturdays.

WHERE TO STAY:

The Gorgeous George: We didn’t make it to the hotel until 10pm, and the signage was really hard to find. Thankfully, our Uber driver was awesome and parked the car and walked with us to find it. We said that wasn’t necessary, but he indicated it wasn’t safe to wander looking lost. He said he’d feel terrible if something happened to us on his watch. The hotel is still pretty new, so it had a few hiccups, but overall, would recommend staying there. It included free breakfast, but we missed it due to our hike and early departure for the airport.

Airbnb: Research neighborhoods before you commit. The properties were all very reasonably priced. We ended up staying in The Four Seasons Apartment, and again, signage was horrible trying to find it. Also, this is not the actual Four Seasons by any stretch of the imagination, but it did the job and had a rooftop gym! It was located in the central business district (CBD signs everywhere- I was thinking of a different CBD the whole time…). While it is, in fact, centrally located, I would probably stay off of Kloof Street or even by the water in Cape Town if I did it again. Ubers are so cheap, so why not stay in a nicer, safer, area and then Uber to your destinations for a mere $1 or $2?

TRANSPORTATION:

Uber is SO cheap. Like $1-$3 a ride. We walked around during the day, but at night we Ubered to dinner. On the back end of our trip, we rented a car. Keep in mind that you drive on the opposite side of the road. That took a little while getting used to (I speak as a passenger). Also, be aware of pedestrians on the highway. Yes, on the highway. We saw people walking along the road and through the merge lanes onto the highway, so be on high alert! Gas stations have attendants you handle filling up and payment right at the car (the one we went to accepted credit cards, but tip the attendant in cash). If you are driving, make sure you’ve got directions. You don’t want to get lost in the townships, which is the most unsafe part of Cape Town and surrounding areas. As for flights, we did Dulles to Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Cape Town. There was a flight without Minneapolis, but it was way more expensive. Coming back, we were able to do Cape Town to Amsterdam (11.5 hours) to Dulles (8ish hours). It was a really long journey, but time change was only 6 hours. Funny story: Cape Town is the 6th busiest airport in all of Africa and Steve shut down their security system. The airport was pretty much empty when we arrived for our late night flight, so there was no line for security. Steve was swinging his bag around to go on the security belt, and all of a sudden the conveyer stopped and lights went out. Turns out he bumped the on/off switch for the whole system…. How secure! Good thing there wasn’t a line behind us.

TIPS:

I’m glad we started our trip with the hike. It gave me the chance to ask a local for tips. I peppered the guide with all my questions about Cape Town safety, the best neighborhoods, and what life is like for residents of Cape Town. She was very candid about safety concerns and the still-fresh aftermath of apartheid.

Safety: Just like anywhere else, don’t flash valuables around and be aware of your surroundings. We were told to not walk after dark and take Uber even if it’s a few blocks. Don’t drive through the townships as poverty and opportunistic crime is high. On a map, look for ‘Cape Flats’ to see areas to avoid. It’s terribly sad that over 20% of the population lives in shacks; the effects of Apartheid are very apparent and painful to see firsthand.

Did I mention you can drink the water? What a huge bonus! We were reminded everywhere we went about the recent drought, which made us much more aware of our water usage. Some restrooms didn’t even offer soap- just hand sanitizer to conserve water. Our guide on the hike said there were HUGE fees if you exceeded your permitted water usage at home.

Language: There are 11 official languages in South Africa. English is widely spoken, as is Afrikaans, a language with Dutch roots and some German influence. We learned one thing in Afrikaans- baie dankie aka buy a donkey aka thank you.

Currency: South African Rand. I took out some cash from the ATM, but mostly used credit cards. For restaurants, be sure to add tip before they run your credit card unless you are carrying cash. The hike guide accepted USD at the current exchange rate, which was super helpful since we hadn’t made it to the ATM yet to get out rands yet.

Check out my recap on our safari in Hoedspruit here, and side trips from Cape Town!

Map of all my recs here:

LONDON, ENGLAND

07.21.2019 by Passports and Provisions //

It seems like I was just in London. Oh wait, I was 2 weeks before this trip… Rewind a few months and Steve found out he would have a rare slow week in April, so we jumped at the chance for a getaway longer than a weekend. He really wanted to get back to London, and we found a good flight that got us to London (his choice)and Berlin (my choice). Then, I found out I’d be traveling to Scotland and Ireland for work right beforehand. Not one to pass up a trip, I embraced the hustle between trips so we could make it all happen. A vacation was much needed after the hectic month.

There’s plenty to see and do in London, but here’s my abbreviated version from our short time there.

WHERE TO EAT:

Twigs: Plant shop and lunch spot near Broadway Market

The Book Club: Very lively brunch spot on a Saturday with live music and a ping pong room!

Vida Bakery: Vegan/gluten-free bakery I got an oatmeal raisin cookies to save for later.

Lily Vanilli: Walk by quickly and you’ll miss it! This little bakery is tucked into a courtyard behind the flower market. Pink paint and a huge spread of sweets and coffee.

Smoking Goat: SO GOOD! This restaurant is based on late-night food found in Bangkok. Definitely crowded, but worth a short wait.

Borough Market: An overwhelming amount of food vendors here! It’s half outside, half covered with options for just about everything under the sun.

Broadway Market: On Saturdays, there is a neighborhood-y market selling everything from fruits, vegan nut cheese, kombucha stand, to street foods from around the world. You name it, they’ve got it, along with live music and an atmosphere that makes you want to linger for awhile.

Mare Street Market: If we had more time, this would’ve been my next meal.

WHAT TO DO:

Tate Modern: Edvard Munch exhibit with Scream was there, but we didn’t spring for the paid ticket.. On the other hand, we saw Monet’s water Lillies and an exhibit by Rothko…who one of Magic’s chow dog pals is named after. I picture Rothko the dog painting a masterpiece with a paintbrush between his teeth.

Tower Bridge: The weather turned real London-y and a light spritz if rain turned into wind and heavy rain while we were in the middle of Tower Bridge. Lovely. Regardless, it is a very impressive bridge with intricate detailing.

Boxpark Shoreditch: Boxcar? No space goes unused! Empty shipping containers line the street and each one has a little shop inside, and a few restaurants on the roof. Other highway underpasses have hidden restaurants and bars, so do some exploring to find hidden gems.

Columbia Road Flower Market was very close to our hotel. Imagine a whole market of fresh flowers and competing stall owners outdoing one another on prices, only on Sundays starting around 8am. If only I could’ve brought back a banana plant or giant orchid plant with me! I noticed some of the neighboring cafes were cash only, so keep that in mind.

Columbia Road was bustling with little boutique shops worth popping in for.

While we didn’t make it, everyone recommended we visit The Shard for a drink high in the sky.

Sky Garden: Dubbed as London’s highest public garden, it also offers a variety of dining options amongst the clouds.

Ballie Ballerson: An adult ball pit bar. Need I say more? Not saying this should be above a modern art museum on your to-do’s, but how often do you get to play as an adult?

While sorting through pictures on my computer, an old photo album from 2011 popped up. We were there prior to the 2012 Olympics and saw the countdown clock. Time sure does fly!

WHERE TO STAY:

Hoxton Shoreditch: I highly recommend this hotel. It includes free breakfast delivered to your room (yogurt, granola, banana and OJ), a restaurant and coffee shop in the lobby, plus plenty of space to hang out and enjoy one of their fireplaces. It seemed to be very popular with people working remotely, and then later in the evening having cocktails.

TIPS

Currency is the GBP £

The public transit system is easy to use. Get an oyster card and use it on the bus or tube. The remaining balance and refundable deposit on the card can be redeemed at the airport, FYI.

There are multiple airports. We flew into Heathrow, but out of Gatwick. Both were easily connected to public transportation.

People stay out LATE and drink heavy. Consider that when booking a hotel or Airbnb if you want to sleep at a reasonable hour!

Of course there are a million more ideas pinned on the map from coworker suggestions who live in the area, plus my own research. Here’s everything pinned:

The other part of our trip, Berlin, found here!

WHAT TO DO:

WHERE TO STAY:

TIPS:

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