Enjoy the Turkish riviera

The word Riviera conjures up visions of luxurious hotel resorts, multi-million dollar beachfront homes and beautiful sand beaches. Hmm… it is definitely not that far off as we trudged along the southern coast of Turkey. You might recall we were just in the ancient city of Ephesus (here).

So what did we do here?

For one thing, we swam in the Mediterranean sea. It was a cruise, one that took us over sunken cities that could have been the likes of Atlantis. Who knows? But the reality was an earthquake shifted the land and brought parts of it lower. It was October, so the waters still relatively warm, so we jumped in! Guess you can say we’ve ticked one more item off the bucket list! Highly recommended in fact.

However the highlight along this part of the road trip is one of beauty. Heheh… You know some people swear that it has curative ingredients. Others say their skin feel more supple and smooth after applying it. Yep, we are referring to a mud bath. How about bathing in some that even Sultans and modern day entertainment “royalty” have supposedly patronized? Would you scoop up some mud to being home with you?

The riviera was fun. Not exactly living it up at the hotel California, but we certainly wished that we did not have to check out and leave… you will understand when you are there too. Piqued your interest?

Read all about it here!

Treasure hunting in Pennsylvania

Treasure.

Hunting for them should bring one to the Caribbean wouldn’t it? Nope. Not according to us. Because while you’d have to dig high and low in the tropical heat of the Caribbean sun, you can do it a lot easier in Pennsylvania.

And we are not talking just about anywhere in the Keystone state.

We are referring to an ‘alley’, and one that is made up of a string of towns stretching several kilometers. As you probably can guess from the feature image, we are talking about vintage collectibles. The sort that appeals to the hoarder in us. You might recall that Mel have a love for antiques and history. They go hand in hand since there is such a story in each piece of vintage.

Go with an empty suitcase, who knows you might come back with it filled. We had that once, and the luggage was overweight on our way home…

So where is this alley? Did we find a lot of treasure in Pennsylvania? If we told you now it would be an anti-climax wouldn’t it? Nah, best left for you to find out more here in our little story!

Do you enjoy collecting old stuff? Or do you think its time to declutter and throw them out? What do you see as something worth keeping?

California wine drives

Wine. Don’t you just love it? That genius who found a way to make this beverage in northern Iran surely deserves to have a monument in our opinion. Now we are not advocating drinking, but neither are we probitionists. We believe a little moderation is key, like most things in life.

Some places in the world are blessed with the right combination of climate, soils and other geological attributes (water, landform etc) in which the fruit from which most wines are derived can flourish. Today we have wines from so many other fruits, but that is a story for another day.

You might have read in one of the back issues of our newsletter about where Shiraz wines hail from. Well, today we are sharing with you not that story, but one of our adventure into the famed California wine district of Napa. It has been unfortunate last year we saw so much damage in and around the area from the fires, and we hope it is recovering.

Responsible drinking.

That will be mentioned countless times and we are sure you agree with us. Do you need to go on a wine tour with some of the operators out there? Or can you craft out a DIY schedule for yourself? We did the latter and combined it with a dose of touristic activities. We really enjoyed the short road trip. Read the full transcript of our little drive here.

Have you wine toured Napa before?

What to see in SFO in 36 hours

Ah yes.

Walking the Golden gate bridge. One of the must dos when in San Francisco and the bay area right? You know the city was really windy to us. In fact, so much that even in the blazing sun of June we felt it could have been winter. Did you have that experience too?

And hilly. That was quite another thing. Because someone told us not to drive in the city. Why? Because it’s hard to find parking. Because it’s terrible traffic. Because there’s good public transport. So we took the well intentioned advise, parked the car in a garage downtown and walked, and took the tram where we could.

Well guess what?

After clocking nearly 20km (that’s ~12.5 miles), our legs were sore. Now they say something about Dutch ladies having really well toned ahem because they ride bicyles all the time. So what do San Franciscans have? Toned legs? You bet if you had to walk like that all the time since the trams don’t drop you right at the point you want to be all the time.

Our short story here tells you just a little of what you might consider if you only have a short time in the city while our journalog tells you what we did. What would be your choice of things to do?

Feasting on lobsters

We pride ourselves in finding some of the best deals when it comes to seafood. Not in our little red dot but outside of it. Because it is simply too high priced in our opinion, along with a basket of other things… but we digress. The point of today’s post is to share with you how you can affordably feast on some of the world’s best lobsters.

Yes. The world renown Boston lobster.

Now why they gave it that name we don’t know. And folks in Maine might dispute that… But we know these species of lobster with its large claws is native to an entire stretch of coast all along the New England states. So plentiful that at one time workers in this area would detest it! Yep, unions in the late 1800s actually contracted their employers to limit having lobster on workplace lunch menus to a maximum of twice a week… or something like that.

Incredible right? We probably won’t mind having them daily… heheh.

Can you hear our stomachs growling at the thought and sight of these lobsters? Are they really that good with butter oil all over them? Hmmm…. yum. Let us show you where you can find them and take delight in gourging on them. Ok let’s be civilized, refinely eat them off your hands. Not only did we have the lobster fresh, we also had them on rolls and on the go too.

Doesn’t this make you curious about our little adventure in sussing out the best lobster deals?

Beautiful southwestern US

We are very sure you have heard of the Grand Canyon. Afterall, with so many blog posts sharing with you what you can see, it would be pointless for us to add to in the form of a post. So we have decided to let you take your pick on what to read.

Did you recall the movie the Wild Wild West? Imagine riding that big spider ‘walking’ through monument valley’s mesa. Oh how we enjoy our stop there! You can drive into it around a circuit. Just remember that the roads are not only dusty but also tough to negotiate. Best with a SUV…

We did a fun road trip that spanned about 5000km or just over 3000 miles from Las Vegas to the south rim and rounding over the top via Moab. Read all about it here. Now if there is any advise we can dispense it would be to keep your rental fully stocked when getting out there. And that means gas (for the car not us) and water (for us not the car). Other than that, get your accommodations sorted if not camping under the stars…

Moab was base for a couple of days and we sprang to nearby Canyonland NP (here) and dead horse point state park. And we finally managed to touch Antelope Canyon (here) after an arduous morning’s drive dash.

Doesn’t this make you yearn to plan for a road trip like we did? If you did it, which parts were the one(s) you’d shout out about the most?