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Isle of Sky

Posted on August 14, 2018 by robin

The Isle of Skye was our adventure yesterday! It took three hours to get there from our cabin in Glencoe but driving three hours here is not a hardship! The views along the entire route were amazing! We saw lots of Loch’s and mountains and gorgeous scenery.

Our first stop on the Isle of Skye was the village of Portree, where we had a seafood lunch. Karen and i had the raw oysters and assorted local fish and it was really good!!

Next we drove to Fairy Glen it was amazing!! It actually reminded me of the Teletubbies set but on a more awesome, fairy like, magical scale! 🤗 There were goats that carved little foot paths all along these little hills and rocky crags and Fairy Rings and rock Cairns

A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn [ˈkʰaːrˠn̪ˠ] (plural càirn [ˈkʰaːrˠɲ]). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes, from prehistoric times to the present. Cairn – Wikipedia

The road to get to Fairy Glen should’ve been marked with a sign at the beginning that said “Good Luck!”. It was a one lane narrow road with small pull off’s on either side every few hundred feet, but there were so many twists and turns and little hills on the road that you could barely see if a car was coming so you just had to punch it, and hope that you didn’t run into a car around the corner!🤣😳 Imagine it’s like a big game of leapfrog (kind of ) you go for a little bit, pull over another car passes through. you go for a little bit someone else pulls over you pass through. You get it…it was very stressful to say the least but we made it and it was so worth it!

If you ever go, when you come upon the first cars that are parked at Fairy Glen, keep going down the road because that’s not the best part of the glen. It’s just around the corner about a quarter of a mile and you will see more parking along the road and amazing hills to walk!

Leaving the Fairy Glen, going back out on the same road, was a bit of a challenge. There was a hill coming down into the glen where cars were coming down and cars are trying to go up, there was no pull off and it was a huge cluster!! Karen hopped out of the car ran up the hill to stop traffic on the other side of the hill from coming down✋🏼 oddly enough all of these holiday goers from different countries obeyed a 17-year-old and didn’t try to come down the hill 😳😳 it was awesome! anyway we got on our way to our next destination and we were laughing about the one lane road and how terrible and stressful it was as we turn… on to the next one lane road!!!😳😳 We just about crapped ourselves! As we’re driving up the road, it wasn’t terrible, until we reached the first turn. We got a sinking feeling because up the hill coming down we’re about five tour buses! We are in a queue of cars waiting to go up the hill. From the back seat we hear Karen say “F-it let’s turn around” and George and I said “I totally agree I was thinking the same thing” and we hightailed it out of there because it was not worth the stress of going 26 miles on a one lane road to get to the next attraction!! So instead we headed to Old Man of Storr

The two lane road leading there was heaven!! We parked along the road and walked up the first hill, it was socked in with clouds so we could just make out a bit of it. Karen hiked up the next section to se if she could get a better pic, my legs were beat and george was sweet enough to stay back with me. Unfortunately Karen couldn’t get much better photos, but she got some awesome ones of the view which i will include below.

Our next stop was Kilt Rock. A gorgeous cliff with and awesome long waterfall that goes into the ocean!

After our last stop at Kilt Rock it was around 6pm and time to head home.

Long day, we were pooped! 😴😴

Enjoy the pics!

Fairy Glen

Karen building a Cairn

Old Man of Storr

Kilt Rock

Arthur’s Seat and the drive to Glencoe

Posted on August 12, 2018 by robin

Our last day in Edinburgh we woke up, it was a gorgeous morning, so we decided to climb Arthur’s seat.

“Arthur’s Seat is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as “a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design”.[1] It is situated just to the east of the city centre, about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 250.5 m (822 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city and beyond, is relatively easy to climb, and is popular for hillwalking.” – wikipedia

It was a gorgeous walk a steady climb but very doable. After that we roamed around Edinburgh making sure we hit all the spots we wanted to see before we left for the Scottish Highlands.

Early this morning, we caught an Uber back to the airport to go pick up our rental car. Last night I was thinking to myself “why did we decide to rent a car and drive accross the country??” It sounded daunting to drive to Glencoe! Scary not only because the roads are very narrow and all the roundabouts, but also the steering wheel is on the other side!!! and you’re driving on the other side of the road!!! 😳😳 needless to say it was a little stressful and we made our blanket apology for things that might get blurted out on the road, and we left the parking lot! By the time we got to the scenic two lane roads George was a pro at driving 🤗♥️. There was still the occasional stressful roundabout but we got the hang of it and it was all good!

The drive to Glencoe was AMAZING!!! The mountains and the views as we were driving were like nothing we’ve ever seen. I’m not sure our pictures will do it justice but we are going to try!

Glencoe is a village in western Scotland. It lies in steep-sided Glencoe valley, in the Scottish Highlands. The area is known for waterfalls and trails – wikipedia

Tomorrow we head to the Isle of Skye and I’m sure we will see many more beautiful vistas along the way!!

Until then here are some pics from our last couple days in Edinburgh and the drive to Gencoe…

The acts at the Fringe Festival were crazy!!

Edinburgh Castle

Karen found a really cool used book store Armchair Books , it was a magical bookshop!! Of coarse we bought a copy of Jane Austen’s Emma from 1905 🤗🤗

Climbing Arthur’s Seat!

On the road to Glencoe we stopped at Stirling Castle.

One of the many Loches we passed on the way! They are so gorgeous!! Acouple pics then were were back on the road! Along the way we took loads of pics but u cannot capture the awesomeness of this place!

Made it to our cabin in Glencoe!!♥️♥️♥️♥️

Cheers Edinburgh!

Posted on August 9, 2018 by robin

Our first day did not disappoint. After stashing our bags at the “Left Luggage” counter in the train station (couldn’t checkin to our apartment till 3pm😩) we explored the city on foot. We wandered the streets and went wherever the wind blew us. Edinburgh is a vibrant city with a rich history. Its cobbled streets twist and turn down alleys that link up with a larger bustling boulevards with shops and pubs. Needless to say, it is a fun city to explore!

The Fringe festival is happening right now, actually the whole month of August the city is packed with festival goers and street performers. You can check out this link to learn more about the Fringe Festival

We had a great first day, walking about 10 miles! We are beat! looking forward to tomorrow!

Enjoy the pics!

View from our apartment. That hill is called Arthur’s Seat. I think we are headed to climb that tomorrow.

Another view out the backside of our apartment. We are staying at the Craigwell Cottages which were once a Brewery! Lots of character and staying in apartments is cheaper than a hotel and you feel like a local. We find it more relaxing 🤗

Exploring, snorkeling, roadside food carts and dogs that burgle.

Posted on June 13, 2017 by robin

The rest of our time in Rincon was spent on the beach, snorkeling and exploring the west coast of Puerto Rico.

Tres Palmas Marine Reserve was literally our backyard on Steps beach. It is a huge natural reef with tons of different coral species and tropical fish. We also saw cuttle fish, a baby blow fish, a razor back turtle, a sea cucumber, an octopus and tons of brightly colored tropical fish. We snorkeled almost everyday. It was awesome! Another species Puerto Rico is known for are their stray dogs. One morning George and I set out to go snorkeling. When we got to the beach we were greated by the cutest black and white lab mix dog. She was so cute and friendly, full of energy wanting us to play with her. She even followed us when we went into the water. I had my fins on first and started to swim out. As I surfaced and turned to see George just getting his gear situated about to swim out to where I was, I spotted that adorable dog running gleefully down the beach with George’s gear bag in her mouth!

Of coarse!

George’s bag had his phone and sunglasses in it! I yelled to him and we swam back to shore to find his bag. It was crazy! We had thoughts of her taking the bag back to her lair where she and her gang of dogs were collecting phones to sell on eBay! Luckily she had dropped the bag not too far from where we were, but not before his glasses and case fell out! We finally recovered all of the items and promptly tied our bags high in a tree before heading back into the water. Crazy dog!

Driving around and exploring the beach communities in the area was also interesting. The main roads are what we would think of as the alley behind our houses. They were skinny roads that didn’t seem to be two lanes, but they were, and sometimes there were cars parked on the sides making it a bit more nerve wracking. It sometimes felt like a game of chicken! I’ve attached a video to show you what it’s like. The video below was taken on the main road connecting the towns, route PR 413. We don’t know how spoiled we are with our roads!

Along every winding road there were roadside food stands and small buildings with a walk up window that sold all sorts of food. Empanadas, tacos, BBQ, fresh juices, Chinese stir fry. It was endless. If there was an empty lot or corner, someone was selling prepared food or fruit. Our recommendation is to stop and eat there, you won’t be disappointed! We stopped at a random empanada stand while we were out exploring and it was tasty!

Below are some pics of some of the roadside carts/stands. Starting with the empanada place.

That wraps up our trip to Puerto Rico. Definitely a place you should visit!

Day trip to Culebra

Posted on June 9, 2017 by robin

It was 5:30am when we left our snug beds to set out to Fajardo for our trip to Culebra Island. It’s a 3 hour drive from Rincon. The whole way while driving there I was a tad worried because this was MY idea. I was 99.9% sure it was going to be worth driving 6hrs in one day, but that .01% was gnawing at me. Turns out I was worried over nothing! It was an incredible trip!

We booked our trip using the Viator app with East Island Adventures. There is a ferry that you can catch from Fajardo to Culebra for $5 round trip, if you want to bring a cooler of food they will charge $1 more. This option was considerably less than what we went with, but you need to arrive at least 2hrs ahead of time and stand in line to get a spot on the ferry. You never know how many people will be there so there is a slight chance it could sell out before you get your ticket. We took the safe route of a guided tour, snorkel equipment, lunch and booze included- Dramamine not- highly reccomend if your sea legs are weak! Another reccomentation is a good water tight bag or case for your phone. One that you can use under water. You will want to take pics, also there is no dock, you swim to shore. So if you want pics on flamenco Beach, bring a waterproof case or bag.

There are two stops, a cove with a reef for awesome snorkeling and then Flamenco Beach. My pictures below are in that order as well!

Flamenco Beach

Rincon

Posted on June 8, 2017 by robin

We made it to Rincon! We’ve been snorkeling, relaxing on the beach and in the water. It’s been fab. This is a great surf town. Not super developed. But just enough. No highrise hotels. No chain restaurants. George ran out and picked us up lunch from a roadside truck. Puerto Rican rice and beans, tostones (plantains) and roast pork.

There is an airport for this side of the island so you don’t have to drive 3hrs, but we wanted to spend some time in Old San Juan so we decided to fly in and out of there.

This side of the island is relaxed and quiet. Not a ton of tourists.

Once again we are totally thrilled with our Homeaway house! It’s perfect! It is on the beach in the natural marine preserve of Tres Palmas Marine Reserve. The reef is right in our backyard. Which is pretty cool highly recommend this apartment. It’s the first floor of a house. 2 queen beds and 1king. 1bath (we’ve had no issues with that, but we only have 1 bath at home so we are used to it) the couple we are renting from has other properties that are larger. They couldn’t be nicer! Everything you could possibly need is provided. Beach chairs, snorkel equip, towels, shampoo, conditioner, soap. There was even some leftover sunscreen to start us off before we headed to the store! Here is the link to our place on homeaway

http://t.hmwy.io/r2kd/7Y0DBVnhOD

La Ruta del Lechon – AKA the Pork Highway!

Posted on June 6, 2017 by robin

On our way to Rincon we took a detour to an area in the mountains that is known for roadside restaurants specializing in roast pig.

The Pork Highway, or La Ruta del Lechón, is a roughly three-mile stretch of Route 184, which is located in a central area of Puerto Rico called Guavate. This winding road is lined with more than a dozen casual roadside restaurants, known as lechoneras, specializing in slow-roasted whole pig (lechón).

It was incredible! Seemed to be mostly locals, only a handful of tourists. It is known as a place to go on weekends and holidays. It seemed like each restaurant had their own band the music was loud and everyone was dancing, drinking and eating. It was a mass party! The food and atmosphere was so great. I think it is a prerequisite that you know how to dance here. People were dancing in line to get food, dancing while they waited for their drinks, as well as the people that were dancing on the actual dance floor. You can’t help but smile here!

We had pig, mofungo, blood sausage, rice and beans and tostones. It was awesome! I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of our feast!

Ok, so no words can do this justice, but pictures and video can!

Old San Juan

Posted on June 5, 2017 by robin

Puerto Rico we’re back! Karen and I were here 4 years ago for 4 days, but this time we brought George along and Karen’s best friend of 13 years, Isabel!

Traveling to Puerto Rico is easy and cheaper than other Caribbean destinations. If you are a US citizen you do not need s passport. Puerto Rico is a US territory, so the currency is the same and more importantly driving is a piece of cake, making it easy to see the island and explore! Renting a car is a must.

We flew into San Juan, rented our car at the airport and headed to our hotel in Old San Juan. Old San Juan is awesome! Narrow cobblestone streets, colorful pastel buildings with ornate balconies and heavy wooden doors make for an architecturally stunning city. We booked a room for one night at Casa Blanca Hotel https://hotelcasablancapr.com/

It was an incredible hotel! Right in the heart of the action. Extra bonus for me, there were movie references throughout the hotel, like the movie playing on a constant loop in the lobby, it was awesome! Below are a few pics of the hotel and street view from our balcony.

Casa Blanca playing in the lobby 💗

After we settled in our room, we walked around the city stopping at shops and vendors along the way. San Juan is an easy city to walk. It is about 10-15 min from end to end. There is a tram that you can hop on and off of, but I imagine you can walk the distance you want to go in the time it takes waiting for the tram to arrive! Our approach to seeing San Juan was to not have an agenda. Just wander the cross crossing streets, stop at shops, sit on benches and people watch. Stop at cafes to have a drink. Slow down and enjoy not having an agenda.

Some highlights of our meandering.

After all that walking we needed to rest our feet. Most hotel have a rooftop pool or jacuzzi, Casa Blanca had 4 cement double bath tubs! They were awesome! Of coarse I had to try it out! It was awesome!!

Morning view waking up. So gorgeous!

The next morning we set out for the fort, Castillo San Felipe del Morro. This Spanish fort was so cool like stepping into history.

Sentinel turret.

Chapel

Beautiful cemetery next to the fort

Next stop the surf town of Rincon where we will stay for the remainder of our trip!

Stay tuned…

Sienna

Posted on June 28, 2015 by robin

We decided to train it to Sienna for our last full day. Sienna is another hill top town that Tuscany is known for. It did not disappoint! The medieval buildings lined the streets and seemed to loom over us like they were shielding us as we wandered through them.

Piazza del Campo is the principal public space of the historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is regarded as one of Europe’s greatest medieval squares. It is renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity.The twice-a-year horse-race, Palio di Siena, is held around the edges of the piazza.

The city was full of grand architecture and beautiful art

We barely scratched the surface of Sienna. It would be nice to spend a night here!

We are sitting at the airport as I write this post. A little sad that Italy is so far from Pittsburgh.

Pisa, Firenze and the Tuscan country side

Posted on June 26, 2015 by robin

So if you are like me, I have never heard Florence called Firenze. That is the actual name of Florence. The name that Italians call it! It shocked me. Why don’t we call it Firenze? Sorry Firenze…It’s too late now, everyone knows you as Florence!

“Florence was founded by the Romans in the 59B.C. and called Florentia, which is probably why we call it “Florence” rather than “Firenze”. In italian, “Florentia” (pronounced flo-rent-zhee-ah) sounds more like “Firenze” (pronounced fee-rent-zhee) but with an easier pronounciation without the “L”.” -yahoo answers

But first, on the way to Florence we stopped for about an hour in Pisa. We heard from our apartment contact in the Cinque Terre that the tower was about the only thing to see in Pisa. So we trained it to Pisa, then bused it over to the tower. Quick bucket list side trip. It was cool.

Florence has been great! The hustle and bustle. Bargaining for leather goods at the street market, high end shops, art, amazing architecture, the “Line of David” (record scratch) Wait, what?? That’s right, after waiting in line for two hours to get into the the Accedemia museum to see the statue of David, they cut the entrance line off 5 people ahead of us!!! It was heartbreaking!! So let this be a lesson to you, if you can reserve a ticket online to the museums you want to go to, before your trip, DO IT!! Some people waited 3 hrs in the blazing sun. Not something I care to do while the city is waiting there in front of me to be explored!! Other than that fiasco, Florence is stunning and vibrant with life.

Today we rented a car to tour the Tuscan countryside and wine region. It was nice to get away from the throngs of people! Again, like in France we were a little nervous about driving, but we figured we made the reservation, we have to do it! It was great! It was much easier getting out of Florence than Paris. We were at our first stop of San Gimignano within 45 min. A really cool hill top medieval town with gorgeous vineyard views.

From there we went to Volterra and then to the Chianti region. The day went by really fast and we saw some of the most beautiful countryside. Just gorgeous!

Tomorrow we are going to train it to Sienna for our last day. Sorry David, I guess it just wasn’t in the cards!

Oh I almost forgot, our apartment is awesome! Great location and even better it has a rooftop porch with a view of the Tuscan hills and this time, there was an elevator!! Woohoo! How did we luck out? It has been nice!!

Our Florence Apartment. The porch was so great, we ate dinner in every night with a bottle of wine. Which by the way is crazy cheap here. I guess because it is so close to where they make it. It barely has to travel!