I’ve been to a bunch of new countries this year and the Seychelles was one of them. The Seychelles is situated in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar and about 1,600 km east of Kenya. 115 islands make up this country and they are full of lush tropical vegetation, beautiful beaches and a wide variety of marine life. The Inner Island of Mahé is the largest of the Seychelles and together with its neighbours La Digue and Praslin is home to 98% of the population.
If someone asked me my favourite place in Turkey, the area of Faralya would be pretty high up on the list. Located about 15 km south of Ölüdeniz, Faralya is a little piece of heaven on earth. As the area is still largely unspoilt apart from some boutique hotels and small villages, it is peaceful, remote and natural with unspoilt beaches and pine-clad mountains.
For our last little getaway of Summer 2019, we drove from Izmir to Faralya to stay at Nautical Hotel and it’s sister hotel Perdue Hotel. We arrived where the hotel had instructed us to park in their carpark and rung them. Within a few minutes we were greeted by a member of staff that came to pick us up in an off-road vehicle. We then begun the 15 minute descend on a dirt track down the side of the mountain until we reached the hotels perched on the bottom of the mountain next to the bluest Mediterranean Sea.
On the 23rd of October we packed our bags and flew to Saudi Arabia. We landed at Riyadh at 1 in the morning and went to stay at the Marriott Airport Hotel for a few hours before heading back to the airport to get another flight to Al Ula.
Saudi Arabia is somewhere I never thought I would visit. Even though i’ve spent quite a lot of time in the Middle East (Jordan, Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi…) when I received the invitation to visit the KSA I ummed and ahhed over it for quite sometime. I had no real idea of what to expect but I have been trying to step out of my comfort zone and say yes to new experiences so I accepted the invite and i’m really glad I did. The Saudi people welcomed us with open arms, we explored amazing landscapes and historical places that aren’t even open to the public until 2020, ate lunch at Princess Noura Aladel’s farm, stayed at a desert camp, watched the sunrise at a rock shaped like an elephant and went to the “edge of the world”.
Izmir to Istanbul, Istanbul to Almaty, Almaty to Shymkent. That was the journey we embarked on a few weeks ago to the wonderful land of Kazakhstan, a country full of surprises…
I didn’t know much about Bahrain before I went. It’s not somewhere I had ever planned on visiting but i’m so glad we got the opportunity to experience this lovely country. We were there for a week and did everything from pearl diving to horse riding, tasting local food, visiting mosques and camel farms, indoor sky diving to Go-Karting. It was certainly an adventure.
We recently went on a 3 day visa free cruise around Greece with Tatil Sepeti. We set sail from Kusadasi, a bustling resort on the Aegean coast of Turkey which is famous for it’s close proximity to Ephesus and the House of Virgin Mary. We visited 5 Greek islands over the course of 3 days: Patmos, Crete, Santorini, Athens and Mykonos before sailing back to Kusadasi.
Last week we went on a little trip to Cornelia Diamond Golf Resort & Spa in Antalya, Turkey. After a really long drive down the coast, we arrived just in time to explore our new home for the next 4 days.
Cornelia Diamond is in an area of Antalya called Belek with it’s own beach and an ultra all inclusive system. There are 8 swimming pools, a beach, a water park, mini golf area, bowling & games room, tennis courts and a 27 hole golf course. There is certainly no time to be bored at Cornelia!
We just got back from a quick trip to Istanbul. Out of the 4 nights, 2 of them we spent at the Raffles Hotel. It was my first ever time staying at a Raffles property and it certainly won’t be my last!
Maybe our room was a little too amazing, as it made leaving it to explore and shoot around Istanbul pretty hard. We were staying in the Bosphorus Suite and when you opened the door you walked into a beautiful large living room…
We flew from Turkey to Athens, explored the city for awhile (and ate our body weight in tzatziki) then jumped on a ferry as the sun was setting and headed for an island that’s been on my bucket list for years…Santorini.
7 and a half veryyyy long hours later we arrived. Our home for the next 2 nights was Astarte Suites and the hotel had kindly sent a driver to pick us up at the port. Since it was 3 in the morning and we couldn’t see much, we sleepily made our way to the hotel and fell into bed.
Astarte Suites is located in the Akrotiri area of Santorini, about 45 minutes from Oia, nestled on the cliffs of Caldera with glorious views over the Aegean Sea, Fira, Oia and the volcano.
Last week we spent 3 days exploring the beautiful island of Santorini. On our last night we were lucky enough to stay at Andronis Luxury Suites located in the heart of the town of Oia.
I am obsessed with swimming pools and it was funny as we had seen these 2 amazing pools nestled away on one of the cliffs in Oia overlooking the cute white buildings, blue domed churches and the sea and I remember thinking how I wished I could swim there. When we went to check in, it turns out that one of those pools was ours! It certainly didn’t take me long to jump in!
We spent 3 nights on the beautiful island of Mykonos last week, and 2 of those nights we stayed at Kivotos Hotel. Located on the beautiful bay of Ornos, around 3.5 kilometers from the center of Mykonos, the hotel has it’s own private beach, 2 swimming pools, a spa and a gym.
We traveled to Mykonos on the ferry from Santorini and Kivotos hotel had kindly sent their driver to pick us up. We arrived at the 5-star boutique hotel exhausted but were met with the lovely Christina from guests relations and a glass of prosecco.
A couple of months ago I got an email inviting me to experience the Cannes Film Festival and to stay at the newly renovated Hotel Martinez as it reopens as part of Hyatt’s newest brand, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt.
Cannes is a gorgeous seaside town on the French Riviera and Hotel Martinez, with it’s stunning art deco building, is one of the most iconic hotels in Cannes. Opened in 1929 by luxury hotelier Emmanuel Michele Martinez, this building has had a very interesting and colourful past. Before Emmanuel Martinez opened it as the largest hotel in the French Riviera, it had previously served as a home to English aristocrats.