TRAVEL

Bye London | Hello Lanzarote

Hello Lovely Readers and welcome back to my TRAVEL blog! I was waiting a long time to actually go somewhere and yes we finally did! We had two lovely weeks in Lanzarote during the Christmas holidays and we deserved it!

It was a bit last minute, so we did not want to go too far. Especially because the prices are really high last minute from London to almost any far country. So, we decided to go to one of the famous Canary Islands, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Those islands are loved by the British.  The weather in December is around 21 degrees Celsius with a bit of a wind in the evening. I never been to any of these Volcanic Islands, so I was definitely up for it.

Here is how our adventure started, what we did and the amazing food we ate. Believe me the food was AMAZING! Grab your usual cup of tea or coffee and read on…

Arriving at Lanzarote

We arrived at their only and small airport in Lanzarote. Apparently we are noobs, because we did not – to less research before we arrived.

The first and best tip ever that I can give to you, is to search for a rental car company, so that you can pick up the car when you will arrive at the airport.

Just go for the best known rental companies, because we had some issues with the one we picked. We, as noobs, went with the taxi to the hotel. We rented a car, by checking online and then we needed to go back to the airport to pick the car up.  We had some issues with a double booking, fortunately it is al sorted a month later. (Not recommending Cartrawler btw) When all was sorted we paid £124,- for the two weeks that we were in Lanzarote. So, if you are like us and wait to check for rental cars when you are in the hotel. Just check online and do not go for the hotel recommendation. (They usually charge you much more)

Our hotel, Hotel Diamar, what can I say, was a bit of a disappointment, as we got a room with a broken toilet.

If we did not tell the reception, they would not border to at least let us know about this issue.

The night we arrived it was too late to change rooms, so we did not want to go to an other room anymore so we waited for the repair guy the next morning. (He did not solve anything, but it was at least flushing better) We settled for this room because of the nice view of the sea and the rest of the room was just fine. I will be honest, I also would not recommend this hotel, purely because of the toilet issue and the way they handled this issue with us. Plus in the summer when it is really hot, the AC will not work. They have really old type of AC in here. I think an apartment or so will be a better option in Lanzarote.

What did we do

Lanzarote is not a huge island, but if you take it easy and explore, you can see a lot.

This island is perfect for a road trip. There is a lot of beautiful Volcano eruptions to see near the Lanzarote roads.

Le Gardin de cactus

Great cacti garden where you can practice taking beautiful pictures with your camera. At least this is what I did with my Canon EOS M10. Must say, some pictures turned up amazing.

Sunrise and Sunsets

 

Of course on every island you will see beautiful sunrises and sunsets. I prefer the sunsets and we were lucky to see those just from our hotel balcony and many more lovely places in Lanzarote.

Playa Blanca – Rubican Marina

This area is a bit to fancy and to much tourists for me. They have a beautiful harbour, market and some okay restaurants.

Bodegas El Grifo

This is the vineyard and museum where you can do some local wine-tasting.

I have to say I learned a lot about white volcanic wine from Lanzarote. Before I only knew about red and mostly Italian wine.

This type of wine is also very nice especially with seafood. The museum gives you an idea how they make their famous El Grifo wine. At the end of the tour you can taste a few different wine that they make at this winery.

The National Park Timanfaya

First we went to a part of this park were you can do a camel ride for 12 euro’s per camel.

Really nice to view this amazing Volcanic place on a camel.

Not the most comfortable way, but a nice thing to do when you are with someone you love. After this we went for to the park itself. We were expecting to just walk around, but once you are in the park and you have parked your car, the excursion begins. I have to say they organised this pretty well. So first you go in a bus and you will get a tour around the complete park. After this tour, you will see a spectacular fire show, some demonstration with the geezers and you can even barbecue on the Volcano.

The Pink Mountains on Famara beach

This was one of the most amazing days in my life with an epic sunset. The water was a bit too cold to swim in, at least for me. So we just walk to the end of this beach. The beach is around 4 km long and you will find a lot of surfers here . Towards the end of the beach, we realised that the sun was going to set. When we were walking back to the other side the sun was going to set and the mountains had an amazing pink glow to it. WOW! The colours of the sky were so beautiful!

All those warm sunset colours it was just like a beautiful painting.

Playa Papagayo Lanzarote

The name reminds me a bit of Curacao. You need to pay a small fee if you want to go to this beach. It is 3 euros. This is a bit of a tourist trap beach, not that it is not a wonderful beach. Unfortunately it is a bit too fancy around it and the beach is a bit small. I liked the beach in Famara must more.

Mirador del Rio

On this spot you will have a wonderful view of the sea and an other island.

Jameos del agua

This place is beautiful. It is a part of a lava cave tunnel in Lanzarote where one of the famous designer, Cesar Manrique, made a small paradise. You can find a subterranean salt lake, a restaurant, beautiful gardens, emerald-green pool, a museum and an auditorium.

Cueva de los verdes

Because of the Jameos del agua we really wanted to visit a lava cave tunnel. At Cueva de los verdes, they organise cave tours for about 45 min more or less. Even for a claustrophobic like me, this was really nice to do. The caves are huge from the inside and they even have an open space for concerts because of the acoustic.

El Golfo

This is a beautiful green lagoon that is at the foot of the crater wall. The green lagoon is filled with Volcanic minerals and micro-organism. Unfortunately you can not get on the beach near the lagoon or on the lagoon itself. The best part is, that just next to this lagoon there are a lot of restaurants near the sea, where they have delicious seafood.

One day road trip to Fuerteventura

From Lanzarote it is easy to take the Ferryboat to Fuerteventura. We took the car and went with the Ferryboat ARMAS.

Tip is to not forget your passport and if you arrive early, it is possible to buy the ticket just there and then.

Two return tickets with the car is 114 euros. It takes around 50 minutes to get to the other Island.  We had a day ticket, so we had from 10am till 8pm to return to the ferry and to get back to Lanzarote.

In Fuerteventura we drove through many villages, many hairpin roads and amazing views of volcanic mountains. La Olivia was the first place we went through. We stopped to visit a gallery called “Centro de Arte Canario” Casa Mane. They had a small gallery with I think local artists, I definitely saw some beautiful paintings in here.
Next stop was Tindaya, then Puerto del Rosaria,  Antigua, costa de Antigua, Las Salinas, Tuineje, Pajara, Betancuria (beautiful hairpin roads and view of the Rio del Palmas) and finally back to Corralejo.

In Corralejo we stopped to sit at a restaurant near the sea and just enjoyed and rested a bit before we went back to Lanzarote.

Tip on the way back, we saw the beautiful stars in the sky. We saw Orion from Lanzarote and some stars near Orion. (For star spotting, the Canary Islands are a great place to spot them)

Restaurants

Wow, so finally we can start with all the nice restaurants that we have been here in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

Restaurant Sol

This restaurant is one of the best in Lanzarote. It is in a small village called Famare, where the famous pink mountains are. From the restaurant you will have an amazing view of the mountains and the beach.

 

The Tuna steak was on fire and super delicious. Nice with some Bodega Volcano de Lanzarote, white wine.

Restaurant Mirador de las Salinas

In this restaurant you will have a beautiful view of the Salinas. We had some fresh mussels and fish with Yaiza, of course a white wine with the authentic Volcano flavour of Lanzarote. Tip, If you like romance and sunset, this is the place to be.

Steakhouse Don Rafael – Las Palmas – Puerto del Carmen

Delicious steaks and almost every cut available. This is the place if you would like to eat some good quality meat.

Pizzeria – La Lanterra – Las Palmas – Peurto del Carmen

Nice family business with real Italian pizza’s . Staff members are Italian and very friendly.

Lilium restaurante – Marina Lanzarote

Near a small harbour in Arrecife. This is the fancy restaurant we went to on the second day of Christmas. I had an super delicious entrecote in this place.

Restaurante Mar azul – El Golfo

In this restaurant I think we had the best seafood. For the octopus lovers, like me.. This is definitely a place to go.

Fuerteventura – Terraza Playa Chica

We had a real good lunch in this place. It is near the beach. Again octopus, Padron peppers and fresh fish.

So hope you enjoy reading this blog. Probably you needed two or three cups of tea or coffee. What can I say.. we went for two full weeks!

If you are in Lanzarote, please try these restaurants.. They are truly amazing and a real recommendation. In the end I liked Lanzarote more than Fuerteventura. Just the Lanzarote landscape itself is mesmerizing. Oh I almost forgot, If you have the chance to go and do horse riding… Go! One of the few things we didn’t had time for in the end.

See you soon and till next blog!♥ MissWidjaja

 

LIFESTYLE

Hello London | Vintage Shops

Hello Lovely Readers and welcome back to my “Hello London” blog. First of all.. Happy New Year you guys! Wish you the best in 2018! This is a blog I wanted to share with you for a while now. Since I have moved to London, I am falling in love with vintage shopping more and more.

There is a vintage shop on my way to work, so I passed by it twice a day. The first time I went in and I was sold! I bought a nice summer maxi dress for £2,-, (That I of course forgot to bring to my holidays in Lanzarote) but it felt so good that I was really proud  I finally could find something nice in a second hand shop.

This is how the vintage shopping journey began and I am still going to this particular shop after work on my way home. (Okay.. not on daily base of course, but I have to say sometimes it is a bit difficult to just pass by this shop without going in) It is one of my favourite vintage shops I have discovered so far.

If you keep on searching you will find really nice quality clothing for a cheap price. Remember this; the key is to keep searching until you find something special!

Today is your lucky day, because I am going to share my top favourite vintage shops with you and some cool findings.

So lets start, get a cup of tea and maybe a pen and paper to take a note of all the good bits.

FARA Charity Shop

Not going to lie, this is the best charity shop ever! They even have a section with designer clothing. In this shop I found many good quality gems. Friendly staff and everything is well organised in sections. I think lots of people donate their good quality clothing here. I also donated a lot of clothing to this shop. Funny to see some of your old stuff hanging around in a shop. It feels good to make some else happy with it.

Unfortunately they don’t have always good quality clothing, because if they have the good stuff in, it will be gone in a few seconds. That is the reason I am going in on regular basis.

What can you find in this shop? Really everything. Brands like, Burberry, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Asos, Banana Republic, H&M, Top shop, vintage clothing and many more. It can be different on daily basis. The nicest thing is that even the “best” clothing, like “new” or “hardly worn” or from a “luxury brand” will still be affordable. I saw a Burberry skirt for £10,-. The skirt did not looked worn at all, some nice clothing from Asos / Top shop for usually less than £10,- and the latest thing I saw was a super cool leather jacket from Armani for men. (If it was the size of my boyfriend, I definitely bought it. It was only £25,-)

One of my precious finding was a vintage furry winter coat. Super warm and exactly my size for just £25,-. This was an amazing finding as I was always on the hunt for something like this. In London it can be very useful even if it not so extreme cold this time of year.

 

What else did I find in this shop. Let me see… I found some good business trousers from Banana Republic, cute summer jumper from Asos, warm sweaters, a cool leather vintage jacket and a lot of nice tops for work.

Tip: If you have one in your borough, just hop in once in a while.

 
Oxfam Charity Shop

This shop has some great clothing. Unfortunately they sell the clothing a bit overpriced. Tops and sweater are usually around £20,- and if it is from a “luxury brand” it can cost more. If you are asking me… I don’t think the pricing is right for cloths that are second hand.

In general they get lots of good donations. I found some old Canon cameras, a Furla bag and many designer tops. Not really the brands that I like. To be honest for the prices that they sell the clothing, I rather buy something new in the high streets. That is exactly what I am trying to do less and less.

Vestiaire Collective Online Shop

This website is really great! It is a like Gum-tree for all your designer goodies. It is perfect platform to buy and to sell designer stuff on. The good part is, they check the authenticity and then send you the item. The delivery can take up to two weeks, if it need to be checked for authenticity. That can be a bit of disadvantage if you would like it as soon as possible.

This platform is also great if you love vintage designer stuff or if you love any particular design(er) that are no longer for sale in stores. For me it is Marc by Marc Jacobs bags from way back. Love those bag, the leather and design are amazing!

I bought one Marc by Marc Jacobs bag on this site as a Christmas present for myself. Surprisingly they are not so expensive anymore and if you check.. you can find a lot that are hardly used. Just received it and it looks amazing! Almost like new and exactly what I was imagining. (Picture will be on Instagram soon)

Moving slowly to Sustainability

Before moving to London I got rid of almost eighty percent of my closet in the Netherlands.

A lot of clothing that I did not even wear, but collected over years. To be honest the twenty percent that I brought with me is still a lot. (Still trying to get rid of a few items) Even here in London, I am still giving clothing away to the charity shop and it is making me happy. Most of the clothing that I own are really well maintained, so if I can make someone else happy with it, why not? My closet needs to get smaller and smaller and I like that thought of less clothing but trying to have better  quality clothing.

Okay, I am not perfect. I still buy some stuff in stores, but not so much since I moved to London. Mainly if I am on holidays and I need something. I still need to be better at packing for holidays in a carry on bag. Some items I will always buy on the high streets are swimwear and underwear.

Even if I go shopping now, I usually come home without anything. (Except if I go to the vintage shop 🙂 ) I am realising I don’t need anything anymore and if I want it.. I will think twice to get it or not. Usually this helps to not buy it.

So, If I keep this up.. I  have more quality clothing that I actually will wear over and over again.

If you know any charity / vintage shop that I should go to in London.. Please let me know!

Hope you liked this blog and till next time.

See you! ♥ Miss Widjaja

LIFESTYLE

Hello London | Bye Bye November

Hello Lovely Readers and welcome back to my “Hello London” blog. Time flies when you are having fun or working hard. We are just a few weeks away from Christmas. Wow this year went really fast. Already living six months in beautiful London.

I can’t say I did discover a lot of new places this month, but of course I will share with you all the places we had fun at this past month.

So lets start and get a cup of tea.

The escape room

I had a fun evening with my colleagues for our team building event at the escape room. Super fun to do.

You will need to safe the planet from an evil sheep and solve some games and puzzles to get out of the room within a hour or so.

If you are with a group of friends, this can be fun as well.

Bar + Block steakhouse

After the escape room we went for dinner at this steakhouse. Wow! This one is amazing.

One of the best steak I ever had.

I had the fillet 10 oz with peppercorn sauce and some nice red merlot. I will definitely go back to this steakhouse. They also serve various steak cutes, so if you are a steak lover like me.. this is a must go for you!

The bar with no name

More an intimate bar on a corner with sort of chemist bartenders. Nice atmosphere and amazing cocktails. For this bar, you will need a reservation. It can be super busy on Fridays or weekend.

When lock and Essex bar

This bar is near “the bar with no name” in Angel. We met with friends here and had a good time. Not a super fancy bar, but that is a good thing. Just to have a fun and relax night.. maybe before you go out and if you are in Angel.. this is a the bar you might consider.

The Crown & Anchor

This gastro pub seems to be always full of people. Nice place in Chiswick, on the Chiswick high road, to meet and drink with some friends.

The mulled gin was delicious.

If you are in this area, pop in to this pub to see how cool and relax it is. It has an living room area in the front where you just feel like home.

Piano

It is a Persian cuisine restaurant with live music and a belly dancer dancing around the tables. If you like Lebanese food, you will love this. A lot of food with starters (mezze) and for the main course a lot of different kinds of grilled meat. Not the best food, but nice to try something different once in a while.

The Shard


You must see the view from the Shard at least once in your life. To be honest nothing spectacular from the top. There are other buildings in the city that will provide the same view and no ticket needed.

It has something special when you are on the top of the highest building in London.

A tip is to go in the summer, because the top of the Shard is open and it can be cold. If you go in the winter, go a bit late so you will see the city at night with all its beautiful lights.

It was a busy month with a business trip to Munich, a relative that brought us a visit in London and the above.. that the month just flown away.

December is going to be the same with this year “no Christmas madness” and a well  deserved 2 weeks off to Lanzarote. I can’t wait!

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you got inspired to try any of the places I have been while you are here in London.

See you! ♥ Miss Widjaja

 

LIFESTYLE

Hello London | October Vibes

Hello Lovely Readers and welcome back to my “Hello London” blog. October has been a lovely and busy month with lots of exciting things happening. So lets start, get a cup of tea… and enjoy reading my blog with some new discoveries I made in October.

The Royal Academy of Art

At the RA I saw two beautiful exhibitions; “Matisse in the Studio” and “Dali/Duchamp”. They were both lovely. I think the Matisse one will end in the beginning of November, so if you can.. get a ticket and go! Here you can see objects that Henri Matisse uses in his painting. A Lovely collection of paintings and objects. The Dali/Duchamp exhibition will be in the RA till the 3th of January. So, plenty of time to visit this one.

If you can only see one out of the two, I would suggest to go and see the Dali/ Duchamp. Salvador Dali, he as an artist, is just beyond amazing!

In this exhibition you will see a lot of amazing paintings from him and from his friend/ artist Duchamp. For both exhibitions you will need to get a ticket.

 

Gala dinner at Banking Hall

This was an one in a life time experience. WHOOP WHOOP! I had the opportunity to go to a work related gala dinner. I was super excited, because I have never been to a gala dinner and the venue was amazing. It was in the Banking Hall, across the Royal Exchange London.

The dress code was black-tie and the theme of the night was “the Day of the Dead”.

It was an award gala dinner and unfortunately we didn’t won any awards that night. Nevertheless, I am very grateful I had the opportunity to experience a gala dinner here in London. I hope there will be more!

Night life in Hackney

Night life in Hackney and/ or Shoreditch is on! Super relax atmosphere here and laid back people. Some nice places to go to are The Queen Adelaide, Strong Room Shoreditch, The Camel. There are much more places to see in this area, please check my other London blogs for other suggestions in Shoreditch / Hackney. The ones I did mention here, are the ones we did visit recently.

Some cool restaurant spots

There are so many restaurants here in London, so you will always discover a new one every time you will go out! These are the ones we discovered in October.

Banana tree
At Banana tree, I had some lunch with a friend and it was busy at lunch time. It is a bit fusion style of different Asian cuisines, like Indonesian, Thais, Korean food and probably many more. The best is to make a reservation in advanced, if you don’t want to wait to long.

Chinatown
I am not sure what the name was of the restaurant my mom and I went, but I think in Chinatown there are many Chinese restaurants that are great. My favourite Chinese dishes are the Pancake Duck and Pork Belly.

Hare and Tortoise
This time we went in Chiswick to this lovely restaurant called Hare and Tortoise. It is a Japanese restaurant and they have really nice sushi here. One of the best Temaki sushi with salmon and avocado. Last time we went to the one in Brunswick mall.

Las Iguanas
We had a nice family dinner in Las Iguanas. The steak was delicious and I like the concept of buy two cocktails for one. They also serve sort of tapas as a starter. Great place for a group dinner with friends or family.

Efendi
This Turkish restaurant has the best home made bread ever. It was super soft and crunchy outside, really nice to dip it in different type of Turkish sauces. The food was very good with relative cheap prices. Definitely a must go, if you are in the neighbourhood.

Seawise Camden

This restaurant has great fish dishes and wonderful oysters! You are already in the Camden stables so you might as well wonder around after  lunch.

Chiswick

Chiswick is like an hour from central London, at least from were we live. This is an area you should visit once when you are in London. It is more like a small town, relaxed atmosphere and some nice streets with full of wine bars, bistros, pubs and restaurants.

Bonfire works at Victoria

“It’s a British tradition dating back to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I.”

 

It feels a bit like celebrating New years Eve. Fireworks are always beautiful to see and I liked the atmosphere. It was busy but not in a chaotic way. Be prepared for the cold. I didn’t realise it, but the winter has come to  London and it is pretty damn cold in the evenings.

These are the things I did last month till last weekend. Hope you liked reading a bit of my adventures and discoveries here in London. Till next time, hopefully soon! (I really need to be more organised to blog regularly)

Ciao! ♥ Miss Widjaja