Restaurants

Eating Our Way Though Cape Town, South Africa!

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As Dan and I are preparing to return on safari next month (verrry exciting!), I am finally finishing up my posts from our last safari trip in South Africa. This post reviews a delicious food and history tour that we took through Cape Town, South Africa. The tour was truly great and a highlight of our time in Cape Town! If you cannot make the tour, each spot is worthy of a visit on its own.

Cape Town from Table Mountain.

And quick back ground, Dan and I spent almost two weeks in South Africa, spending five nights on safari near Kruger National Park and four in Cape Town, one of the two most beautiful cities I have ever seen (the other being Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). In Cape Town, we toured Cape Point, went on a wine tour in Stellenbosh, and spent the better part of a day on a food tour exploring Cape Town’s city center and Bo-Kaap neighborhoods.

Dan & I in Bo-Kaap.

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How To Spend A Rainy Weekend in Innsbruck, Austria!

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After attending Oktoberfest (yes, the one in Munich) last year (2023), we trained to Innsbruck for two nights before flying back to the USA from Milan. This was our first time in Innsbruck (third time in Austria), and we LOVED the city! It was compact, gorgeous and has a lot to offer tourists. Unfortunately for us, it rained the entire time but, we’ll just have to come back!

Rain clouds over the Golden Roof, Innsbruck’s most famous site.

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A Tasting Through Kadiköy – The Asian Side of Istanbul

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Dan and I spent a very fast two nights in Istanbul on our July trip to Türkiye last summer, only staying in Istanbul because we needed to fly out of the Istanbul airport. We have been to Istanbul previously, but we didn’t explore the Asian Side of Istanbul, so we stayed in a hotel on the Asian Side and also booked a food tour in a local, and adorable, neighborhood of Kadıköy. This article reviews our delicious food tour, which would be relatively easy to recreate on your own!

STOP ONE: BREAKFSAT AT CAY TARLASI & CAFE

The first stop of the tour was for breakfast, at a small spot that our guide frequents with her friends after a big night out, LOL. Cay Tarlasi & Cafe is a family-owned restaurant that is open all day, every day, from 8 AM to midnight. We squeezed into a table on the second floor and were immediately served Turkish tea, which is basically black tea in a curved glass. Turkish Tea is common alll over Türkiye, and locals drink this tea all day in all weather (including the hot summers!). Turkish Tea is a bit bitter but not difficult to drink, especially if you add sugar.  For breakfast, two large pans quickly graced the table. The first was filled with menemen – one of my favorites! Menemen is a traditional Turkish breakfast of eggs, peppers, and tomatoes mixed together with some spices (I had a great one at our hotel in Cappadocia). Think a mix between scrambled eggs with toppings and an omelette. In any case, menemen is great, and this version was particularly good, especially paired with the local bread. The second pan contained muhlama, which is another local dish consisting of cheese, butter, cornmeal, and water mixed together and cooked. The muhlama was also very tasty and reminded me a lot of our at-home Raclette machine, yet also of Southern grits. I preferred the menemen between the two dishes, but suggest trying both in Türkiye. We left Cay Tarlasi & Cafe stopping ourselves from eating more.

Menemen. This dish is easy to find in Turkey.

Muhlama. The consistency was like grits.

My plate with the black Turkish tea.

Storefront for those interested in visiting. The owners were welcoming and spoke English. Visitors may need to wait for a table.

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Fifteen Tips for Visiting the Hilton Conrad Rangali Island, Maldives

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Dan and I returned to Rangali Island in the Maldives in November. We, again, stayed at the Hilton Conrad Rangali Island (and we rebooked for a third trip this upcoming November!). Since this was our second stay, I compiled 15 tips that I think many people visiting Rangali would want to know prior to visiting. These are not necessarily “budget” tips, but tips to make your trip more enjoyable!

Maldives!

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Airport Lounge Review: Al Dhabi Lounge by Lounge, Abu Dhabi International, Terminal 1

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This post reviews our experiences at the Al Dhabi Lounge by Lounge – Abu Dhabi International’s only Priority Pass airport lounge at the time (it has recently been removed from the PP network but may return).  Dan and I used Abu Dhabi International’s Al Dhabi Lounge three times last year (including when we flew in in the above cover photo, that’s the F1 track in the pic), and we had a relatively OK experience each time. I wouldn’t kill yourself to visit this lounge, but if you have a decent layover and no other options, it probably makes sense. While it can get crazy during busy periods, the Al Dhabi Lounge is a sizeable space with edible food and decent drinks, in addition to good wifi and complimentary showers.

Abu Dhabi city! This was it decked out for the World Cup.

THE AL DHABI LOUNGE

The Al Dhabi Lounge is located in Abu Dhabi airport’s Terminal 1 at the end of a very long corridor, which is accessible via Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 without re-clearing security. We walked to the lounge from Terminal 3, and it probably took us 15 minutes walking at an average pace. The Al Dhabi lounge is open 24/7, and it is open to almost all travelers as long as its not full (i.e. anyone can buy a day pass to this lounge).  The Al Dhabi Lounge’s entrance is located on the ground floor, and the lounge is directly above it.  A check-in desk, which is shared with the Abu Dhabi Airport Hotel (read about our stay there here), check guests in pretty quickly, although on one of our visits there was a looong line (due to the F1 race and the World Cup in Qatar). Once checked in, guests go up one floor to a second check-in desk, where they check in once again, LOL. Information, including wifi passwords, are provided at this second check-in desk. Once cleared on the second floor, the lounge is to the right and the hotel is to the left. Guests cannot enter the hotel without a reservation, so no safety worries if you are staying there!

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