Category Archives: getaways

london getaway 2019 | day 1

13 Monday May 2019

Posted by in friends, getaways, london, travel, trips

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This is Nicola’s @shedlikesfood lovely apartment, located on the top floor of The House of Many Stairs in Clapton. There are even stairs inside the apartment (!!) as it is on two levels, with the bedroom and bathroom upstairs. To say I am no longer used to climbing stairs is a bit of an understatement, but the only really difficult times were lugging my massive suitcase up and down them (I do not travel light). But as you can see it’s a charming light-filled space.

I arrived at the house around 2.30 pm and got unpacked and settled in. Then it was time to take a walk and get to know the neighbourhood, and hopefully find somewhere for a late lunch. Unfortunately most of the places Nicola had recommended were closed (Monday!) so, after a quick beer in a dodgy pub, I bought a few supplies for the week at the supermarket, picked up pizza, and headed home.

By this time it was already 7-ish and I was exhausted, having accomplished close to 14,000 steps on only one early morning croissant and the aforementioned beer. So I put my feet up, opened the wine I’d purchased at the supermarket, and enjoyed an early dinner of wood-oven baked pizza. And well, there was no way I was going out again. In fact, I ended up in bed by 9.00 and caught a lovely sunset from the bedroom window before hitting the hay and sleeping a full 8 hours (something almost unheard of for me – clearly I needed it).

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cuatrogatos wine fest 2019

16 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by in andalucia, events, food & drink, getaways, sherry, wine

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The fourth edition of the CuatroGatos Wine Festival was quite different from last year’s event. This time it was held inside a lovely hacienda on the outskirts of El Puerto de Santa María and there was also the promise of a special dish prepared by Michelin star chef Ángel León. I met my friend Tomoko @Fu_yan at the train station and, having just missed the Wine Bus, got a taxi over.

[click to enlarge]

It was a great afternoon revisiting old friends and making new ones. And thanks to Tomoko I tried several wines I may not have otherwise (brand new love is La Choza by Bodega Callejuela). I was also happy to discover that several of the wines I liked are available in Sevilla, and almost all of them at Ana Linares’s fabulous wine shop Lama La Uva (will be visiting her soon!)

Tomoko and CuatroGatos founder Federico Ferrer

Although there were a lot more food options this year, with several stands set up on the patio, Tomoko and I decided to walk over to Restaurante El Faro so we could sit down for awhile and, frankly, have a nicer lunch. 😉 Which you can see, we did indeed have. The only thing was that by the time we got back to the event, several of the producers were already packing up (!!). Since they were offering another Wine Bus back to the train station around 8 pm we assumed that the producers were going to stay around longer. Oh well. It was still a fabulous day and great to hang out with Tomoko again.

spectacular lunch at Restaurante El Faro

 

more cádiz sea cats

14 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by in animals & pets, cadiz, cats, getaways

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A couple of years ago I wrote about the sea cats of Cádiz, remarking on the little shelters that someone had put out for them amongst the seawall boulders. This visit I was not only pleasantly surprised to see many more shelters put up, but I also met the woman responsible for them. She also captures the cats, gets them sterilised, and returns them to their sea homes. On this day I found her caring for a small ginger girl who was feeling poorly and we got to talking. What a wonderful thing to do.