Holiday eats – Restaurante Rebate, Alicante

Every now and again we all need a break. I recently returned from a lush two weeks off, one spent in Southern Spain with my wonderful other half who never takes holidays but was in dire need of relaxation, one spent milling around at home-home then driving across country to North Wales for some adventuring. All in all, we had a fantastic time and although I didn’t document this trip as much as previous holidays for various reasons, it was really good to have a proper break from pretty much everything. What we did do was sleep, eat, drink, repeat; basically my idea of living the dream (with some exploring thrown in of course). So without writing my usual fairly lengthy run-down of the whole holiday itself I decided to focus on my food highlight of the trip: Restaurante Rebate.

Staying in a family apartment not far away from the small town of Sucina, we hadIMG_7620 hired a car in order to get around and explore some places. This restaurant was recommended to us by said family and was easily one of, if not the highlight of the Spanish half of our holiday. Restaurante Rebate is tucked away down some remote, dusty roads towards Alicante and appears to be in the middle of bloody nowhere by all accounts; yet on arrival we were instantly impressed by the appearance, layout and style of the restaurant. Mostly focused outdoors, there was plenty of sun, plenty of shade and several gorgeous trees among the tables. A small platform had been placed in the middle for the main event; this was the Flamenco Show which is on every Wednesday and Friday lunchtime, according to their website, and which we’d booked a few days before flying out.

Setting the scene…

Once seated at our choice of table (sun or shade) we were offered drinks whilst perusing the menu, which we took gladly and I followed the waiter’s recommendation of a glass of IMG_7619Cava. Start as you mean to go on. Seeing as it was a gorgeous sunny day and we were planning on spending most of our afternoon there, we treated ourselves to the 4 course tasting menu for the bargain price of 24,50€. At this point I feel it important to mention how incredibly polite, attentive and accommodating the staff were to every question or request, adapting my courses to include only fish and vegetarian dishes without hesitation whilst my boyfriend took them as was.

As the cherry on top I opted for the accompanying wine flight, making it 25€, as I don’t currently drink red wine (nor much white wine that doesn’t originate from New Zealand) so was keen to expand my horizons. Also, red wine makes you seem quite adult, doesn’t it? This was a fantastic choice because our wine waiter was incredibly knowledgeable and clearly very passionate which made the experience all the more special – and myself proud that I’d chosen to be grown up and get sophisticatedly drunk on a Wednesday afternoon.

First course: ‘Waking up your tastebuds’

Parmesan & lemon jam, a hummus cone, orange & kale smoothie, fishcake on sunflower toast. Paired with a pale but fruity white wine which was delicious; not as sharp as I’d usually go for but very easy to drink. [Disclaimer: best to declare early-on that I am in no way a wine connoisseur so do forgive the lack of fancy terms here. Maybe oneday.] 

Needless to say, I was most excited about the hummus cone. It was awesome; sprinkled with a little paprika it was like a savoury ice cream cone of loveliness. Good crunch, too. I imagine that the fishcake could’ve been a close second because I love a good fishcake, however I think this was before they’d asked whether I ate fish or not so it was swapped out in place of a decorated cream cheese, also very tasty in fairness. The smoothie was weird as is any kale smoothie in my experience, but not unpleasant, and the parmesan with lemon jam was a delightful little sweet crunch to present a great texture contrast between the tasters. All of these nibbles complemented each other well in flavour and texture, so far so good. Before you ask, yes I did note the plastic bag and straw for the smoothie and yes, it could’ve been avoided but my Spanish is already very limited so I wasn’t sure how to convey this to the staff nor if they’d understand where I was coming from.

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I chose the wrong seat for insta-worthy lighting, didn’t I?

Second course: ‘Refresh moment’

Cesar salad, strawberry salmorejo, ceviche served on patacon, beetroot tartare. Paired with a medium white wine, sharper than the last but still soft and equally as drinkable. It still had a hint of fruitiness but less so to coordinate with the savoury tasters in this course.

The salad was very tasty and refreshing with a light crunch, likely my highlight of this course as I particularly enjoyed the sprinkling of crumbs on top. Beetroot isn’t usually to my taste but despite being a little sharp, the tartare was more pleasant than anticipated and accompanied the salad well. I hadn’t understood what ceviche was (I now know it’s a kind of seafood) but the components worked well together and atop the sweet patacon it was a lovely little mouthful. The strawberry salmorejo turned out to be a tomato and bread-based purée, originating in Andalucia, and whilst this balanced out the dish in terms of texture by contrasting with the crunchiness of the salad and patacon it wasn’t to our liking to be honest. The taste of strawberry just seemed a bit strange in conjunction with tomato, though I understand its intention was to be refreshing.

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Third course: ‘Fried specialities’

Mussel croquette, wild mushroom croquette, roasted chicken croquette, criolla pastry. Paired with a rosé wine, getting sharper again but with good flavour and body to it.

Here I had a vegetarian substitute for the chicken croquette but all of the fried delights were very satisfying and not over-greasy, fried just right. A heavier course than its predecessors, the sharpness of the rosé cut through the mashed potato within the croquettes nicely so that I didn’t feel overwhelmed or bloaty, just well fed (though the food-baby was beginning to kick-in). Moreover, by this point I was on my fourth glass of wine so was getting to the level of merriment that requires fried goods to keep you going. Perfect timing.

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Fourth course: ‘Tasty’

Creamy Spanish omelette, roasted pear with blue cheese, duck delights on sweet potato puree. Red wine, medium bodied and rich without being too heavy or bitter of aftertaste – I enjoyed, much to my surprise.

This was possibly our favourite course because of the presentation of the omelette; it was IMG_7649deconstructed in such a way that a lightly cooked egg laid atop a crunchy base of what I think was some kind of thin, tiny homemade potato chips and some seasonings, and you had to stir them all up together to form the omelette. This might sound strange but it was bloody delicious and so creamy! Definitely our favourite nibble of the whole experience and I think it’s quite fun to get involved with the food as well as simply eating it. The roasted pear was done very well and balanced out the strength of the blue cheese, though because of the cheese I was glad it was a small portion as oppose to a normal-sized dish else it could have been overwhelming. The duck delights was thoroughly enjoyed by my other half in his tasters – despite his taking a likeness to some particularly photogenic ducks strutting around the restaurant from a nearby pond, pictured – but unfortunately I can’t remember what my duck substitute was and had been so distracted by said photogenic ducks that I’d forgotten to take a photo of this course. My apologies! What is pictured below is the red wine with this course and the dessert wine for the next.

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Fifth course: ‘Small desserts’

Cheesecake, fruit salad with sangria, carrot cake. Dessert wine, sweet and very rich but a great end and matched perfectly with the desserts.

The deconstructed cheesecake-in-a-jar was a good mix of sweet and savoury but lacked the biscuit base we are so accustomed to at home so wasn’t a full cheesecake as far as we were concerned – enjoyable all the same. I helped myself to both portions of the fruit salad with sangria which was both refreshing and deceiving in the sense that fruit sounds healthy, but when one considers the four previous courses and sweet but tangy alcohol alongside, perhaps not realistically part of your five-a-day after all. But we don’t go on holiday to diet do we?! (Christ, wouldn’t that be a miserable world).

Last but not least, the carrot cake was perfectly spongey and deliciously moist. As someone who doesn’t like an over-abundance of carrot in their carrot cake, this was spot on; as was the relative amount of frosting (because I’m not keen on too much frosting either, I often find it over-powering). The cake especially paired with the dessert wine as light and moist met rich and flavourful, whilst the natural sweetness of each element of this course was what made it work well altogether to round off the meal without being sickly.

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Final thoughts?

We loved this tasting menu and the experience overall. It felt personal, it felt special and everything was executed to a high standard for a real bargain price. At the end of the meal we felt full but not uncomfortable, very content and in my case very ready for an afternoon alcohol-induced nap. As I said at the beginning, this was likely the highlight of our Spanish holiday and as well as the brilliant food, the attentive and knowledgeable staff and the venue as a whole provided such a welcoming, friendly and easy-going atmosphere that you felt right at home spending several hours there as we did. I really would recommend visiting if you find yourself in the Alicante area, especially for the traditional Flamenco Show which was an encapsulating and exciting performance of several phases, a fantastic accompaniment to the meal itself. Information can be found below – if you visit too I’d love to hear your thoughts!

IMG_7626Diolch i chi a hwyl am nawr,

Charles xx

Information: 24.50€ for the taster menu, 25€ including wine flight.
Address: Carretera CV 952, Km. 10,5, 03190 Pilar de la Horadada, Alicante
Bookings: reservas@restauranterebate.es
Website: Restaurante Rebate

What we did in Madrid

Sometimes when life gets hectic and you find yourself feeling stir crazy, all you need is a good break away. My mother and I decided on a weekend in Madrid to blow the cobwebs away and refresh and we had a great time. I did do a little research beforehand such as reading blogs by Hungry City Hippy and Eat Liverpool, but for the most part we wandered our way around the city and went wherever our feet took us. That being said, Google maps is a godsend when it’s getting dark and you’ve lost your bearings!

Friday – arrival in the city

As we only had two and a half days in the city we operated a good balance of exploring, catching up on sleep/rest and eating. (Mostly the latter). On the Friday evening we arrived at rush hour and in the pouring rain – but at least we made it in spite of the snow and below freezing temperatures at home! Our Airbnb host’s assistant met us at the apartment, checked us in, giggled at my inability to do the careful jiggle with the keys needed to open the door (I have zero patience at the best of times) and pointed us in the direction of the nearest corner shop for a few kitchen supplies. It was a lovely little apartment, nothing too fancy – and, if you’re a light sleeper, not particularly sound-proof against noisy neighbours – but ideal for a couple (or mother & daughter) looking for a few days in a centrally-located city pad. Once settled in, we head out for a bit of an adventure and a wander and found ourselves heading in the direction of La Pecera, somewhere I’d heard about in Eat Liverpool’s blog and was very keen to try.

My mum went for the vanilla & activated charcoal ice cream mix, in a chocolate cone and with coconut shavings, mini cookies and sparkly balls (easy, tiger) on top. Mine was the salted caramel & matcha mix which sounds odd but was very tasty; topped with honeycomb, ginger biscuit crumbs and more sparkly balls, I was happy as Larry. The fish-shaped waffle cones are clearly the allure of this place but coming from a family where my dad fishes most weekends, we’re naturally drawn to anything fish-like. Sad, I know. All in all it was really good ice cream though, perfect treat to tide us over ‘til dinner and great for the ‘gram.

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Our fishy-looking ice creams in La Pecera

After proceeding to wander the streets a little more, realise we were lost with no phone battery and do our best to ask for directions in a nearby pharmacy, we found our way home to regroup before dinner.

Artemisa, vegetarian restaurant

Much to our delight there were all kinds of choices for an evening meal along the street we were staying in, around every corner were more and more cafes, bars, bakeries and restaurants. We managed to get a table in this charming vegetarian place (which also happens to be 100% gluten-free for those sufferers amongst you) just five minutes’ walk from our apartment and, at this point, I was glad I’d downloaded a free Spanish phrase-book app as I (foolishly) hadn’t been prepared for so many non-English speakers. It was actually very refreshing!

There was plenty on the menu we fancied the look of but decided to opt for a sharing platter and some nachos & guacamole to start, also sharing a bottle of organic white wine. We demolished the nachos in minutes alongside some free appetisers, which I couldn’t identify but were nice all the same. The sharing platter was much larger than we’d expected but I ate as much as I possibly could (forgot to take a tupperware for leftovers on holiday didn’t I *eyeroll*). It consisted of: Persian pie, vegetarian croquettas, tofu slices in a Cabrales cheese sauce, curry vegetables and organic paella. Tofu took me by pleasant surprise yet again but my favourite of all this was the organic paella; each component of the platter was delicious with well-balanced flavours, very fresh tasting and nothing overpowered anything else. The organic wine was a perfect accompaniment. I was really impressed with this meal and with the plethora of incredible-sounding options, vegetarian and vegan, I’d definitely be back here should I visit Madrid again.

Saturday – Mercado de San Miguel

This was what we’d been buzzing for. After a much needed lie-in we head there for lunchtime and it was an elbows out, hold-onto-my-shoulder situation but we didn’t mind, all part of the excitement! People everywhere, food everywhere, I was in my happy place. Y’all know I love a food market.

We bustled our way around for a nosy and a sense of what was on offer, beginning with two sangrias and a plate of mixed olives. If that isn’t the perfect start to this kind of feast I don’t know what is. The group next to us had a pretty impressive spread on the go, they clearly knew what they were doing and I got the feeling the local tactic is for the wives to grab a seat and the husbands to go fetch the food (I wouldn’t be complaining). Olives demolished and sangria all sipped up using my bamboo straws (as pictured above), which the Spanish did not understand, we grabbed a small cone of mixed nuts to munch on whilst we surveyed the options in full.

Crepes, macarons, lemon meringue pies and churros for desserts; stews, sushi, pasty-like things called empanadillas, all kinds of jamón and all the seafood you could want for mains/tapas; fresh fish, cuts of meat and all kinds of cheeses for you to try there or buy to take home. I could have easily spent my weekend eating my way around this place, but we still tried our best in the time we had. Without rambling on forever, here’s the run-down of our nibbles:

  • Sangria, olives stuffed with sundried tomato, olives stuffed with salmon & cheese, manzanilla olives (because I like ones that still have the stone in)
  • Mixed nuts for snacking
  • Chickpea & spinach stew which was bloody delicious, may even try to recreate it at home
  • Tuna maki rolls which I know isn’t Spanish but couldn’t help myself
  • Ham & cheese empanadillas or, as mum called, it ‘a foldy over thingy’ (obviously this was hers not mine)
  • Two big fat G&Ts: a raspberry gin with strawberries, orange peel & tonic and a Larios Spanish gin with lemon & tonic. These were pour-by-eye, strong measures and I was loving it.
  • Churros & chocolate dipping sauce because it would be a crime not to when in Spain…
  • A raspberry and a pistachio macaron to finish (very good but not quite Cocorico Patisserie standard)

Looking at it now it doesn’t seem as much as it felt. There were a couple of other things I’d have liked to try if I’d had the room such as oysters or some calamari, although I was put off slightly by the latter because there was no accompanying sauce so I thought it might be too crispy alone – is serving lemon mayo with calamari a purely British thing? After all that we were full, tipsy and my poor mother who isn’t quite as seasoned a day-drinker as I (not sure if that’s a good thing) was ready for an afternoon nap. Lesson learned for next time: be sure to bring tupperware on holiday so I can buy now and eat later, maximising my foreign food market game.

Saturday night – Las 10 Tapas de Santa Ana

Tonight we wandered around another part of town we’d not yet explored in search of some authentic tapas and possibly drinks. I had wished we’d been more organised and booked somewhere for the Saturday night, I’d read about a couple of highly commended places that required prior booking, however with the Beast from the East threatening to disrupt our flights we’d thought it best not to tempt fate.

There’s something kind of relaxing about walking around a new city at night (with your wits about you, of course), the lights, sounds, smells and opportunities change and in a place like Madrid you know you’ll never be short of places to go or things to do. There were quite a few theatres around and they seemed like a popular evening attraction; this restored my faith in humanity a little when, at home, there seem to be ever-increasing funding cuts to the performing arts which occupied so much of my life as a youngster and hold a special place in mine and my family’s hearts. Despite this, we were on a food mission and landed on a place in Plaza De Santa Ana with jazzy little placemats and very friendly, helpful staff. Here’s what we ordered (excuse the bad lighting on photos):

  • Two Spanish beers
  • 6 mixed croquettas (2 fish, 2 chicken and 2 ham I think)
  • Padrón peppers with Essex salt (a favourite of mine after trying them at Curado Bar)
  • Crispy fried cheese with puréed pumpkin and quince jelly
  • Goats cheese toasted roll with caramelised onion (not sure how Spanish it is but one of my favourite flavour combos ever so I almost always order it)

I always love to try local beers and lagers whilst away and I’ve rarely been disappointed, this was no exception. Not too heavy, not too sharp, just light enough for a meal without taking up valuable food space or risking a bloat. The croquettas were very fishcake-esque mostly being filled with creamy mashed potato but that was absolutely fine by me, satisfying as hell. The jelly from the crispy fried cheese went well with my fish croquettas as well as the cheese itself, which was perfectly gooey once cut open without being too hot and burning your tongue as can sometimes happen. The toasted roll was a little tough to the bite and could’ve used more caramelised onion to balance the flavours out a bit more, but still enjoyable.

To my surprise, the highlight for me (after the cheese balls) was the peppers as they’re so moreish and easy to devour in seconds. Really hits the spot as a side dish or bar snack and the salt isn’t overpowering, just marries nicely – I developed a taste for them after trying at Curado Bar, which I definitely recommend for a little slice of Spain in Cardiff. All in all this was a satisfying meal after a day of really good food, but we decided to move elsewhere for dessert and a cocktail to mix things up, treating ourselves to ice cream sundaes and mojitos. Not pictured because my phone had had enough!

Sunday – a bit of culture; the National Archaeological Museum of Spain

As our last day, we thought it best to do something other than eat even if just for a morning. There are a wealth of museums and art galleries in Madrid to choose from and I’m sure many of them are quite the experience, but we decided the National Archaeological museum was more our thing than paintings and such. Despite only having a few hours (my bad, I love a lazy morning especially on holiday) we really enjoyed reading about the evolution of our species, ancient jewellery and pottery found in the area from early settlers and even more learning about the development of weaponry, gold & silver decoration and the expansion of the Roman Empire in Spain. There was plenty to nerd-out over if you like your history and geography. Again, I know it might sound weird saying that walking around the city to and from the museum was a part of what made this holiday really enjoyable but it’s true, it’s like people-watching but with some stunning architecture and new sensory experiences thrown in. Plus, it’s just nice to be somewhere different, isn’t it?

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The grand entrance to the Archaeological Museum

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Cute little park outside of it, sun shining through the trees at last!

And back to the food…

The area of town the museum was in seemed nice, we walked around a bit in search of an afternoon nibble, but soon realised it was a little too nice and more pricey than we were willing to pay for. The cafes and restaurants we walked past looked very enticing, the perfect place to dine al fresco with a cold glass (or bottle) of wine, but we’d spotted MásQMenos on the way up that we returned to for a small lunch of cheeses, mini Spanish pizzas called cocas, and a chorizo in cider tapas dish for my mother instead.

Over the course of the weekend we couldn’t help but notice that there was always a queue outside this one taco place near the vegetarian restaurant from our first night, Takos el Pastor. So on this last day, we thought we’d wait in line and see what the fuss was about. There weren’t many veggie options but I took my chances with a mushroom & cheese and some sort of cactus fruit taco, whilst my mother enjoyed a traditionally fried beef and a chipotle chicken. They were relatively small but tasty and great value for money, I could see why so many people were taking full advantage of the 1 euro per taco deal! But unfortunately I’m still not sold on mushroom [besides the mushroom dish I had at Cathedral 73 those of you that remember that post, that was a surprising exception]. I think this is more of a place for you meat-eaters but it was nice to be in a queue and chat to a few people during the wait and it was clear why this place seemed so popular. Cheap, cheerful, happy food.

Madrid was a delightful little city break with so much to see and do and a plethora of foodie places to eat your way around the city. A weekend well spent, I look forward to returning one day and definitely recommend it for a refreshing getaway, though I would recommend doing your research and booking one of the many renowned restaurants in the city for an evening as I wish we had. It would’ve just been the icing on top.

Diolch i chi a hwyl am nawr,

Charles xx

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The Marvellous Metropole, Llandrindod Wells

I recently stayed at The Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells on business and felt it worth writing something about. I’d definitely like to return!

The hotel itself is family-run and has been in the same family ever since its conception in 1896, which these days is something very special! This old Victorian building in the lovely little spa town of Llandrindod Wells has a truly rustic charm with creaking stairs, great grand mirrors and ornately decorated wallpaper and is 4* rated, deservedly so. The rooms were a good size (from my experience), the service was very friendly and accommodating and the food was very good. There’s a spa where we took a lovely dip in the hot tub – could use a lick of paint here or there but the facilities were of a good standard and it fit the bill well for a relaxing swim & soak before dinner. Everything else such as the sauna and showers appear to have been renovated in the last few years; there was also a small gym room, mostly cardio machines but there seemed enough weights for a decent mini session.

Primarily, let’s get back to the food.

As part of our stay we had a 3 course dinner in the award-winning Radnor Miles Restaurant which is dedicated to using only the freshest organic, local produce – music to my very ears! I’ve spoken before on the importance of using local, fresh ingredients and I love that in Wales we’re in the prime environment to do so.
Of the options (click here for the menu we had) my choices were as follows:

Chef’s Homemade Soup of The Day
– which was Sweet Potato. Smooth, refreshing and light yet good, full-bodied flavour (as sometimes I find potato soups can be a little bland); this was the perfect starter to whet the appetite and leave me looking forward to the courses to come. It also went superbly with the accompanying buttered brown roll (or two), but what soup would be complete without a bread roll anyway.

Fresh Pasta with Prawns – again very fresh and well seasoned, plus it’s always a bonus for me when the prawns are already shelled as I’m not great at the whole taking its face and legs off thing… However, as lovely as this main was, I slightly regretting choosing something as heavy/large. Pasta is easily one of my all time favourite foods and I regularly choose it when eating out, yet it runs the risk of being a little too filling and leaving you struggling to find room for dessert which, if you’ve a sweet tooth like me, is not what you want. Nevertheless, it was a very tasty pasta and had it not been part of a 3-course deal I’d certainly choose it again.

Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce (and ice cream) – honestly, it’s rare that I ever choose a dessert that doesn’t involve ice cream. Or, more often than not, I’ll ask for ice cream to be added on as well as I did in this case. Both the dessert and the starter were lovely and warm without being too hot, yet not the kind of warm when you’re worried it may have just been reheated. This was all fresh and fantastic. As a result, the butterscotch sauce ran off the top and around the sides with a delicious viscosity and the ice cream began to soften quickly, just as it all should. It tasted lovely, although could have been a little more moist; myself and two of my colleagues agreed that sadly, it just didn’t quite top the sticky toffee pudding we had at The Hilton bottomless brunch a few months ago.

All in all, however, it was a very tasty, good quality, fresh meal produced to a high standard. The service throughout our dinner – and throughout our entire stay – was impeccable and attentive to our every need. The restaurant itself was also an appropriate temperature, something I’ve not mentioned in previous posts but recently came to my attention as a definite influential factor in the enjoyment of a meal and/or experience, especially if you feel the cold like me it can be distracting or even off-putting. Following the meal, we marched back to Spencer’s Bar and Brasserie where I continued to make good use of the gin collection on offer, comprising the Warner Edwards rhubarb gin I’ve become rather fond of, which I was very pleasantly surprised with – a big selling point for my wanting to return next time I’m in Mid-Wales.

I’d definitely recommend The Metropole if you’re in the area, it was a very enjoyable stay from start to finish and personally it ticked all the boxes. Great food, nice spa & gym, comfortable room, bath, well-stocked bar (although this is likely because there’s not much else in Llandrindod Wells) and very helpful, highly professional staff. The only criticism I did have was there seemed a distinct lack of power sockets in my room, but you can’t have everything and sometimes it’s nice to unplug!

Have you stayed here before? What did you think? Let me know in the comments or on social media!

Diolch i chi a hwyl am nawr,

Charles xx

Glorious Glastonbury: 2017 Festival Highlights

Yet again, time seems to have gotten away from me and I haven’t forced myself to sit down and write something. Glastonbury, however, was something I knew I had to write about… it was an absolutely magical, life-changing experience. I realise that ‘life-changing’ may sound a tad over-dramatic, but what I mean is that once you’ve experienced the cream of the crop, you can’t go back down. It just won’t feel the same. And Glastonbury really is the cream of the festival crop, the shining beacon of beauty that all other festivals can only dream of coming anywhere close to.

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Unsurprisingly, the food selection was vast; over 300 different vendors were there over the weekend! Despite all this, however, our first meal was a McDonald’s breakfast en-route (classy, I know)… but what else can you do when you’re up at 4am?! We had that giddy excitement mixed with slightly funny stomach feeling you have when catching a really early flight, yet it was definitely worth getting there as early as we did; we were through and pitched up by 11.30am which is pretty good going by Glasto standards! Not to mention by this point the midday 30+ degree heat(wave) was kicking in… no joke for those who had high-piled trolleys and apparently didn’t get the memo about packing light this year. The anticipation though was fantastic, we were buzzing to get stuck in!

Our first venture was to the Silver Hayes area close to where we’d pitched in Pylon Fields, featuring a few smaller tents, a funky little DJ set up, several very well-equipped shops (convenience and camping stores) and of course food. After an initial celebratory glass of prosecco I hunted down my first meal which, if you’ve been to Glasto yourselfFile_001 (22).jpeg you’ll know, had to be halloumi. I’m a big fan, jokingly referring to it as ‘bae’ on many occasions; it’s something I will always order when on a restaurant menu! So the sesame halloumi flatbread with mixed salad and a minted yoghurt dressing from Kebabylon hit the nail right on the head. I’d have visited these guys again but I wanted to try as much of the plethora of options available as possible.

Not everything I tried was amazing; sadly there was a disappointing pasta dinner that did not satisfy my hunger pangs and a garlic bread that was a bit too big to handle as well as a slice of pizza, but overall the quality and diversity of food available was spot on. Other meals included the following:

  • Crispy duck rolls from the Thai house were a dream, perfectly crisped and really succulent duck with a sweet hoisin sauce.
  • I couldn’t have survived the weekend without an ice cream (it’s genuinely one of my top 3 favourite foods) so somewhere along the way I found a homemade honeycomb ice cream that sorted me right out.
  • Cheese was also a lifesaver at Glasto to be honest, obviously in halloumi form as I basically lived on varying takes on a halloumi wrap/flatbread for the majority of my meals, but two other things that really hit the spot were a creamy and well-balanced mac ‘n’ cheese and a banging late-night tuna & cheese toastie. 
  • Pot noodles and porridge pots were Trangia staples back at our tent, we even joked that I should’ve done a detailed comparison of each supermarket’s own brand although this would’ve meant I’d had to try them all and we were very hungry – next time!

Unfortunately, I was so keen to get involved and soak up the atmosphere (and usually so ravenous by the time we got food) that I slacked on my food photos as the weekend went on and so can’t thank the vendors personally, much as I’d love to! Just trust me, you will never be short of options at Glasto no matter what your interests, especially as it’s widely regarded as the most vegan & vegetarian-friendly festival!

One thing that struck me right away was the bright, colourful flags that guide the way File_000 (65).jpegthrough the main footpaths, glorious in the first day sunshine and gently reassuring us that there was a refreshing breeze somewhere, whether we felt it or not. Glastonbury was a feast for the eyes as well as the belly in so many ways, all part of the theme and the vibe of the overall festival as it was made to celebrate the arts, creativity, environmental awareness and all things hippy. I loved it and this vibrancy and positivity is what I believe makes it so special. I’ve never been to a festival that cares so much for the environment it’s in and this was music to my very ears (no pun intended) as someone who cares deeply about protecting and preserving our beautiful planet – but let’s not get into that because I will go on forever… Despite there still being litter about the place, it was only on the last day that I saw anybody (and even then very few) squat down and disobey the ‘don’t pee on the land!’ posters, absolutely unheard of anywhere else! It was very refreshing and something I was more than happy to be a part of and support.

At the other end of the campsite the colour and craziness continued with The Park area and the Glastonbury sign, as well as a great, tall rainbow viewing tower that looked out over the whole site which was pretty cool. The mysterious hidden/secret ‘rabbit hole’ bar based on Alice in Wonderland, however, unfortunately remained a secret from us this time. Down the road a little was the Tipi Village leading into the Healing Fields and this was one of my favourite areas, all kinds of amazing-looking vegetarian & vegan food about the place (including a halloumi curry that I’m still dreaming about, wishing I’d tried), an actual explosion of colour and wavy patterns and some really comfy looking chill-out tents – this is where to go if you’re looking for yoga, massages or holistic therapies. We were even lucky enough to witness a Hand-Fasting ceremony, the celtic marriage tradition involving promises (like vows), sweeping away your old lives with a broom and bringing in the new one with cake & ale. It was super cute!

 

One of the best parts about Glastonbury was that things kept popping up all over the place, a random acoustic open mic here, a spontaneous circus show there, a popular band doing a surprise set somewhere else (I’m gutted we missed Elbow). There literally was something for everyone, so much to see and do and occupy your time with you’dFile_004 (16) never get chance to experience everything in one go – and I suppose that’s what keeps people coming back year-on-year. Even the kids section of the campsite looked like a whale of a time for young ones, but after all this excitement it was time for some more food, this time a chocolate and banana crepe – deeeelish. I also had a cheeky Grazing Shed over the weekend, would’ve been rude not to! It was great having this little home away from home and if you’ve not tried them in Cardiff yet I definitely recommend – currently renowned as the best burger joint in the city.

 

By the final day, I was dying for some mash & gravy but was gutted to discover that the well renowned Square Pie who’d I’d been eyeing up all week keep potato skins in their mash potato, something I have the weirdest and sometimes super inconvenient allergy to. Fortunately, there was a sausage & mash place nearby that provided me with the vegetarian sausages, mash and gravy I so needed. They were okay, mash holds a particularly special place in my heart as the first food I ever started experimenting with ingredient-wise and being honest, I’ll always prefer my own homemade version. But like I said, it was the end of the weekend and I really needed this hearty meal! It did the job well enough, still would’ve preferred a pie though.

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Foo Fighters on Pyramid Stage (photo credit: Niamh Flynn)

Musical highlight for me was easily Foo Fighters, closely followed by Biffy Clyro (in the sunset, amazing) and Royal Blood. The teenage emo kid in me was loving life. Haim and Sundara Karma were also really good as they were on at a time of day that means you know the people who turn up are genuine fans and there’s a very nice feeling about that, makes for a great atmosphere. I’d go as far as to say though that Foos was one of the best experiences of my life so far; they’re a band that have been around and in my life a long time with so many memories, so many songs that speak to you and just generally have a great time, I enjoyed every second! And Dave Grohl surely has to be one of the most bad-ass daddies in rock ‘n’ roll… Foos, Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D AND Nirvana?!

We couldn’t have gone without seeing ‘the big spider thing’, Arcadia, which breathed out fire everywhere and was pretty cool. After a while though the spider bits got a bit samey and we didn’t fancy waiting long enough for them to pick someone out of the crowd at long last, so we grabbed a pizza slice on the way and head home. Block9, the Unfair Ground and Shangri-La were also good fun, prime people-watching material let me tell you. Jazzy decorations and bright flashing lights with house DJs, even a built in waterfall that was pretty sweet – there was never a dull moment to be had anywhere in Glastonbury! Although the utterly bizarre design of the Unfair Ground was something I would only recommend experiencing in a sober to merry state…

File_000 (62)The point is, Glastonbury was brilliant. A truly unique experience (I’m still finding glitter dotted about the place), one that I’ll never forget and would love to go back to some day. Great music, great food, so many opportunities and experiences to be had I would highly recommend to anyone to register for tickets – or failing that, volunteer with one of the many charities that help out there! Oxfam and WaterAid had several volunteers all across the site, it’s a great way to enjoy the festival for free by working a few hours a day/a few shifts.
Top 3 highlights: Foo Fighters, glitter, halloumi. My Glasto in a nutshell.

Diolch i chi a hwyl am nawr,

Charles xx

Edinburgh Adventures pt.1 – Castle, Kismot & Countryside

I’ve been back over a month now and I still can’t stop thinking about this beautiful, magical place. And by magical I mean literally because Edinburgh is the birthplace of Harry Potter himself, something my other half was ridiculously excited about… But let’s start at the beginning.

Whilst our early morning flight might have at first seemed like a bit of an inconvenience, it did, however, mean that we were leaving Bristol airport as the sun began to rise. It was absolutely beautiful – talk about early morning views!

This also meant that we arrived in Edinburgh and got to the hotel around 8am, way earlier than the standard 3pm check-in, although once we arrived to drop off our bags the man working on reception was kind enough to check us into our room straight away hassle-free – if we hadn’t have been so tired, dazed and confused we’d have acted as delighted as we were! We chose to stay in The Village which was a convenient 15 minute drive into town, also hosting a spa and very well-equipped gym which suited us perfectly. After a last-minute room upgrade, we also had Sky TV and a king-size bed – perfect! A quick recovery-nap later, we set out to explore the city and headed straight for the top of our list: the castle.

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We were v big fans of the cute theme

Edinburgh Castle is situated right at the top of the Royal Mile, the buzzing main hub of Edinburgh city centre. The architecture of the whole city especially in this area is astounding; everything has original character and you can walk around and perfectlyFile_003 (3) imagine how it all was back in Victorian times, Edinburgh has managed the miracle of modernising and keeping up with the times whilst retaining and glorifying its originality, history and authenticity. On our approach to the castle we stopped by the Luxury Scottish Ice Cream van, this was a real treat.

As we got chatting the vendor proudly told us of how this was a family business for generations, 100% of the ingredients used are sourced locally within Scotland, many of them coming from Edinburgh itself and surrounding areas, even the flavouring used was naturally and locally produced and how this and the process itself was a best-kept family secret which created the rich, creamy texture that made this ice cream so special. And it was rich, creamy and special – we loved it! I’m a big fan of responsibly sourcing local ingredients (and ice cream, of course) and it makes me so happy to see it proudly advertised like this. It really does make a difference in terms of taste, in my opinion.

The castle itself was great fun to explore and has amazing views out over the city. Standing proudly is a huge cannon named ‘Mons Meg’ who has an incredible history having been capable in her hay-day of blasting a whopping 150kg gunstone two whole miles! There’s also all sorts of passages and look-outs as well as live demonstrations of historical practices, yet our visit wouldn’t have been complete without a quick tea & scone stop and a browse through the gins and whiskeys in the castle shop. I came away with small bottles of two types of Edinburgh Gin and a Stag’s Breath honeycomb whiskey, all of which were delicious, as well as a fridge magnet for my mother’s ever-growing collection.

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Next was our dinner stop which I’d chosen based on a recommendation from a friend and which I could not wait for: Kismot.

Despite being a little away from the main city centre, this family-run independent business is an absolute gem and deservingly highly rated on TripAdvisor. It hosts a wide variety of unique dishes such as the protein passanda, the deshi khani, the Kismot killer and the chocolate massallam as well as the exclusive haggis, marshmallow or chocolate naans. There are still plenty of regular Indian and Bangladeshi dishes to choose from but it’s always great to try something different and this was certainly a treat; I choseFile_004 (3) the marshmallow naan and a king prawn chocolate massallam (featured right) aka grated milk chocolate in a tandoori yoghurt and cream sauce. Although this sounds strange, like a bowl of chocolate sauce, it was actually deliciously creamy and rich and the chocolate added texture rather than overpowering with its sweetness. Genuinely an incredible dish, I would 100% recommend.

Also, the marshmallow naan I have been preaching to everyone about since my return as it was absolutely amazing! Again, sounds strange but I loved it, without a doubt File_005 (4)my favourite naan I’ve ever tasted despite its sugary stickyness. The other half chose the exclusive homemade deshi khani (featured left) which comes with its meat on the bone for extra added flavour. All in all, we both had brilliant plates of food and would definitely go back again – although maybe don’t order too much if you go because we struggled to finish and I was very upset that we couldn’t take it home and save for later (due to the obvious lack of microwaves in hotel rooms).

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Next day, full of fuel for the adventure, we decided to take on Arthur’s Seat in the (temporary) glorious sunshine. There are two different routes you can take and being the seasoned, bold adventurers we are we went for the more challenging route up, saving the leisurely stroll for the way back down. The views were incredible, looking out over the city with the castle standing proudly over it, this was a city we had instantly fallen in love with. A bit of a scramble and what felt like several thousand steep steps later, we made it to the top and almost fell back down again – the winds were whipping up a right old frenzy and I clung to the summit for dear life. But, views were totally worth it. 4 kilometers, 6036 steps and just over an hour very well spent and would certainly recommend to anyone visiting Edinburgh.

To be continued in part 2…

 

Diolch i chi a hwyl am nawr,

Charles xx

Wonderful Welsh Heritage at The Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon

Cultural heritage is something to be proud of wherever you come from. This weekend, we decided to tick one of my many Welsh adventures off the list and go explore The Big Pit National Coal Museum up in Blaenavon – and we had the best time!

The weather kept changing its mind between momentary glorious sunshine and overcast with outbursts of rain but nontheless, the scenery was beautiful – The Big Pit is actually located in the heart of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. My proud little Welshman stood gazing lovingly over his homeland and I can’t deny that I felt proud to be an honorary Welshie. My own family has mining history too back up in County Durham, so it filled me with questions to ask my mother and grandad when I next see them; it was so interesting learning about stuff that’s so relevant to your own life and background yet still so fresh in historical terms. Anyway, back to the museum & tour itself.


Rob and the other tour guys we can’t speak highly enough of; so friendly and chatty and so so knowledgeable about their subject being ex-miners themselves. They carefully strapped our harnesses & headlights on and locked away our valuables before we squished like sardines into the lift, ready to go below-ground (very authentic). Rob went on to tell us how fast this lift was descending and how much faster it would’ve been back in the day – and still is in other much deeper mines – as well as how many would fit into one of these lifts in a typical day, which alone was enough to make me glad not to have to do it everyday!

At the bottom lay one of the trucks the horses used to pull through the mines, 72 of which resided at The Big Pit, each truck carrying 1 tonne of coal which was sent up to the surface and away to peoples’ homes. These horses were allowed out ‘on holiday’ for 2 weeks of the year and the rest of their lives were spent underground working the mines. I’m not a big fan of horses but the extremity of the constantly damp conditions and fellow resident rodents down there gave me a huge respect for these animals, lugging tonnes and tonnes of coal miles through the mines day after day.
On top of that, children as young as 5 were sent down to work in the mines opening and closing the ventilation doors, until at about 9 years old they were old enough to work the mine face itself. Young girls weren’t exempt it turns out; their job was to crawl on hands and knees up and down the steep mine faces tugging along a trolley which men could dispatch their coal into, so I can only imagine how heavy it must’ve gotten and how realistically quite terrifying that must’ve been, crawling on your own through sweaty older men all day. (This is in fact why young girls were banned from working the mines some years later – it was deemed inappropriate for them to be around men who were often half or almost fully naked due to the heat of working at the deep coal faces at such a young age and I can’t say I disagree).

Rob said to us “hold your hand out in front of your faces and when I count to three, turn your headlamps off. 1, 2, 3.” Darkness. And I mean seriously: Pitch. Black.
When you think about it, when was the last time you truly couldn’t see anything? Not even the tiniest fleck of light or at least the outline of your hand in front of you? If it hadn’t have been attached to me I can honestly say I’d have had no idea where my hand was, and I can imagine after hours on end of this darkness which the children on the doors went through I definitely think I’d have been going mad and starting to lose it. We were told that the shift patterns were 12 hours long both for the men and the children, meaning that in the winter these miners never saw daylight; so much of their lives were spent underground that these horses became their children and these fellow men became their family. The camaraderie that stems from such close-knit communities in such extreme conditions is something that always remains truly admirable to me and something totally key to survival, I imagine. A problem shared is a problem halved an’ all that.

Further along the line came a small railway track which the carts were transported through the mines on once the demand became higher than the horses could physically take. This was incredible in itself because of the way it was operated: one child would be placed at the top of the track and the other would go along the track with the cart to the coal face – which could have been miles and miles away. Once full, the child with the cart would simply squeeze together two electrical wires running along the wall adjacent to the track, generating a bell ringing at the other end so the other child knew when to withdraw the cart. These electrical wires themselves were live, including those Rob showed us on the day, which if they sparked when methane gas was present (a by-product of coal extraction) led to potentially huge explosions within the mine itself. This was sadly the case with the Senghenydd colliery disaster of 1913 which killed 439 miners, men and children alike. As cliché as it sounds, this really brought it home for us as we stood in a mine… surrounded by people… underground… almost pitch black… nearest exit literally miles away…

File_000 (49)As I said, heritage is so important. When something really relates to your own now privileged life it not only makes it so so interesting but also so so real. Back at the surface there were several other reality checks such as the showers and lockers with personal stories and contents within them that really made everything so touching and inspiring. My boyfriend was beaming with excitement the entire time and even came out of there wanting to be a miner for crying out loud… but the sense of pride in their work was what was really touching; these men went to work day after day after day knowing that their suffering and intense hard work was fuelling a growing nation, heating homes and powering trains, driving the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom which we have relied upon to develop our lifestyle today. This pride shone through from Rob and the other ex-miner tour guides and really made the day for us, we had the utmost respect for these guys; they were there, they lived this.

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Sadly, I couldn’t buy these due to card machine problems but look how cute they are!

I’d really recommend a trip to The Big Pit National Coal Museum if you’re ever in South Wales, or perhaps you live here and you’ve just not had chance to go yet. It’s free entry just like the other National Museums in Wales, though there are donation boxes around the place and a lovely cute shop at the end filled with Welsh-ness; local beers, Welsh silver jewellery, cheese and chopping boards (above), that sort of thing. You also don’t need good weather for the underground bit, just make sure you’ve got a few layers on cos it can get pretty chilly down there. There’s just so much to see and learn about we were absolutely fascinated; I think it’s so important to understand and appreciate these things, history is a part of us after all.

Diolch i chi a hwyl am nawr,

Charles xx

*featured image courtesy of Visit Wales

Weekend workouts & waterfalls in the beautiful Brecon Beacons

This week I focus on fitness once again, purely because I wanted to make the point that getting in a weekend workout does not have to mean dragging yourself out of bed to the gym before 11 o’clock in the morning. I mean, great if you can do that but who’d rather have a lie in? Me, that’s for sure.

There are so many simple easy things you can do to make your weekend workouts fun, especially if you feel cooped up in work during the week and struggle to reach your 10,000 steps per day Monday to Friday. You don’t even have to think of it as a workout, just think of it of getting outside and getting some fresh air – the great outdoors!

If you’re a runner, fab. You’re already pretty much there, just do your thing. If you’re a cycler, that’s fab too. Just pack up your car and head off somewhere stunning for a ride, why not! But if you’re a gym bunny like me these may not be the right options for you. My weekend workout of choice was a humble hike through the hills of South Wales; I can’t imagine a better one. I’m a born adventurer and (as we know from my Iceland post) a very keen geographer, so I’ll happily take any chance to go exploring in nature. There’s a long list of things to tick off my Welsh adventures bucket list but this weekend I picked waterfall hunting in the Brecon Beacons National Park – the Four Waterfalls Walk to be exact.

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Looking down the path of Four Waterfalls Walk

One of the absolute beauties of living in Cardiff is that Brecon isn’t even an hour drive away, it’s quite literally on your doorstep. It’s also the place that gets all the cute snow and ice when we don’t see it down here in the city, which makes winter walks all the more enjoyable (I especially enjoy the crunching sound of thick ice, why wouldn’t ​

​you?!). The only issue with this walk was that we found it very easy to get a little bit lost on the trail, only finding our way to 1 of 4 waterfalls before the cold and dark started setting in. However, this added to the sense of adventure and was all part of the fun if you ask me! Nothing wrong with getting lost in nature just so long as we find our way home in the end.

Crunch, crunch, slop, slop. The other thing of significance to note was that appropriate footwear was absolutely necessary. My company thought otherwise until, much to his surprise, we found ourselves on a mucky, sludgy path for which my walking boots were perfect and his trainers were not so much… Let us at this point remember the Scouts motto: Be Prepared.

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Sgwd Yr Eira looking lush

Anyway, we clambered through the mud and found the first (and in this case, only) waterfall: Sgwd Yr Eira. It was stunning as the sun shone through the trees beginning toimg_3309 set. This is also the one you can walk behind (see photo, left), reminding me of Seljandsfoss in Iceland although on a much smaller scale – still seriously cool though! The steps to and from the waterfall were a challenge in themselves, however, (I might have slipped over… but gracefully recovered injury free, of course) and this is where the real workout came in; I deliberately took long strides up in order to make it more of a challenge for my legs, even a throwing in a few squat jumps, but I’d recommend doing this without DOMS next time – did not ease my soreness! (DOMS = delayed onset muscle soreness, the pain you sometimes feel after a cracking workout) Still, a good way to get your glutes, hams and quads working away. I’d also recommend power-walking part of it if you want to feel a bit more benefit and get your heart rate up a little, or even bounding (safely) downhill every so often if you like to be a giddy little kid like me.

All in all, this 3 hour winter walk adventure racked up 14,488 steps alone – making my total for the day over 16k – and burned a whopping 825 calories, according to my Fitbit blaze. I don’t know about you but I’d class that as a great workout, whether you feel sore afterwards or not! Even better if you don’t feel it and just enjoy the ride, which is one of the best things about going walking in my opinion.

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Views from the path

As I said, there are many other Welsh adventures on my list, Pen-y-Fan currently at the top, but this was a great one to tick off and I’ll certainly be back to find the remaining 3 waterfalls. It seems silly to me not to explore all this beautiful countryside when it is right on our doorstep/such a short drive away, just get outside and go wild! If you don’t live near a National Park then there are plenty of other beautiful parks to walk around of a weekend, Roath Park and Bute Park being just two beautiful examples in Cardiff city centre. Most importantly, the weekends are about relaxing and a workout doesn’t always have to be hard work, life is about balance after all…

Diolch i chi a hwyl am nawr,

Charles xx

Iceland Adventures

Snow! The first time some of us had seen it in years! I mean the proper, good, solid kind of snow that makes that amazing crunching sound when you walk on it.  It was awesome, I had way too much fun finding all the fresh patches that hadn’t yet been trodden – perfect for crunching. We fumbled our way into town following the tourist maps to the best of our ability and so the adventure began. (I apologise here for the length of this one, I had a whole four days to squeeze in!)

First stop, food. Obviously. It’s important to note, however, that when eating out in Iceland, shopping around for the best deal is vital unless you’re an absolute baller. In fact, finding the best deals for anything in Iceland is highly recommended because whilst it’s undoubtedly a stunning and amazing place, it’s definitely not cheap in the slightest – just accept this before you go. You will spend a lot of money. No way around it. (Especially with the currently decreasing value of the GBP…)

I’d heard from others who’ve visited Iceland before that eating out for a big lunch was cheaper than dinners if at all possible, so on this first day of finding our way around Reykjavik and getting our bearings we found a nice warming curry for late lunchscreen-shot-2017-01-10-at-20-54-00 courtesy of a cute place called Hradlestin. What really drew me in was the Thali on offer that I’ve seen tweets about from the new Chai Street in Cardiff (yet to visit but it’s on my list). It’s a type of Indian street food made from a selection of small dishes which looked absolutely delish (see opposite photo, courtesy of their Instagram).

Upon entering the restaurant, however, it turned out there was a special offer on tikka masala that day and asimg_2344 previously mentioned, tourists have to take up all the offers they get! These came with an individual rice and a couple of small naans each; mine was chickpea and the others were chicken. Personally, I very much enjoyed my curry although some of the others made the good point that there wasn’t enough veg to pad out the sauce. The way the food came in small metal pots all stacked together was cool though, overall it a good 7/10 on the food for me. Despite the inevitable expense, I also obviously couldn’t have gone on holiday and not tried the local beers… this time, the classic Icelandic Boli. As usual, absolutely no complaints from me; it was smooth, bubbly, no jazzy after-taste just proper good, honest beer – loved it!

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After a wander round the harbour and some more of the town, we then did what many tourists do as the next best way to keep things as cheap as you can: find the nearest budget supermarket and stock up on supplies. This is especially useful if you’ve lots of day trips planned like we did which involve hopping on and off buses; taking your own packed lunch and snacks can really help to keep your overall spending down by trying to only buy 1 meal of the day. Plus, it can help keep you energised for all the walking (which I loved as sad as that sounds!) and keep you awake – four hours of daylight per day in November-time really makes you sleepy when you’re not used to it we discovered! Although I’m a very keen sleeper anyway so I, of course, took full advantage of every possible napping opportunity. (Who doesn’t?! Y’know, when in Rome…)

Day 2 and it was adventure time: the Golden Circle tour.

GoPro and headstrap on, lunch supplies in our rucksacks, we were good to go. Whilst the first stop of Thingvellir National Park was some lovely scenery, the incredibly cloudy weather and low pressure that lingered during our stay unfortunately obscured what I’m sure was a lot of the natural beauty in the distance. But I did get a cheeky selfie with some Icelandic sheep (see left) so y’know, swings & roundabouts. img_9477-2

The next stop was Gullfoss Waterfall which was absolutely stunning! Even in the foggy weather. It’s glacier fed and you can see it rolling down from the outlets into a smaller waterfall which in turn feeds the larger one – it was incredible! See selfie below, I was absolutely loving life. But, let’s be honest, the big guns here were the geysers

The main attraction is Strokkur, the most regular geothermal hot spring in the world, erupting on average every 5-8mins. Everyone crowded around nervously waiting for the big event… after a while you begin to wonder if the expression ‘a watched kettle never boils’ applies here… but then POW up it goes! Outstanding natural beauty at its finest – I was in geography nerd heaven (and managed to get some good footage too! Follow this link for a cheeky slow-mo). More than this, the snow on the ground everywhere fills you with the instinctive giddy excitement that kids get on their first white Christmas – you can’t help but beam with delight and giggle with excitement that you’re in such a (naturally) magical, beautiful place.

To round off the tour we went to see some Icelandic horses which are apparently a big thing. They were very pretty to be fair but personally I was much more interested in the farm cat that was hanging around as horses really aren’t for me, but I did face my fears and stroke one or two. Anyway, it was then time for dinner again.

img_2166Barber Bistro Bar was our host tonight and had a nice, slightly more elegant feel to it (a lot more elegant that we were dressed in our walking boots and thermals!). A good menu left most of us all spoilt for choice: I went for a vegetarian club sandwich consisting of Goats cheese & caramelised onion (one of my favourite food combinations ever), a grilled pepper and salad, with a side of sweet potato fries. Despite the bread bun itself being a little too floury for my liking this meal did hit the spot, but I found myself wishing I’d gone for the teriyaki salmon my friend had which looked and apparently tasted incredible. Also around the table was Icelandic fish & chips and a chicken risotto which also received good feedback. All round a good, hearty meal, a good bottle of prosecco between us and great customer service – 8/10.

Day 3: The Blue Lagoon.

This was the day we’d been waiting for. Rest, relaxation, natural face masks – what a girls holiday is usually all about! Plus it’s the thing you always see looking amazing on Instagram… only problem was the thick fog and mist still hadn’t shifted so unfortunately our views didn’t look quite as good as this one!

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Nevertheless, the comfort of such naturally hot and healthy bathing waters was pure luxury after being wrapped in so many layers for the past few days! We also quickly realised that the blue lagoon could act as a natural floatation pool; great entertainment as we star-fished to our hearts content, feeling our troubles drift away for a moment. Bliss. The face-masks were also great fun mostly because people-watching was hilarious – some made as much of the free one as physically possible, with one lady who must’ve gone back at least 7 times, whilst some seemed to think that if they covered as much skin as possible that it would benefit them more than just applying to the face… we weren’t convinced but a glass of bubbly, some blurry photos and several hours later we were thoroughly pampered and getting peckish. But with the whole rest of the afternoon to ourselves what were we to do?

The Phallological Museum. Obviously…

In other words: it was literally a museum of penises. As huge and as hideous as you can imagine. Personally, I found it hilarious entertainment – and it wouldn’t be a true girls holiday without something rude, right? I won’t go into too much detail but here’s some photos of me having fun!

Still full from our burgers and seafood pasta prior to the phallic entertainment (which was a lovely and very filling meal by the way, no complaints) we decided to grab a few drinks at a cool-looking local whiskey bar before heading off on the half-hour walk home. Dillons had a rustic, cute and cosy feel to it, dimly lit with fairy lights draped across great wooden beams and bar that was lit up spectacularly with funky coloured back-lighting. By this point we were looking to spend a bit of money as it was nearing the end of the holiday, so I didn’t mind forking out for a couple of whiskey sours and a single on the rocks. Most of the others opted for glasses of wine, cider, or G&Ts, most of it all reasonably priced as well – by Icelandic standards!

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The bar at Dillons shining like a beacon of hope and joy

To finish we played card games and ‘Heads Up’ – which, although I know sounds wild for a group of girls in our early twenties, was and always will be a great way to spend an evening with old friends. There’s a great kind of nostalgia about playing games on holidays that will never get old.

Day 4: The Big Adventure. South Island Tour.

This was the day we got to walk behind a waterfall and see the black sand beach – we could not wait! It got off to a great start with our insanely cool tour guide Iris (who we all had a bit of a woman-crush on by the end of the day); she was just so cool and chill and told us stories of her growing up in the area with her family and how she likes to go hiking and camping with her friends around here… all we could think was “please take us with you!”. Driving through the land of Thor really brought home how incredible Icelandic scenery really is, the whole landscape is fascinating varying from great open green plains to mighty mountains and glaciers… and waterfalls.

Skogafoss and Seljandsfoss to be specific; the first of which has a very impressive 60m drop and the latter of which you can walk all the way behind, pretty awesome! Both get you slightly soaked but that’s all part of the fun! Next was Reynisfjara, the black sand beach. Watching the North Atlantic come crashing down onto the shore with such immense natural power and beauty was very humbling – but also slightly terrifying. Not just because I’m still working through my fear of deep and open water, but because the rip tides at Reynisfjara are well known for being deadly powerful and must be treated with the utmost respect. The sculpted basalt coastline was equally as awe-inspiring, featuring impressive columns similar to those seen at Fingal’s Cave in Scotland which were also great fun to jump off! Coming up next, however, was the true star of the show for me…

Solheimajokull, a sublet of Myrdalsjokull glacier. I freaking love glaciers. This stop was essentially just getting off the bus, walking up the valley and looking at/taking photos of the glacier but it’s impossible not to take another few minutes to once again stare around in awe of such insane natural beauty and phenomena. I had such envy for the lucky buggers who can afford to go hiking on this glacier, I would’ve absolutely loved to as I couldn’t when in New Zealand due to instability; but alas, that’ll have to remain an adventure for the future.

That evening our last supper was not what you’d expect, but we came across an Icelandic tapas place and couldn’t resist. SmakkBarinn was joined onto BarAnanas and just up the road from Reykjavik chips, all of which we visited and enjoyed. There were two options: 4 pots of tapas or 6 pots of tapas. Both came in individual little jam jars and all slotted into the appropriately sized board, it was super cool! (And very convenient for someone like me who isn’t really down with the whole sharing food thing). I dived in head-first and went straight for the 6 option; 4 mains and 2 desserts. I regret nothing.

My choices were along the lines of: some breaded cod goujon-type things, petite langoustines fried in a vodka batter (both very good); a mini lobster soup which wasn’t very nice, the balance of flavours had gone wrong somewhere; some deep-fried cheddar with red onion jam (amazing); and for dessert I chose a chocolate caramel pudding with coconut and blueberry ice cream with praline. The pudding had a very mousse-like texture and was nice but the ice cream was the real star of the show, smooth and creamy and the blueberry flavour was just right, not too tart. All in all everyone was very well satisfied and it was such a lovely final supper in Reykjavik; a perfect end to a brilliant holiday with my best friends!

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Yummy Icelandic tapas: our final meal

Here’s to many more! I hope this helps any of you who may have Iceland on your bucket list, I can’t recommend it enough as an amazing place to go! Plus, there’s different things to do in each season so you can kind of go whenever depending on what you’re after. Yes, it’s very expensive, but worth the experience in my opinion. Go on, treat yourself…

Diolch i chi a hwyl am nawr,

Charles xx

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Squad goals? I think so.