Showing posts with label Romantic holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romantic holiday. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

San Gimignano, Tuscany!

The second leg of the Italian road trip! 

It was my first ever time in Tuscany. Myself and Andy drove from Florence to San Gimignano which is a small, walled medieval town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy.

On our way in the views were just amazing!! I felt like I was entering another world. A world full of countryside, beautiful vineyards and clear blue skies ahhhhhhhhhh.


Heaven :)  



We stayed at 'Relais Santa Chiara Hotel' which is just a 5 minute walk from San Gimignano town centre.






Oh yes, the pool................

Bar service was availble by the pool so many mornings we sipped on cocktails while working our tan. Oh it was fabulous darling ;)


I was really happy with the hotel we had chosen (with the help of TripAdvisor) it was sooooooo pretty and surrounded by stunning scenery! Even though it was so close to the town it was still so peaceful and quiet.


This was our room. It was small and compact but we had our own private balcony which is needed in the scorching heat :)


San Gimignano town!





The pretty town square.


GELATO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


YUM




I wanted to try it ALL!!




I had fallen in love with San Gimignano. There are tons of little alley ways where you can discover hidden restaurants and wine bars or you can sit by the main square sipping Prosecco and just watch the world go by.



As we had the car we went on an adventure up into the hills to find wine!!



We came across this little winery ..............








We were greeted by a little old lady who spoke no English. We asked if we could try some of their wine and she happily showed us to a tasting room. It was lovely wine, we also tried their olive oil too - we brought two cases as it was such a bargain.

It was so fun going on an adventure into the hills, there are lots of different vineyards you can pop into to do wine tasting.

We had some fantastic dinners out, there are lots of lovely restaurants to choose from and it was really reasonable too.

The food was just amazing, most nights we started by sharing an antipasti dish, then pasta, followed by meat or fish and then a naughty dessert. We took our time as the Italians do. I think I tried the tiramisu in most restaurants as it's my favourite!! We stuck to the local Chianti wine which was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!

We didn't have any bad experiences with food, every restaurant really delivered and everything was ten out of ten. It's rare that you get that on holiday.

We had such a great time and we are definitely going back next year!!!!!






www.relaissantachiara.com














Thursday, 7 March 2013

Sicily Taormina - GRAND HOTEL ATLANTIS BAY. Pure luxury :)

Last year in August I went to Taormina in Sicily for a romantic holiday with Andy :)

If your thinking about getting away and going somewhere really special I STRONGLY recommend this hotel.

The experience was  INCREDIBLE!

One of the best holidays I have ever had.


Check it out.......


The hotel is built into the cliff giving you the most stunning views.


This was our room....


....and our balcony.....



.......and the view!!!!





The interior of the hotel was beautiful with so much detail and an under the sea theme....



The breakfast buffet was one of the best i've had, so varied with a huge range! It got me out of bed early in the mornings!!


The muffins and pastries were my favourite :) YUM


Beautiful Taormina is around 5 mins away on the cable lift located 1 min from the hotel.


There are TONS of amazing restaurants and bars and the shopping is brilliant!!


Oooohhh la la lots of romantic dinners...



We did a day trip to Mount Etna which is a must see!


Followed by lunch and a tour of a local vineyard where we bought several cases of wine :)







This hotel is not cheap......but if you want pure luxury you have to pay for it and this hotel is just HEAVEN!!!!! We will definitely be going back!

http://www.atlantisbay.it