Antigua for the Holidays

 December 2024 we headed to a new island: Antigua. I chose a small resort hotel on Dickenson Bay called Siboney Beach Club.  Renowned for it's red phone booth on the beach which is a photo op for just about everyone passing by.

Siboney Beach Club is a small resort with a nicely sheltered beach area but part of a bigger bay with soft sand beaches where you can walk from end to end in about 30 minutes. There are other resorts and restaurants so when you tire of the food, you have other options in walking distance.

Antigua is definitely a place you need a car if you want to see more than wherever you are staying. Road are so-so and they drive on the left and Google maps can take you some interesting directions. Once you get the hang of it, it's fairly easy and people there are not insane. 

As we are a dive family, we of course had to find a scuba shop. There are not many outside some of the bigger resorts but we ended up using DiveCarib in Falmouth Harbour. It was almost an hour drive from our hotel but while my peeps went diving, I checked out the historic English Harbour site which was just down the road.

English Harbour has tons of history and is a cool place to visit just to see what mega-yachts are parked at the dock. It's a site from the 1700s with a naval history museum, restored buildings with shops, restaurants & bars. It's a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The cool thing is when you pay to enter the park, it also gets you into Shirley Heights which has an old fort and several buildings undergoing restoration. Not to mention the absolutely fantastic view of the Harbour and other parts of the island, including a house on a promontory owned by Eric Clapton.  

The town of St. John's can be pretty hectic, especially with a cruise ship(s) in port. It's downtown area is easy to walk around but it is congested and they cater a lot to the cruise passengers. 

If your adventurous, head to the NE part of the island to Devil's Bridge National Park.  The NE side of most islands tends to be more rugged and Antigua is no exception. Beautiful place to walk along the cliff and watch the waves break over the "bridge" and along the coast.

Jolly Harbour on the west side of the island is what I'd call a work in progress. There were a number of hotels under construction on a large, long white sand beach. There were other smaller properties on one end and some larger, older resorts as well. It was mostly adults vs. Dickenson Bay which had many families. Nice beach and clam waters but there was clearly work being done to make it more upscale. 

And I can't forget Stingray City, it was the one thing I really wanted to do.  It was really cool but what I would call organized chaos. We made reservations in advance (which they couldn't find even with my confirmation) and arrived early (which was a good thing).  They check you in, send you to a waiting area and then load probably up to 200 people into boats to go out to the sandbar where the rays congregate. (AKA they show up because they know there will be food). If you have your own mask & snorkel, take them vs using what they provide. The rays are huge and very gentle but it's busy with probably 30 rays and 200 people. They do get you lined up for a photo while holding a ray (for a price) and that is kind of cool. You definitely need to know how to swim and this is not an adventure for really little people. If the tide is in, even for someone over 5' you are bouncing on your toes. 

Perfect Portugal

We spent two weeks in Portugal for a special 60th birthday celebration. It wasn't our typical trip in that we stayed at all 5 star hotels and did not do any diving or beach activities.

We started out flying United Polaris class and having drinks and tartines in their airport lounge. Once we boarded we were each in our 'pod' across the aisle and couldn't see each other without leaning forward at the same time. There were all the amenities including multiple pillows, a blanket and plenty of storage for the stuff you want to be able to access easily.  Maybe the best part was we each had our own overhead bin!!!

We landed in Lisbon and had no challenge getting through immigration. We traveled only with carry on so no waiting for bags. I had prearranged car service to our hotel and the driver met us and was parked in the first spot in the first row and we were off!

We drove to the Bairro Alto section of the city which requires a code to enter with a vehicle. Down a small back street and we pulled up to The Lumiares Hotel & Spa. This entire property smelled like a spa. It was phenomenal! We were quickly checked in and then taken to our one bedroom suite on the 4th Floor with a street view that looked far over this side of the city.  Lunch was reserved at their Lumi Rooftop Bar & Restaurant and bar and the view is nothing short of amazing. All of the city, the Tagus River the castle across the way, churches, houses - everything. Service was perfect and the food tasty. We absolutely loved this place and would have breakfast and drinks daily. Dinner one night was lovely as the sun set and the moon rose. 

If you like to walk be prepared for hills and stairs in Portugal. It took a couple of days for our legs to acclimate to the hilly streets with smooth white and black stone sidewalks. There are lovely plazas covered with different geometric patterns made of the same stones. But if you don't want to climb every hill, there are lots of transportation options including cable cars!

 

Hit List for Lisbon

• Lisbon Cathedral
• Castelo de São Jorge
• Teatro Romano De Olisipo (Roman theater & ruins)
•  Convento Do carmo Lisboa
•  Monasterio de los Jerónimos de Belém
• Belem Tower
• Sintra National Palace
• Moorish Castle Sintra
• And a church on every other block - each with beautiful interiors 

Belem Tower

Lisbon Cathedral

Cloister at Monasterio de los Jerónimos de Belém

View from the Moorish Castel - Sintra

Fabulous Eats in Lisbon:

• Restaurante Lisboa à Noite - 5 stars!
• Cervejaria Ribadouro - fabulous fresh fish (where we dined next to Jim Belushi)
• Lumi Rooftop - our home base
• Definitely stop and have a drink at one of the many kisoks around the city

Then it was the train to Porto. Side note, buy your train tickets in advance because they fill up! 

Hit up the town market for anything and everything fresh. We had amazing pastries and were tempted by so much more.

We stayed at  Hotel Infante de Sagres which was nice, if not a bit stuffy. Hotel was well located to get around but we probably wouldn't return as it was just not welcoming. That and a few other things we saw that made you think does this really deserve 4 or 5 stars?

Porto is the city of Port so of course we made a visit to Sandeman to view their facility and taste their ports. We did a lot of walking around Porto without any real agenda and came across lots of interesting sites including peacocks, the high bridge to the other side of the river and the Carmo Church & Monestary which had a hidden house. Truly! It has been hidden behind the facade of the church for 280 years. The church also has a crypt with 338 bodies, mostly of monks and priests that served the church and of course the prominent families of the parish. 

 

After 3 days, back on the train to Coimbra. This was a special place and we wish we would've spent more time here and less in Porto.  Home to Portugal's oldest university dating to 1290s. We couldn't get into the library so we opted for the  Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro which did not disappoint! Roman ruins underneath that could take days to explore. The exhibits where well laid out and showcased so much of Coimbra's history. Totally worth an extra day. We also found the 11th C Romanesque Cathedral which was left standing when it came time to remodel. Instead they built a new Cathedral. 

First Coimbra Cathedral

Roman Ruins in Coimbra

We stayed at the Hotel Oslo Coimbra situated in the center of town and made walking to everything easy. Staff at this small hotel was wonderful. They asked if we were interested in a dinner with Fado and since we hadn't experience it yet this was the perfect opportunity. We walked as a group to a tiny restaurant hidden away. There were other locals there and we sat between two other couples from the hotel, one French and the other Sardinian. It was a total laugh fest with three languages, soup that ended up being shared and the disappointed look on the Sardinian's face when he was initially served a plate of beans as his entrée.  The Fado started and it was a male singer who was good. Then locals started to drop in and sing. We had a really good laugh over the guy in the yellow Timberland t-shirt who bellowed out a few songs.  We had a good night's sleep, a lovely breakfast in the hotel and then on to the train back to Lisbon.

In Lisbon we were picked up by the hotel car and delivered to a beautiful resort hotel in Cascias. Our room wasn't ready so we wandered into the town area and found a place for lunch overlooking the water. The room was fabulous with a beautiful view over the pool and beach. We made our way to the pool and flopped for the remainder of the day. Dinner was at the hotel buffet which was ok.

The next day we lounged by the pool all day. For dinner we found a spectacular seafood restaurant called Restaurante O Pescador and enjoyed out last night immensely. 

This was a wonderful birthday celebration trip!

Barcelona

Costa Brava is where I want to live. The sights, the history, the FOOD, the wine...  it has it all and it's all fabulous!

Radom street near El Born - the old town section of Barcelona. Most is foot traffic only and some of the streets and alleyways are very narrow. In them you find little art galleries, stores, small cafes and restaurants.  It's easy to get your 10,000 step per day in El Born!

Arc de Triomf

This is a beautiful open area where people stroll, bike ride, skateboard, roller skate, picnic... you get the idea. One night they were setting up for a concert. 

Just past the Arc de Triomf

The Cathedral is worth the price of entry, which really isn't that much. If you are going be sure your shoulders are covered. You can always buy a scarf for 2E once you enter. 

The exterior you can see various stages of construction starting with Roman through the middle ages but the overall Cathedral is Gothic. 

Barcelona Cathedral

Do NOT miss the opportunity to head to the roof! There is a small elevator that takes a dozen or so people up at a time. Once topside you climb stairs to get to the 'catwalks' that span the length of the Cathedral. You have views of all over Barcelona that are spectacular! You can see Sagrada Familia, the Mediterranean and surrounding mountains. Definitely worth the time!

From the roof of the Cathedral

The beauty of Spain is they don't roll up the sidewalks early. You can find places that will serve dinner at 8PM but 9PM and later is the norm. The sun sets late and when it's summer everyone is out! One night we walked from our flat on Rnd Sant Pere through El Born down the the beach area of Barceloneta and back around the other side of the zoo to our flat and there were people everywhere. Young, old, kids, teens, 20 somethings - everyone takes advantage of the weather and late nights in Barcelona.

Sunset in Barcelona

Moonlight over the beach in Barcelona

Bonaire Again

We have traveled to Bonaire twice in the last few years. I guess I never posted about the first trip in December 2018 because we were soothing our hearts over the recent loss of a close family member. But apparently we liked it enough to visit again.

Travelling internationally in the time of Covid-19 is not for the weary. If you find navigating TSA and Immigration/Customs a challenge normally, you don't want to do it with additional protocols for Covid.

Bonaire is still part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands. Consequently the Dutch flock to Bonaire during the holidays jammed onto the daily 747 KLM flight. We also discovered that due to Covid, 'breakers' who are college grads right out of school, traditionally take a year off before joining the real world and places that were previously options for their sabbatical (Indonesia for example) are no longer available, so there are tons of them on Bonaire. This generally means lousy service in restaurants and lots of them don't speak fluent English or Spanish. 

But enough of that. 

1000 Steps

You go to Bonaire if you love the water, enjoy water sports or truly want a place to do almost nothing. It's a desert island and tourism is the #1 source of income, probably followed by the commercial salt business that has been going on there for centuries.

Salt Pier

Salt marker for ships

There's windsurfing, kitesurfing, snorkeling and scuba diving. We go for the latter two and a lot of the do almost nothing but relax. 

Divers down!

 

The first trip in 2018 we stayed at The Bellafonte which are condos that are run like a luxury hotel. Fabulous location on the sea, large sunny dock that stretches out over the Caribbean with easy access into the water. There is a small pool and at the time, the property hosted regular happy hours.  We stayed two weeks in a two bedroom/two bath unit on the second floor with a balcony where we spent a lot of our time. The property has a partnership with VIP Diving to supply dive tanks which are replenished daily, you make arrangements with the dive shop directly. 

Bellafonte-Bonaire

The second trip in December 2021 we rented a villa a little farther down EEG Blvd. It was a double villa and because we initially planned to have both sides filled (but Covid 😡) we rented the entire property named Salt & Pepper for 18 days. It was next to the Ocean Oasis Beach Club and Flamingo Dive shop which was perfect, in theory, for our group. The view and in particular the sunsets were spectacular!

Salt & Pepper

The View

AS for food, well the Dutch are not known for their cuisine but we highly recommend El Mundo in downtown Kralendijk. It has much more of an island vibe, the food is great as is the service. 

We also tried Sebastian's because we couldn't get a table when we visited in 2018 we reserved way in advance for 2022. It's a lot of hype IMO, food was ok, service was mediocre, but the sunset view is fabulous.  

View from Sebastian's

Another dinner spot we tried was Joe's Restaurant which was nice. All outdoor seating and it's a training restaurant, or so the signage indicated. The food was good, service was good too. We would probably go back to Joe's over Sebastian's.

Joe's Restaurant

Our go-to really became The Beach. We ate here on our first trip and back then it was half the size, mismatched tables and chairs and a limited menu. But it was good food. Today it's grown across two lots, added swanky club style chairs, walkways, tons more seating and a much bigger menu. 

The Beach

There are things to see and do on Bonaire such as...

Visit the Salt Worker Slave Huts

Watch Flamingos

Check out Ft Oranje

Gruta du Lourdes

Cruz Sera Largu

Bonaire Museum

Giant Windmills