Côte d'Azur Day 1: Vallauris and Cannes

After eight months without leaving the UK, we finally went abroad again, spending four days in the south of France and Monaco. 

This is a trip that we were considering doing in April, after our holiday to Australia was cancelled, but we felt that we couldn't face planning another trip so soon after having to cancel one. In the end, we decided to go for Claudio's birthday in June, when the weather would be better.

This was a dream bucket list trip for Claudio, as he really wanted to visit Monaco to see the supercars! As for me, I had actually been to the area several times before, because my granddad lived in Cannes, but the last time I went was over 10 years ago, so I was keen to go back, revisit places I'd been to previously and explore new ones.

We chose to stay at Blanc Sable Hôtel, a hotel with very beachy décor, located in Vallauris, between Cannes and Antibes. We arrived from the airport quite late at night, so went straight to our room to go to bed. The room had a great view of the pool, overlooked by what appears to be a former church, and the bathroom came equipped with a full set of Fragonard toiletries.

We started off our first morning with a delicious breakfast by the pool (highlights being the coffee, pains au chocolat and fruit salad), followed by a swim and a bit of sunbathing. We definitely felt very much on holiday after that!

We then went for a walk by the beach near the hotel and ended up coming across a classic car exhibition. Claudio was super happy!

In the town, we came across this really cute bakery called Maison des Merveilles. It had some incredible looking trompe l'œil cakes!

We then took the train over to the glamorous city of Cannes in order to take in its sights, starting with Notre-Dame de Bon Voyage de Cannes church.

Next we headed over to the best-known place in the city, Palais des Festivals, where the famous film festival is held. The red carpet was out (though it was actually green!). There's a photo somewhere of me standing on the same carpet (red, on that occasion!) from around 15 years ago, but this time there was a big queue, so we just took a selfie from a distance!

We went for a wander round the area, taking in the views of the port, the hilltop neighbourhood of Le Suquet, the Hôtel de Ville, and the bus station (which is surprisingly pretty!).

We then went to get an ice cream from Nivà Gelato Italiano, which actually turned out to be some of the best gelato we've ever had.

However, since arriving in Cannes, I'd been struggling with some sort of allergy in my eyes; they were really stinging and I could hardly keep them open. Luckily, although it was Sunday, there was a pharmacy open near the gelateria, where we were able to buy some very expensive but effective eye drops. Once they'd started working, I was able to start enjoying the day a lot more.

Our next stop was Le Suquet, part of the city I'd never visited before. This is definitely the most historic area of Cannes, with an old church and the ruins of a castle. It reminded me a bit of the Citadella in Gozo.

After exploring Le Suquet, we went for a walk along the city's beaches.

We took a look at the Carlton Hotel, which is the most glamorous and iconic hotel in the city. Of course, there were plenty of supercars around, which Claudio was very happy about!

After enjoying a poke bowl and some iced tea, we took the train back to Golfe-Juan-Vallauris, went back to the hotel to get changed, and headed out to the local beach, where we spent a very happy hour or so swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.

It had been a great start to our trip, but Claudio's birthday was the following day, and some even more exciting adventures were coming our way!

Bangkok Days 1 & 2: Wat Pho, The Grand Palace and Wat Arun

Hello again!

We've just got back from the honeymoon of our dreams and I have so much to write about it all! As you might have guessed from the title of this post, we went to Thailand, spending a few days in Bangkok, two days at a jungle camp in Khao Sok National Park and a week at a beach resort in Khao Lak. During those two weeks, we also took day trips to the historic city of Ayutthaya, James Bond Island and other nearby sights, and the Surin Islands. So we packed a lot in, but at the same time, I feel like we had a lot of time to just relax and enjoy being in the moment.

I hadn't mentioned exactly where we were going on our honeymoon on this blog before, because Claudio says it's best not to tell too many people about things you're really looking forward to, in order not to tempt fate. I think he's right about that, because everything about this trip turned out even better than we imagined, and we both feel it was very possibly the best holiday we've ever had.

Our trip started out with us travelling down the M4 to Heathrow Airport on a rainy, windy Sunday and touching down in the humid heat of Bangkok the following afternoon. It was the first time either of us had ever been to Asia, and we couldn't quite believe we were finally there, especially Claudio, as it's almost unheard of for Chileans to travel to this part of the world. 

We didn't really know what to expect from the first part of our trip. To be honest, out of our three destinations, I think Bangkok was the part we were least excited about beforehand. However, we actually ended up loving our time there, and would have even liked an extra day or two or in the city.

We spent our first evening in our hotel, the Rembrandt Hotel, which had a kind of old-fashioned grandeur, which we quite liked.

Naturally, our favourite part was the rooftop pool! Even though it was actually on the 4th floor rather than the top of the building, it had great views across the city. After we got settled into our room, Claudio suggested going for an evening swim, which was a great idea, as it helped relax our muscles after the exhausting flight and also got us into the holiday feeling.

Back in our room later, I had my first taste of Thai food in Thailand! I ordered a red curry, which I expected to be similar to the Thai curries I've had at Thai restaurants in the UK. However, it was much, much spicier! The first mouthful was a bit of a shock, but after that, it was really delicious.

The next morning was when the jet lag hit us. We woke up at around 4 am feeling wide awake. I then made the mistake of going back to sleep too soon to the time when we wanted to get up and really struggled to get out of bed. But after some coffee and breakfast, we were ready to go and get the metro over to the city's main sights. We had a bit of a laugh at this sign in the metro station!

We got off at Sanam Chai station, which is one of the most beautiful underground stations we've ever been to.

The first place we visited was Wat Pho, a temple complex where you can find the famous Reclining Buddha statue.

We were absolutely amazed by the variety of temples, stupas and statues in the complex - it was completely unlike any place either of us had ever visited before. Some of the structures were so beautiful and ornate that it was almost hard to process.

The Reclining Buddha was definitely the highlight. At 46 metres long and 15 metres high, the size of it was just incredible.

Before continuing with our sightseeing, we stopped at a café for a energy boost. Claudio had a pineapple smoothie and I had mango sticky rice. This is a famous Thai dessert that I wanted to try, though I didn't expect to like it very much, as I sometimes find mango can taste soapy. However, this Thai mango was absolutely delicious and the dessert as a whole was really tasty and filling.

Our next stop was the Grand Palace. We had to make a quick detour to buy some elephant print trousers before entering, because the guard told us Claudio's shorts were too short. Claudio felt a bit embarrassed wearing them, even though there were many other men in the same position, but I was happy, as I'd wanted to buy a pair for myself anyway, and they became mine for the rest of the trip!

The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings including the famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and was another place that was hard to take in just because of the sheer amount of opulence surrounding us. It was even hard to take decent photos because almost every metre of space was taken up by a beautiful building or stupa.

Our final sightseeing stop of the day was Wat Arun, which lies on the other side of the river and is one of the most iconic landmarks of the city. We took the ferry over, which was only 5 baht, and then had a nice time exploring the temple. We even climbed part way up the main pagoda which was a bit scary but gave us great views! 

Back on the other side of the river, we looked for somewhere to grab some food, but lots of places were either closed or full. We eventually found a small place on a side street, where Claudio ordered noodles with tomato and an egg, and I ordered a tofu Pad Thai (the first of several during our trip!). Claudio was underwhelmed by his, but mine was pretty good.

We then went back to the hotel on the metro. By this point, it was rush hour, and more and more people got on the train as it travelled towards our stop, Sukhumvit. It was interesting to see that when we got off the train, people on the platforms waiting to get on had formed orderly queues - something we'd like to see happen in our own countries!

We spent the evening at the hotel, relaxing and swimming in the pool. We then decided to have dinner at the poolside restaurant, which is actually a Mexican restaurant. The food was amazing, especially the guacamole, which the chef made in front of us, and the setting was so nice. A great way to end our first full day in Bangkok!

Come back soon to read about our next day in Bangkok, when we discovered several different sides to the city, and met some of its animal inhabitants!