Oman

Oman travel info from Whitney Sowards I remember doing brunch at The Chedi https://www.ghmhotels.com/en/muscat/ Swimming in Bimmah sink hole https://www.omandesertprivatecamp.com/wonders-of-oman-bimmah-sinkhole/

Azores, Portugal:

We flew with TAP airways from Paris to Lisbon then onto Puerta Delgada (out of Orly aiport)

There is an airlines that is direct, but they didn't have it the days we were going. 

We rented our car from Guerida, super easy. Most cars there are stick shift. 

One night in Thomas Place, basic hotel, we just needed a clean place for one night. Nothing special, but definitely convenient to the main town.

A restaurant walking distance to the hotel that we loved and returned a second time was.

Acores Grill

No. 1 Rua do Calhau

Sao Pedro

You order the meat dish and grill it yourself, 

side servings of either fries, rice/beans, salad.

We LOVED the special olive oil/herbs sauce

that you pour on the meat.

FURNAS

We did take out a few times at Tony's b/c it was so easy, pizza, chicken/rice dishes, soups etc

Worked out really well when we had full days and wanted to just chill out.

We really liked the bakery Gloria Moniz. They have a bakery but they also have a cafe. They have these little Gloria Moniz round small little tart thing called QUEJIDAS and the local Furnas ones have coconut in them, delicious! Wrapped in white paper and sold single or a box of six. 

Bolos Levedos is the local Azorean bread and there are 3 bakeries who make it locally in Furnas (I'm sure more around the island) but our favorite one was Rosa Quental. They have a cafe but we got them at the bakery which is basically just one small door and you walk up and order the bread you want. It is like an English muffin but way bigger, more moist, and a little sweeter.

Interesting to go and visit the Caldeiras which is basically these hot steaming geo thermal pools and geysers. Early in the morning like 4 or 5 am some of the restaurants put big pots of food to cook all morning and they are pulled out at 11 am and then again at 12.30 for second seating. I really wanted to see this but we were never at that time.

We did love the thermal baths in Furnas. There are a few but the main one that is paying and quite organized Poça da Dona Beija

We stayed at Filipe's Airbnb and I would highly recommend this place.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/36976731?source_impression_id=p3_1667932660_chdelJ9q56jizKt6

We did a couple nights at this POD type of concept b/c Mateo wasn't with us and it was available and actually it was a really fun/pretty place to stay, and plenty comfortable.

https://worldsnests.net/en/

We pretty much went all over the island and stopped at every look out, beach, view, waterfall etc. Highlights would be in the north part of the island the waterfall hike at Miraduoro de Salta de Farina. You park and walk only about 20 min downhill then a little uphill to get to the waterfall. To the west it's just a simple light house but it's so pretty to see from the view of 

Miradouro da Ponta do Arnel. Going south there's a coastal town called Povoação and it's quiet and lovely. We ate lunch at Jardin and would recommend it. By the beach there is a public pool that's open to the public, would probably be really nice in the summer.

The kids had their surf lessons at Agua de Alto. This is not the usual surfing area but the swells were too large in the north. We liked the simple cafe by the ocean that had excellent hot chocolate that is thick like Angelina's. My kids liked the pancakes and eggs/bacon breakfast there. Super casual and relaxed place.

I looked up all the surf companies and we used 

NJ/PA/NYC Favorite places we loved when living in Washington Crossing 2017-2022

 

Milford NJ

Visit Jonathan and Nina at Bobolink Farm

Eat at Canal House Station, J&N recommended their kitchen, they are foodies, cookbook writers etc

BOSTON FALL 2021

 

Chinatown Boston is small but quite authentic with Asian grocery stores, and we ate dim sum at HEI LA MOON and it was quite authentic.

Julie Rakestraw's Boston List:

Tatte Bakery and Cafe - many locations. I went to this and loved it.

Flour Bakery - ate there for breakfast with Gina 

Quedabra Baking company - drove out a little to go here, a bit like Provo Bakery, near the LDS chapel

Didn't make it to these places but Julie recommends:

Toscanini Ice cream

Their favorite restaurants - Semolina Kitchen and Bar, Dali for tapas.

COLOMBIA 2021

 

COLOMBIA

I purchased the book MOON's "Cartagena and Colombia's Caribbean Coast" by Ocean Malandra to prepare for the trip and it was an excellent guide, I actually carried it around with me because it had a lot of foodie recommendations. 

We travelled to Colombia December 2021 when there was still COVID measures in place. People wore masks  indoors AND outdoors. It got really hot for us. We didn't wear them at the beaches though. At the time, we didn't need negative covid tests to enter the country, we just needed vaccination proof and filling out a migracion website form. Returning to the USA we needed to show a negative COVID test. We flew Jet blue direct JFK to Cartagena. The airline website provided all the info we needed for border crossing.

We rented our car from AVIS and it was right at the airport and very user friendly.  Cartagena has some rules on which days you can drive or not drive in the city, but AVIS let's you know the information. Be sure to add your flight information to the reservation b/c they close early but will wait for you if they know your flight info. 

BARANQUILLA

We drove to Baranquilla the first day, about a two hour drive that turned into a little more only because paying tolls slows things down. It was cool to see the LDS temple as we drove into the city. We stayed at AC Marriott and it was perfectly comfortable and in a great location to access restaurants and shops and have a great view of the city from the pool. It was just a stopover, but cool to see a BIG city in Colombia.

TAYRONA NATIONAL PARK

The next day we continued on past Santa Marta and towards Tayrona National Park. We highly recommend the airbnb we found. Reviews talk about how loud it is and it's true it's a busy road but it was in a terrific location to access Tayrona National Park which we think is the highlight of our trip. We loved that there were two ladies (Jahairo and Karina) who cleaned and cooked breakfast (included) and dinner (15 dollars per person). There are plenty of hammocks and the hot tub and outdoor warm shower was really great to use. Indoor bathrooms and showers only have cold water. This doesn't bother our family.

Tayrona airbnb house

Tayrona National Park is just beautiful. The hikes in between the beaches are really long and even though they are not hard hikes, it is HOT when not hiking in the rainforest. We brought plenty of water, but we were able to buy more water at the restaurant in PISCINA. There are two entrances to the park we were staying near the main entrance. There is an admission fee and also you have to pay for an insurance wristband (it didn't cost much). There are LOADS of blogs on how to do Tayrona national park, I read a few and it was helpful b/c you do need your passport to register and enter the park. We did a hike where we could enter park gates, drive 5km and park, then we did a two hour one each way that got us to the PISCINA beach. Really gorgeous. They say that the next beach over is the best one but that was an additional 30-45 minutes and a four-hour hiking day was plenty for our family. They used to have lodges you could rent within the national park, and I tried to book this before the trip, but when I called I learned there is only tent camping no more lodges. If you want to tent camp there are companies that can lend tents. But staying just outside the park was plenty comfortable.

PALOMINO

We stopped in Palomino b/c Mateo's Colombian colleague said it's a great local surf place. It was perfect for our family. But if you don't surf, I don't know if you need to go here b/c the beaches are 'short' so there's not a lot of sand/area to sit and lounge in. It really is just WATER. Super local. The town is very hippie and lots of backpackers and cheap hotels, my kids love seeing these types of places. Vegan/vegetarian eateries, bakeries, crystal shops, cool clothes etc. We stayed at this hotel:

Finca Escondido Hotel

Escondido is a three-star basic hotel, no hot water in the showers (my kids don't really care), the rooms are plain and you don't really hang out in your rooms as the pool and waterfront area are great. Food was actually quite good and we ate most of our meals there just because it was convenient. We walked along the water and we were able to rent some surf boards from some local kids running some kind of a business. They were nice kids. You can hop across a few hotel properties to get to them, or just walk in the water. Like I said, there's really not much 'beach' sand area. Walking distance from the hotel towards town is a French Bakery you can't miss b/c you pass it as you leave the hotel to the main road. The baker is from France and she does an amazing job with all her food, especially the brioche au chocolat.

SANTA MARTA

Santa Marta is a good stop only if you have extra time. It is like a laid-back version of Cartagena so no international tourists, just locals. We loved walking around town, seeing the market, so many restaurants to choose from.  We stayed at the AC Hotel in Santa Marta (Marriott has another resort on the waterfront) and it was brand new and the pool had an amazing view of the sun going down. Everything is new and modern and comfortable and it helped that parking was in the building. 

We loved doing lunch at Taganga Fishing town 15 minutes away. I would've liked to have stayed to hang out and explore the area but some were not feeling well (travel stomach bug!) so we left after a delicious lunch at Babaganoush. Not only delicious fresh food and fruit juices, but excellent views of the water. I did look at staying in Taganga bc it's laid back and it sounded like our kind of a place, and it really was, but Santa Marta b/c it is so close was just fine.

A highlight day trip from Santa Marta was driving towards the Sierra Nevadas towards the town of Minca. Beautiful drives up the mountains. We hiked to some waterfalls. There are plenty of choices of hikes depending on how much time you have. Our book recommended trying 'pan chocolate' and they were excellent since coffee and chocolate are grown in the region. We tried the one at the bakery "Miga la Panaderia" and we understand why it's considered the best one in town.

CARTAGENA

Cartagena is a jewel of a city, we are glad we kept the best for last. We stayed at Juan Carlos' airbnb. There's a reason why the reviews are so high. Location, location, location and this breezy view over Parque Bolivar and cathedral top. It is a one-bedroom but plenty of room for our family. It is not clear on airbnb how beds work, but we had a big king size bed in the bedroom, plus a couch that flips into a bed in the same bedroom. In the living room there is a trundle bed that gets you two more beds. The cupboard has plenty of sheets and towels, and bonus there is a washing machine and a place to hang clothes to dry on the line.

Juan Carlos Airbnb with a view 

Restaurants, shops, snacks, parks, walking along the walls, it is all fabulous. We really loved the Argentine restaurant "Quebracho Parilla",  Also one night we followed my book's recommendation to have street food Ceviche on the stalls of La Nacional which reminded us of Asia eating by stalls with little tables and chair, that was pretty cool. Cartagena is well preserved and there are a lot of luxury hotels and high-end restaurants. We also enjoyed walking outside of the city walls in the area of Getsemani, clearly the more 'backpackers' side of Cartagena but quite artsy and lots of murals and art work. 

Mateo and I love seeing local life, and the daily market BARUZZO (some 12 minutes outside of the walled city) was so lively and colorful. We have seen a ton of markets around the world, and we loved the Cartagena one.

A few notes I wrote down about COLOMBIAN FOOD:

We LOVED the Colombian food scene so much! We pretty much will try anything and everything. There were empanadas on every street corner, they were perfect for beach-hopping days. The sweets were similar to the Philippines (mix of coconut and milk-based). We thought “obleas” were a great sweet snack, basically two large circle wafers spread with “dulce de leche”.

We had so many grilled fish and BBQ chicken dishes they call “pollo arabe” (Arabic chicken).

One breakfast we have never had any dish like it before is called “cayeye” and it’s cooked mashed plantains with beans served with cheese. It was delicious! We loved morning street arepas filled with various choices, but we agreed the cheese ones were the best. I noticed they serve soups at hotel breakfasts, so interesting. Very similar to Filipino “nilaga” filled with lots of heavy choices like taro and meat and other veggies.

We know that service is slow in Latin America, like crazy slow, so we always have Monopoly deal and UNO to enjoy the time as we wait. Traveling with hungry toddlers was hard, but I think hungry teenagers is a much greater challenge. Parents with teens, I know you’d agree.

We all agree the best part about Colombian meals was the incredible abundance of beautiful fruit. We had green mangoes with salt and lime daily. It seems like fresh-made fruit juices was served at every meal. We tried them all from mango, papaya, lulo, guava, sour sop and our faves were maracuja and lime juice.