German by passport, home where I feel most alive
A probably once in a lifetime opportunity was presented to me when I received an (almost) all-inclusive invite to the St Moritz Gourmet Festival 2016. One of Switzerland’s master chefs, Reto Mathis, who I had the pleasure of flying to South Africa for an event we sponsored last year, is the president/chairman of the above mentioned gourmet festival and invited me as his guest of honor to his event. Continue reading “St Moritz – Top of the World”
Wow! Bern was one of the surprises of our trip to Switzerland. Such a gem. So underrated.. or rather not known. It is a truly beautiful city. I’d like to come back and explore more of it, as we basically only spent half a day there. Continue reading “Welcome to Bern – the Swiss Capital”
My confession: I don’t know how to ski. I never even made it to a proper skiing resort for a holiday. I have always been the type of holiday maker that would rather chill in the sun by the beach than being active on the slopes ( to add: in the cold). Up until very recently. Continue reading “Saas-Fee: a magical winter wonderland”
The 24th September marks “Heritage Day”, a public holiday in South Africa. So, this year I decided to take the opportunity and go away for a long weekend. Why not Namibia.. It is close enough (so we thought at least) and since Namibia’s history is somewhat connected to my German heritage it was a good ankle why to chose it. Continue reading “Namib Desert: the land God created in anger – so they say”
I made it! To Zanzibar and to my first holiday on my own. The latter was both a conscious decision and a coincidence at the time of booking. For some time, the thought of going on a holiday just on my own with as many books as I can possibly pack was evolving in my mind. When I received the newsletter with this amazing Zanzibar offer, I just couldn’t resist and no one was available to join me.. so I booked a nice looking holiday resort, I downloaded 5 audio books and I left! Continue reading “Zanzibar – The Spice Island”
Yesterday, the second part of our trip to Switzerland was aired. I had the pleasure of accompanying the Cheeky Media crew to Zürich to shoot for their amazing tv show The Man Cave. I am definitely not a person who enjoys the spotlight, but this was actually a lot of fun. Lunga is a hottie, charming and made it very easy for me.
Zürich is a great city and definitely worth a visit. Very expensive though, like the whole of Switzerland I suppose. Lunga reckons he’ll own a flat in Zürich downtown within the next 5 years. I believe in him. He is an ambitious young man and he’ll definitely achieve a lot over the next few years. He is just at the beginning of his career.
We were lucky enough to have stayed at the Glockenhof Hotel. A prestigious Best Western Premier hotel with a prime location. Just a pity that we only stayed for one night. The room was huge, the bathroom too. Breakfast was delicious. I could have really stayed longer.
I hope to be back soon!
A few months ago I was introduced to a lovely woman. We have a common friend and were both invited over for dinner. German dinner – Maultaschen. It happened that we were sitting next to each other and naturally we started talking. As it turns out I followed this lady’s travel blog for quite a while already. Actually not only her blog, in fact all her social media accounts.
So it happened that I asked her if she’d be keen to join us (us as in Swiss International Air Lines) on our next media trip which I was about to plan. She was.
Two weeks back, we sent a hand full of journalists and bloggers off to Switzerland.
Read all about it here: The Incidental Tourist – SWISS feature or have a look at her homepage.
Just a pity that I wasn’t able to join… as I accompanied the TV crew a few weeks earlier, it was my colleagues turn to accompany this trip. Well, next time…
We created the #SwitzerlandwithSWISS – check out Instagram and Twitter to see, read and learn all about the great trip we organized together with Switzerland Tourism.
If you feel inspired, check out MySwitzerland for travel ideas. Switzerland is not only a skiing destination, it is also stunning and most beautiful in summer, no matter if you look for adventure like mountain biking or canyoning or just some picture perfect sight-seeing.
Finally I can post the video! A brand new TV show in South Africa is up and running and on TV for the 3rd week tomorrow. If you are a South African reader, you can watch “The Man Cave” on SABC 3 every Wednesday at 20h00.
Last week was the Ticino insert. Have a look at the clip.
Soon, there will be the second part of our Switzerland adventure with myself included:-)
It will be posted once it has been aired.
The City of Gold aka Johannesburg is creative. We might not have the best natural surroundings for bungee jumps, but we have the Orlando Towers in Soweto. An old power plant with two cooling towers, colourful decorated. I have driven past a few times already and I have seen it on various TV shows. However, actually being there is a complete different feeling and I feel something that the city can be proud of and advertise more to international visitors as well.
So, we were invited of the press launch of a new TV show (the same one that I took with to Switzerland). First time I drove to Soweto myself in my car – an experience I was more afraid of than necessary. Probably all the bad publicity that is still linked with Soweto (although the PR engine is doing a very good job to steadily improve Soweto’s image). There is a bar/ restaurant/ pub attached to the towers “Chaf Pozi” where we met and where the official part was held, where we got local food and from where the brave ones went up the towers. Chaf Pozi is quite an interesting place. Something, I can only recommend to all Jo’burger: just take a drive out on a Sunday, have lunch there, a drink and watch people jump. Such a viby place. Go with a bunch of friends and who knows maybe the one or other is even keen to jump….
Very recently, I had the pleasure to enjoy my work perks again: I was taking a TV crew to Switzerland. It’s not a holiday, it is definitely work but the fun part of my job. I get to meet amazing people, see stunning countryside, taste delicious dishes and experience new traditions, cultures and cities.
This trip took us to a part of Switzerland that I hadn’t been before: the Italian part of Switzerland, the Ticino region. We landed in Zürich and took a more or less 4 hours train ride to Bellinzona, the capital of Ticino.
Bellinzona was our base from where we could easily reach the more famous places like Lugano, Locarno and of course Ascona. Not only is Italian the common language, everything just feels Italian.. the streets, the cuisine, the people, the names, the atmosphere.. you name it.
Bellinzona is tucked away between the mountains. The highlights are 3 castles that used to safeguard the Alps. We stayed in the beautiful Hotel Internazionale & Spa which is very conveniently located right across the railway station and on top of the “shopping mile” in Bellinzona. A special THANK YOU goes to the hotel director and his team. They were all amazing and extremely helpful. We lost a bag with some camera equipment in the middle of the night and they really did their utmost to assist.
The highlight of our culinary excursion has surely been lunch at the Grotto Castlegrande. Main course was rabbit.. I guess if we hadn’t known, it’d been OK for all of us, but since we did, I am sure that not all of us really enjoyed eating rabbit. It’s a new country, new traditions and you just have to give it a try.
The rest of the trip was less exciting from a culinary point of view. We learnt that the Swiss/ Italians like to do Aperos.. which is basically meeting in a bar after work, get together, order drinks and therefore get finger food snacks for free. This is also where we ordered Tequilla shots and we got tall glasses full of Tequilla. In one glass were probably 4 shots of Tequilla. I must compliment the guys! They did well by finishing it. (That was the same evening we lost the bag with some of the camera equipment – no one sees the correlation though).
Lugano, Locarno and Ascona are just beautiful cities right at the water of different lakes. La Dolce Vita!
I made it back to Barcelona. Four years after my last visit. Same city, different sites, same story, different people. When reading through my last Barcelona post it seems a lifetime away. I enjoyed this time more. Must have been the company, I guess.
We stayed in the best location possible. Right on Las Ramblas, next to the Bouqueria Market. Perfect location to discover the city, especially the older part of town. I can recommend this hotel if you are looking for something not too fancy, yet modern, comfortable, clean and cute. Also, definitely book a room with a terrace which has a view over the market and going out to the back. I think facing the front would have been way too noisy. Las Ramblas never sleeps it seems.
The Cultural Part
What dominated this visit were “churches”, which is odd since neither my travel partner nor I are particular religious. I assume it was the architecture, the tradition, the history that fascinated us so much that we visited 4 churches. Not a lot at all when you start counting all churches in Barcelona, however not a bad turnout for us during our 3 day stay. If I told my family that I even went to Sunday Mass (in Catalan) they won’t believe me – I might need to add that I rarely go to church even on special days like Christmas and Easter. We did, in the Cathedral of Barcelona, an impressive gothic cathedral.
Then, there she was… the most stunning church I’ve ever been to. La Sagrada Familia. All the times I’ve visited Barcelona before, I didn’t feel the urge to go in. Assuming that the interior is just as busy and crazy as the outside. How wrong I was. The interior is the complete opposite. I have never experienced anything so calming, impressive and yet so humble than La Sagrada Familia. Goosebumps guaranteed. Gaudi intended to give the feeling as if walking through a forest made of stone. Walking between the pillars makes you aware of how small we actually are and at the same time how wonderful he world is and that we are part of it. It almost seems to be out of space, like being in an Avatar movie. Almost impossible to describe with words.
If anyone ever visits Barcelona, this is definitely a must-see! Just one recommendation: purchase your tickets online beforehand. Schedule your visit and save time walking around and queuing for tickets. In fact, this should be done for any tourist attractions in Barcelona (maybe even worldwide… the same happened to us last year in Berlin). We must have spent at least 3 hours of going from one site to the next just to end up buying online anyway. Continue reading “Back in Barcelona”
It is actually a waste of good experiences that we don’t take the opportunity to get away for a bit more often. Living in Johannesburg can really make you get stuck in this big city life. It is a shame because Johannesburg is actually the ideal location for a short getaway to the Bush. It doesn’t always have to be the Kruger. There are plenty of lovely game reserves just a mere 2-3 hours drive out of Sandton. I have spent the past weekend about 250 km north of Johannesburg in a province called Limpopo. The Game Reserve we went to is just outside of a small town called Vaalwater in the Waterberg. Situated on a hill overlooking the Bush. There is a main lodge where they serve all meals and you have a beautiful pool deck to relax and enjoy an amazing view. Then there are about 5 luxury tents scattered around the main lodge. Each tent hidden away in the Bush yet in close proximity to the main lodge.
Since I am not a camping girl at all (I need my own bathroom and preferably a proper bed), I was very much interested in staying at least once in one of these luxury safari tents. The experience was great. It is a tent, however it also feels like a room. Especially at night you definitely feel closer to nature than you would if you were in a house.
The reserve doesn’t offer the Big Five (lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards and buffalos) however, a game drive is always an adventure. Just looking at the scenery and being in the bush is already a great experience for me. At least we saw giraffes, actually a whole family of 7, we saw a bird eating a snake and we saw a stunning African sunset and sunrise. The rest of the time was well spent on the amazing pool deck, either at the pool or with a drink by the fire.
The lodge also offers a Spa. It is just a small walk down the hill and you’ll find a very peaceful and refreshing Spa area. I spoilt myself with a facial, but could have easily spent a whole afternoon there.
If someone wants to book – here are their details: Bushwa
I can highly recommend if you are looking for a weekend getaway not too far out of town or if you are arriving from overseas and don’t want to stop over in Johannesburg but you also don’t want to take a long drive to the Kruger after a 10 hours flight, Limpopo Province is a great alternative to the Kruger. There are Game Reserves that also offer the Big Five. Welgevonden being one of them.
Part of my work responsibility is to also look after the market Angola. So, once a year I make my way to our office in Luanda and see what can be done in this vibrant market. I skipped my visit last year, so it had been two years since I was last there. A lot has changed since then. One can see and feel the transition this city is going through. A transition from a typical African city to “the Dubai of Africa”. It is still a long way to go but you can already see that the way is paved. During my last visit the “Marginal” was still under construction, during this visit I took the opportunity of taking a nice evening stroll along the promenade on two evenings. It is a nice, palm-tree lined walk of about 3 km one way. Next time I will take my running shoes and join the dozens of runners who make use of this beautiful part of Luanda.
Where to stay
There are only a few hotels in Luanda that are up to international standards. On this recent trip I stayed at the hotel “El Presidente”. Hotel Presidente Luanda is part of the GJC Hotels. The hotel is located in the centre of Luanda, where guests can enjoy beautiful views over the Bay and the port. It is currently being renovated which gives the lobby and the restaurant / bar area a modern contemporary African look. I was lucky enough to get one of the renovated rooms.
Free of charge internet is available in all rooms via a network cable. WiFi is only available on the 8th floor where the bar and the restaurant are located. So, any iPad or iPhone user, not willing to spend a fortune on data roaming charges, will sit around there.
Where to eat out
One evening we were taken out for dinner to a stylish and hip restaurant on the Ilha. The restaurant is called “Cais de Quatro”. It offers a spectacular view of Luanda’s skyline which, at night, can be easily compared with the skyline you find in Dubai or any other high-rise city. There is a saying about Luanda that fits perfectly: New York at night, New Delhi by day!
The tables are all on a huge deck or on the terrace on the first floor, no ceiling anywhere in the seating area. All tables were booked with a nice mix of young and old, casual and business dinner guests, locals and foreigners. The menu is interesting, creative and serves for everyone’s taste butts. The service could have been more attentive, I guess staff was overworked with a full restaurant. Nevertheless is was the perfect restaurant to spend the last night of my visit.
(More details here)
Another great restaurant is the Naquele Lugar (Fortaleza). Hidden away in the backyard of a house in a residential area. From the street it doesn’t look like a restaurant at all. Only once you have arrived in the backyard you can see the tables and chairs. It also doesn’t feel like you are in Luanda. The look and feel of the backyard is very mediterranean. It could be in Portugal or Spain or Greece. Just beautiful.
All together, I was really impressed by the vibe and energy of Luanda. Sure, this city still has a long way to go but considering the speed it is going, there is no doubt that it will become the “Dubai of Africa” in couple of years.
To live the good life in Luanda you need to earn a good salary. Things are expensive there.. really expensive, e.g. a bottle of still water $10, a simple pizza easily costs around $30, a gym membership $400, a nice 2-bedroom apartment $18.000. In fact Luanda is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Especially for expats who want to maintain a certain “western” standard.
I am not sure, if I’d like to live there, but I am definitely looking forward to my visit next year!
It is not a secret that I have fallen head of heels in love with Cape Town. It has been just over 9 years ago that I first arrived there and I was hooked within the first week. About two weeks ago I took my brother on a long weekend to Cape Town. It was his first visit to the Mother City. Although he is not a man of many words, I had the impression that he liked it, too. Since we decided to buy an apartment together, it was important that he also liked the place we decided to buy in. Continue reading “Proud owner of a Cape Town flat”
What to do in Milan when you have roughly 24 hours? First time visit!
Thanks so my friend Elisa who moved there just a few months ago, I had this hotel recommendation that was quiet central. Walking distance to where Milanese life is happening at night and just a bit further to the Duomo.
It was also my first time in a long time – I am talking about 12-15 years – that I was travelling on my own… and it did scare the sh.. out of me. How can that be?? When I was so much younger, I travelled to Hong Kong, to mainland China – just to mention a couple – on my own. I moved to Cape Town in my mid twenties. Alone. I didn’t hesitate to just walk. Walk and discover the cities. What happened to this fearless, adventurous girl? She became a scared, nervous woman. Oh and a woman without any sense of direction, who can’t even distinguish right and left.. So, how am I going to find my way?
Well, the good news is, I did and I am safely back home without getting lost! So, hopefully this was the start to becoming less scared and more adventurous again. I told myself: worst case scenario, just take a taxi back to the hotel. By all means.. Milan is not Johannesburg where one turn can lead you right into an area that you might not want to end up in.
I arrived there late afternoon and that evening was already planned anyway. Elisa picked me up from the hotel and we went to the nearby Navigli to get a drink, some food and catch up. We both lived in Cape Town nine years ago, so there was plenty to talk about. The area is not all what I imagined Milan to be like.. Did you know that Milan has quite a few canals? So, along these canals are restaurants and bars. The streets were full of people on this warm summer night. I think the Italians only really got out as we left already. The 4-day wedding was taking its toll on me and by 10h30 pm I was dead tired. That’s about dinner time for the Italians, I guess.
So, the next morning I was brave enough to face my fear and make my own way to see the Duomo. Of course I would have walked into the wrong direction if not Elisa had shown me the way the evening before.. on google maps at least. Maybe next time I should just walk into the opposite direction than what my gutt feeling is telling me – then it will be right! Voilá, I made it to the famous Duomo of Milan (which was in fact smaller than I pictured it to be).
The best part is that most other highlights of Milan are actually all around the Duomo. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II with its impressive glass dome, the world’s most famous opera house La Scala and of course all shops that you can possibly imagine.
My verdict about Milan: I think 24 hours to 48 hours is enough to get an idea of what it is about. Stay longer if you want to spend more money shopping or have a local who can show you around and show you the hidden gems. If you are “just” a visitor to see the main sightseeing highlights, then that’s more than enough.
I’m happy I stayed that extra night after the wedding, since Milan was a city I wanted to see for a long time. On top of that, I managed to overcome my fear of getting lost when only having a city map book and no sense of direction. So… what will be the next city trip??? I have to make a plan now that I know I can!
No, not my wedding:-) This can wait… I’m in no hurry at all (if at all). One of my best friends was getting married and they couldn’t have chosen a more romantic location than Villa Passalacqua at Lake Como in northern Italy. No wonder I was looking forward to this dream wedding for the past six months.
All dresses packed (yip, it was a four-day-wedding – so a girl needs at least 4 dresses plus 2 back-up dresses, different shoes for every dress and so on). So, packed as if leaving for a 3 weeks trip off I went for 5 days. The start couldn’t have been any better: I met Jim in the plane! Continue reading “Lago di Como – a dream wedding”
This trip was definitely one of the best if not the best I’ve ever had. Amazing city, lots of fun, great company, little sleep at a stunning hotel. Although five days in Berlin are not enough. Not enough to do all the things you should do while there. Yet, we managed to do a bit of everything. A bit of cultural sight-seeing, a bit shopping (longer than anticipated though), a bit of going out at night and a bit of getting a feeling for Berlin. It’s a great city with a good vibe.
Where we stayed
Highly recommended: The Waldorf Astoria in Berlin. It might sound too expensive to even check it out, but you should give it a try. I believe it is not as expensive as its famous counterpart in NY. Especially if you plan a weekend trip or a trip when it is not high season for trade fairs or other congresses. Being a typical business hotel, the Waldorf Astoria is rather quiet during weekends and off business season. So, give it a try, check out their website and you might be positively surprised by the price on offer. It was opened in February this year and everything is still very new and clean. Their beds are the best I’ve ever slept in. The pillows, the duvet.. a sleep-fanatic’s dream! Same goes for the breakfast buffet.. everything you can wish for.. from Continental to English, from Nutella to gluten-free bread, from fruits to pastries, from champagne to lemon juice.
Besides the interior, it’s also the location that’s convincing. Right, across from “Bahnhof Zoo”, it’s central and gets you anywhere you want to go in Berlin. Although, Bahnhof Zoo has had an extremely bad reputation when I grew up, the area is about to get a facelift and apparently all the drug dealer and prostitutes have been removed from the train station and the zoo. It is also walking distance from the Kurfürsten Damm (Berlin’s high-end shopping mile) and the biggest department store on the continent, the KaDeWe.
If I ever go back to Berlin, I guess I would want to stay there again, except, if the Adlon offers the same price… then I might change my mind. Staying in the Adlon once in your life, is a must (just like staying at the renowned Waldorf Astoria).
Where we ate
A must for anyone visiting Berlin is to have “Currywurst“, the traditional Berliner dish. Usually you eat it as fast food at a kiosk. There are currywurst places that claim for themselves to have the best currywurst in town. One of these kiosks’ was right across from our hote: “Curry 36″. It was OK’ish. I guess I expected more of it. The other one is “Curry One” which I must say, I definitely preferred. We went to the one right next to the East Side Gallery. The traditional way is to eat your fast food currywurst while standing. Although this place also offered something like a beach-bar area where you could sit and eat.. we did it the traditional way!
A proper restaurant (not as in kiosk fast food) that was recommended to us was “White Trash“. We decided to go on a Sunday night (in fact, that was the only night that was still open), which was probably the most quiet night of the week. Still, a very interesting place to go. Probably not your type of restaurant for a romantic dinner, but if you are out and about with a few friends and up for some fun, then that’s definitely the place to go. Located on Schönhauser Allee, it is the right location to move on from there after dinner and check out the bars Berlin has to offer.
Then, there is Asian cuisine trending in Berlin. So, the one evening friends took us out to ChénChè Restaurant/ Teehaus Berlin-Mitte. It has this cute little “beer garden” in the back where we had Vietnamese dishes and tiger beer. A really nice atmosphere, with delicious food and great company accounted for this special evening during our trip.
Where we went out
I guess that’s the trickiest part of it all. Unless you are a Berliner you won’t know the fun places to go to.. like hidden back-door bars that used to be a butchery and are only accessible through steel doors where someone looks through a little bar and decides to let you in or not (just like in these American Gangster movies where you go to play poker or whatsoever). We would have never found this place. So thanks to the local who took us out for a cocktail there. If you just walk along down the street from where White Trash is, you’ll find plenty of bars. Bars where they play table tennis, round after round… starting with 10 or more people until one wins. And they go on and on and on…
If you want to go clubbing.. hard clubbing, go to the Berghain. I can’t tell you more about it, because I didn’t go. The guys did and they loved it! Apparently they had the best night. Acting as three gay guys, well, actually only two acting. From what I’ve heard if you’re gay it’s your ticket to get in.
If you prefer it a bit more chilled, then there are plenty of beach clubs (especially in summer). We were lucky, we had 5 stunning summer days when we were there. On Saturday we spent a few hours at the Badeschiff with some Corona beers and just chilling in the sun. I wish our schedule would have allowed us to spend a whole day there.. but there is just too much to do and see in Berlin. The Badeschiff is basically a floating pool in the River Spree, which a beach bar, sand and deck chairs (if you’re lucky).
Where we shopped
Shopping in Berlin is fun (finally, again). All around Mitte, close to the Hackesche Höfe and all around that area, you can find plenty of boutiques and shops that really invite you to shop. This is how shopping should be. Individual shops with individual brands and local designers. Unlike here in Jozi for example where you shop in malls and malls and malls (with the odd exception of maybe 4th Avenue in Parkhust). I guess, we could’ve done much more shopping if we had the time. As far as I remember we said we’ll go shopping for a maximum of 3 hours and then do a bike tour through Berlin. Needless to say that the bike tour never happened.
This is my little insight into Berlin. Of course there is also the usual sight-seeing stuff, like Brandenburger Gate, The Reichstag (book your visit of the glass dome beforehand online), the TV tower at the Alexander Square, East Side Gallery (the Wall), Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial and so on. We did this, too. We also did Base Flying from the Park Inn Hotel (well, I didn’t but the guys did). We did loads of things during these 5 days. So my advise: Take more time!
Enjoy Berlin if you go!
No matter where I currently live and what my favourite town is (which is definitely Cape Town), Landau was, is, and will be my so-called home town.
Although I have only lived directly in Landau for a couple of years it is at least the closest town to where I come from. It is where I went to school, where I started going out, where I return to when I live abroad. Landau is beautiful. It is a jewel in the south-western part of Germany. It is in the middle of the Südpfälzer winelands. It has a historic centre. It has charm. Continue reading “Landau – home sweet home”
Confessions of a Traveler 