Gypsy*Friday - Mandina Eco Lodge

As a follow up to last week's Gambia post I wanted to dedicate this week's Gypsy*Friday to the most amazing hotel/lodge I ever spent a night in. It was basically by accident that we found this stunning stunning stunning place in the middle of the African bush, guarded by orangutans and crocodiles! :) As it was off season we were the only guests (as we decided to stay for the night the moment we saw the place) and enjoyed some great food, great wildlife, peace, sunset over the river and listened to the amazing travel stories of the owner Terence, who is seriously the biggest travel I have ever met! Don't miss this place should you ever visit the Gambia! It's also the best honeymoon spot ever :)

I'd love to hear which was the most amazing hotel you've ever stayed in!!! :)

Happy weekend chicas!

Gypsy*Friday - The Gambia

This is my weekly column about the amazing places I was fortunate to visit for shorter or longer times... let the journey continue! :)

 Last year we were hunting for last minute deals for our 2 week vacation when we stumbled upon an offer for the Gambia. Well... I'll be honest... we were not even 100% sure if it was a country, we needed to google it! :) (off to a good start right? :))

It seemed to be a very exotic West-African vacation spot for less than a price of a vacation in Spain, so we booked right away! In all fairness I did promise myself after this trip that I'd never go on a last minute trip to a country I never really heard of... :) you see, not knowing that it was rainy season and it would be raining 4 hours a day was a huge drawback, but oh well, we still tried to make the most of it. We hired a driver and started to explore... (but please take my advice, don't go in August! :)

We traveled around, discovered hidden gems and we almost even decided to open a backpacker hostel, which now seems to be way out of line... :) In the end we spent a few incredibly exotic, romantic, touching and "different" weeks in the Gambia. Such a different culture, such a different way of life. This was a kind of trip after which you return with updated priorities and a new outlook on life. I'll be eternally grateful for being able to see the things I've seen.

After Zanzibar, the Gambia, Tunisia and Egypt the last African territory to be explored remains South Africa... maybe next year! ;)

Have you ever been to Africa? It's certainly a place I'd love to return with my new camera for a little photography getaway... it feels like you're living on the pages of National Geographic over there. Amazing! :)

 

Egyptian Diaries

 After one week in Egypt I'm back home full of memories and stories to tell. I spent the best part of the weekend looking through all the pics (more than 3000), sorting, making a best of folder then making a best of the best folder. I decided that there is no way I can squeeze everything into one little post so get ready for Egyptian week on Gypsy*Diaries! :)

 

I traveled with my mum and sis this time. We stayed in the Sunrise Le Jardin in Hurghada (one of the 2 main resort areas of Egypt, the other one being Sharm El Sheikh), I'm not gonna start moaning but I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. It looks great on pics, but in reality it was dirty, the food was awful, you had to stand in line for everything... (not to mention that there was no internet!!!) overall I was not impressed. The hotel had a nice garden and an OK beach, but the best part was definitely the amazing coral reef in front of the hotel with all kinds of beautiful colorful fish (some of them bigger than me! :) But more on diving and snorkeling in another post later this week!! (I bought an under water camera :)

The problem with North Africa is that your lodging options are very limited. Most people (like us) stay in these monstrous 500+ room, overcrowded hotels full of drunk tourists getting high on the all inclusive fun... but did I not say I will not moan??? 

Overall it was a fantastic vacation and I can't wait to show you all the pics I made in Cairo, Luxor and all the amazing places we have visited. Now sitting at my desk looking at the rain outside I can't even believe anymore that a few days ago I was lying on the beach... huh.... here are some of the beach fun pics we took, I hope you'll get more sunshine today than I do! :)

To be continued...

Gypsy*Friday - Hurghada*Egypt

Vacation!!!!!!!!! By the time you're reading this, I'll be landing in Hurghada Egypt, where I'll spend the next 8 days relaxing on the beach, drinking cocktails in the pool bar and reading books under a palm tree. Mom and sis are coming with me and we are in some girl fun this time. We'll also be visiting Cairo and the famous pyramids and I'm planning to go on a dive to see some of the best coral reefs of the world. (Glad I did my diving license in Zanzibar). I'll try my best to keep you jealous and post regularily :), but not quite sure yet if I'll be able to. In the meantime be sure to follow me on twitter as I'll be regularily updating over there! Sunfilled kisses babes! I'm off to vacation!

Gypsy*Friday - Zanzibar*Tansania

When people ask me which is the most beautiful place I've ever visited, I always respond that it's Zanzibar. It’s truly one of the best-kept secrets of the Indian Ocean. An amazing island, with white sandy beaches and coconut trees, incredible nature and shells the size of my fist lying in the sand... it really is one of the last untouched paradises on Earth. Zanzibar was my first trip to Africa and our first vacation with AC... it truly felt like we landed in another world. At night we were playing with Massai soldiers and during the day we swam with sharks and dolphins (and completed our deep diver license! :). A truly magical experience and a perfectly romantic holiday destination!

Tunisian Holiday

As promised, here is the full coverage of our Tunisian adventures. :D

The Beach Bum
Tunisia is a very typical beach holiday spot for Europeans. Only 2 hours fly away, it promises all-year sun and exotic Arab-African adventures. (Don't let geography fool you though... we had 3 sunny days the rest was unfortunately cloudy and windy)

{Here I was still fooled by the weather :)}

{The newest addition to my Happy Feet around the world collection :)}

{The beach was OK, a bit too touristy and windy  for my taste with monstruous hotel complexes and water sport centers on top of each other ( I tried kite surfng and catamaran sailing, but the water was too cold to enjoy it :) Seems lots of fun though! :) }

The Culture Seeker

To be completely honest we didn't get quite so much culture in our program as I previously hoped (we were too far from the Sahara and the oasis' of the South). We did visit the nearby Sousse (2nd biggest city of Tunisia) several times, where I was blown away by Arabic design and architecture. There is something about doors.... each was prettier than the other and I fell in love with all things blue and white.

{Me and my giant boyfriend AC :)}

The Shopaholic

I really looked forward to visit the local bazaar (souk). While the smell and atmosphere was amazing, it was way too loaded with fake, made in China merchandise, which was a biiiig disappointment. I found the merchants too agressive (at one point they started to throw things at us when after a long negotiation we decided not to buy :) and the starting prices were borderline offensive. (I need to approve my negotiation skills, even though I did bring the prices down I still think I paid too much for some things). I do not want to scare anyone away as I did like the experience very much and we did find some great, authentic souvenirs to bring home. :) Leather, silver and ceramics are the most typical Tunisian goodies to splurge on!

Souvenirs:

1. Boho brown cross body leather bag - I love that it's new but has a vintage feel

(and my mum had one just like this in the 80's :)

2. Real pretty black leather bag with Tunisian motives

(Camels, Dunes and Fatima's hand for luck) 

3. Silver jewelry: my name in Arabic and a gorgeus gorgeous ring

4. Blue&white ceramic server, perfect for small dinner parties

5.. Jewelry box made of crushed seashells

Overall it was a very relaxing holiday. I finished two books and I did get a nice tan too. We tried new sports and enjoyed immersing in a new culure. While there are other places I'd recommend more for a vacation, Tunisia has certainly a lot to offer for beach bums, culture seekers and shopaholics alike.

P.S: No, I did not do a camel shoot.... I felt it's only authentic if you do it in the desert... but, will certainly make up for that in Egypt in July! :)