bondi to coogee

You may have noticed from the slight change of theme of my instagrams - soooo much turquoise! - that I've been living on the other side of the world for the last few months! And as I predicted, living in Sydney is pretty lush. I miss London and having Europe on my doorstep but I'm lapping up all this Southern Hemisphere gorgeousness whilst I'm here. I am way waaayy behind on travel blog posts, so for the time being I'm just going to share some snaps of the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk taken after work recently at the end of a very hot day. It still kinda blows my mind that these crazy gorgeous beaches are just a short bus ride away from the city centre. This walk is one of my favourite ever things, and a must-do for anyone visiting Sydney! 

Photos - iPhone 6 + vsco cam.

Lisbon

I spent a few days at the beginning of June in lovely Lisbon. Woah. This city is ridiculously cool. I completely loved the place. Unlike a lot of European capital cities there isn't a huge lists of sites to tick off, and so it's a fantastic place to just explore, take in the beautiful architecture, get lost in tiny side streets, look out across all the amazing views and eat all the pastel de nata as is humanly possible! It's also ridiculously cheap, and so a lot of incredible seafood and delicious wine was consumed. If you get the chance, go! 

I feel like Lisbon is a city I could happily live in! I loved the vibe of the whole place and everyone was super friendly, can't wait to go back already! Some highlights were - 

+ Drinks at sunset at Park -  a bar on the roof of a multi-storey car park! It took a while to find the right door in the car park, but the views and the wine were sooo worth it! 
+ Seafood supper at Mercado da Ribeira, a super cool food market down by the docks. This had been recommended to me by a few people, it has such a buzzing atmosphere and sooooo much incredible good food. It's the kind of place you could go to over and over again. 
+ Seeing some live music in Barrio Alto - we stayed in this area, and it's has a bit of a hot summer party night feel the whole time. It's also crazy crazy pretty and covered in all those incredible patterned tiles. 
+ Popping into Manteigaria - Fábrica de Pastéis de Nata - for the tastiest pastel de nata, and to see them being made in all their gorgeousness. 
+ Taking the train out of Lisbon to Cascais, to swim in the sea and sunbathe on the sand! It's a really pretty seaside town too.
+ A trip to the LX Factory - now I really could have spent days here! Sitting under the Pont 25 de Abril, this transformed warehouse contains bars, design stores, artists, a flea market, the most incredible book shop I've ever seen and loads more. 
+ Taking the number 28 tram, just for the experience, it's kinda hilarious and a little like a tiny roller coaster. 
+ Getting lost in the tiny little streets in the Alfama district of the city, it's crazy beautiful, super colourful and really olden times. 

Photos - iPhone 5 + vsco cam. 

the french alps | la rosiere

The end of January was spent at the top of the French Alps, surrounded by fluffy snow, incredible scenery, cheese & wine and a lovely lovely bunch of friends. It had been waaaay too long since I'd last been skiing. And it was amazing! I'd had a mega cough over Christmas and the new year which resulted in a nasty bout of costochondritis over January and was on all the pain killers at the start... but it's kinda magic how quickly a bit of mountain air can fix you up! It was one of the most snowy ski holidays I've ever been on, sooooooo much snow. Which made for a few pretty cloudy ski days, but then some of the prettiest mountain scenes ever ever. La Rosière was beautiful, and here are a few of my favourite snaps.

Photos - iPhone 5 + vsco cam.  

croatia | hvar

The last of the Croatia photos, finally! I'd been to Hvar before; it's ridiculously pretty and lovely so was more than happy to go back. But this time we got to explore more, I saw different parts of the island, did boat trips to some other islands nearby, and saw some ridiculously breath-taking lagoons. It was lush. This part of the holiday was all about seafood, swimming in the sea, relaxing and loads of fun. If you've never been to Croatia before, and get the opportunity to go, then take it. It's magical. 

croatia | mljet

We went to Mljet National Park as a day trip from Dubrovnik. A bus, a ferry and a couple of mountain bikes and we were surrounded by the most beautiful lakes and gorgeous green scenery. This place is stunning. It's also totally worth the pretty steep cycle ride from Polače to get there, as cycling round the lakes was not only super fun but also a great way to take in as much scenery as possible and find the nicest swimming spots! Quite possibly the clearest water I've ever ever swam in! 

Photos - mixture of lumix DLSR and iPhone 5 + vsco cam.  

croatia | dubrovnik

Walking through the gates into the old city of Dubrovnik is a bit like walking into an actual fairy tale. Oh my swoony gorgeousness! This place blew my mind and took my breath away. Terracotta rooftops, high stone walls, turquoise sea, beautiful churches and stunning palaces, washing lines and shutters, and quaint old alley ways. I cannot wait to go back already.   

I couldn't get enough of this place. It was the first stop in our trip, and we totally wish we'd had at least an extra day just to soak up the old city that little bit more. I'll definitely have to go back sometime soon! A few highlights were -

+ Drinks at Buza Bar under the moonlight  - an incredible bar on the sea rocks through a door in the city walls.  
+ Walking around the city walls. It's totally worth it, and the photo opportunities just kept getting better and better! 
+ The beautiful stone architecture, the tiles, the shutters and all the washing lines! 
 

Photos - mixture of lumix DLSR and iPhone 5 + vsco cam.  

croatia love

Just over a week ago I got back from an amazing, beautiful and ridiculously fun holiday in Croatia, and ever since then things have been crazy hectic go go gooooo! So I'm just gonna look at these photos and pretend like I'm bobbing about in crystal clear turquoise water under the adriatic sun for a while, okay? 

I'll be back soon with more photos and a few of my holiday highlights!  

Photos - iPhone 5 + vsco cam. 

this was whitstable

You guys, have you been to Whitstable?! Well you should go. Claire was back from Syndey (yay!) at the beginning of July so we had a girly reunion long weekend by the seaside. And it was lush. We had scorching hot sunshine, and a bit of drizzle; a perfect English weekend. We hired a cottage and had so much fun, and we all wore flower crowns a lot of the time, because, why not eh?! Whitstable is full of adorable cottages, oysters, lovely pubs, pebbly beaches, vintage shops, fish & chips and general gorgeousness. It was much more trendy than I was expecting, but overall still had a pretty olden times harbour side vibe. And it's only about an hour from London. Go! 

photos - iPhone 5 + vsco cam. 

manhattan

And just like that it's been over a month since I shared my Brooklyn photos! I guess I'm trying to make the most of this lovely lovely Summer. But anyway, back to a very crisp cold March in Manhattan...

I definitely preferred New York second time round, even though I still wanted to scream in people's faces every time I got near Time's Square, ahem... and I'm so glad I got to do a few of the things I didn't do back in 2004! Some of my favourite things in Manhattan this time were...

+ Going to the Top of the Rock. Hands down a much better view than from the Empire State. 
+ Shopping in Soho. Urm. Kinda wish I'd discovered that earlier on in the trip, could have mooched around there for days. 
+ The High Line. I loved the way this elevated walk way interacts with the city, giving some incredible views along the way. And the architecture of the High Line itself is seriously beautiful. 
+ The Chrysler Building. Still my favourite. 
+ MOMA. Wish I'd had more time here too, such a gorgeous museum, and soooo many amazing pieces of art. I hung out in the Kandinsky room for ages. 
+ That wall by Maya Hayuk in the Lower East Side. We took seven million photos. I loved it so much. 

Photos - mixture of lumix DLSR and iPhone 5 + vsco cam.  

brooklyn

I was lucky enough to visit New York for a week in March, and it was sooo fabulous. We had the most brilliant, fantastic and hilarious holiday! I hadn't been for a decade, and loved it so much more this time around, partly I think because we were staying in Brooklyn, which is definitely much more my vibe than hectic Manhattan! We stayed in Greenpoint which was completely perfect for us. The photo above was taken the night we arrived - we fell for the area pretty quickly! I loved how laid back, arty and cool Brooklyn is; we often felt like locals there rather than like tourists which I think is definitely the best way to see a place. For some reason it's taken me an age to share my photos, but better late than never hey? It's nice to look back on them...

I really recommend staying in Brooklyn. I really think the craziness of Manhattan would have gotten to be a bit too much 24/7, and also, there are just some reeeeally cool places over on the Brooklyn side! Some of my favourite things in Brooklyn were...

+ That swoony view across to Manhattan. 
+ Shopping in Williamsburg. I loved the area around Bedford Avenue and Franklin Street running back up to Greenpoint. I could have shopped here for days! 
+ Coffee and design at Budin NYC. 
+ The Box House Hotel. We booked this place after a recommendation and some brilliant reviews which it really lived up to. This hotel is awesome!
+ Drinks and brunch at Coco. We loved this place so much we went back! 
+ All that lovely street art. 

I'll be back soon with some photos of Manhattan! 

Photos - mixture of lumix DLSR and iPhone 5 + vsco cam.