Where the City Meets the Sea

Day 10 & 11:

Yesterday, we spent the day on a wine tour through Stellenbosch. We stopped at three wineries tasting different wines and cheeses. Our tour was with a small group all day and our tour guide, Ashley. When he introduced himself, Ashley laughed and didn't believe he had the same name! We also met an adventurous couple from Australia and a nice man from New York. We enjoyed sharing stories of all of our travels and getting to know one another throughout the day. And yes, I will be coming home with a bottle of wine!

                   

Today we spent our last day in Cape Town down at the V&A Waterfront. Here we spent our day shopping, eating, listening to some African music, going on the Ferris Wheel and walking along the harbor. We bought plenty of gifts and souvenirs to bring home for our families and ourselves. Now we are hoping our luggage isn't overweight!

      


Tomorrow we wake up early to catch a couple of flights to get to our safari! We will be there until Friday with possible limited service or wifi. I will update again as soon as I can!

                                                                                                             Signing Off,
                                                                                                                Jen and Ashley

Cute Animals, Beautiful Views and Great Company!

Day 9:

Today we got up to enjoy our own private tour of Cape Town with our tour guide Ibby (ee-bee). We started by going to Boulder Beach to see the little African penguins also known as Jackass Penguins because of the noises they make. Our excitement was shown in the 100 pictures we took of these little birds!

            

Next, we moved on to the Cape of Good Hope, which is the most South-Western point of Africa. On the drive, we had baboons holding up traffic as they walked in the road and saw wild ostriches on the side. After making a stop at the iconic sign, we made our way to Cape Point to go up by the lighthouse. From here, we saw beautiful views of the sea and mountains all around us.

                        

Then, we took a quick lunch stop before we drove Chapman's Peak Drive. This is considered to be one of the world's most scenic drives. We stopped at the highest point, called Chapman's Peak to get a view of Hout Bay.

                      

From here we continued on to Camps Bay where the wealthy and famous stay and live. We saw a house called Casablanca that was the most expensive house on the continent of Africa.  This area is also home to many vacation homes to celebrities such as Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp,

      

The last stop was Bo-Kaap. This area has colorful houses that depict the people's heritage who live there. Many families have been living there for many generations.

            

Our busy day has left us exhausted, so we are excited to have a day touring wineries tomorrow!

                                                                                                          Signing Off,
                                                                                                              Jen and Ashley

Table Mountain- 1 of the New 7 Wonders of Nature

Day 8:

Today we woke up and made our way to Table Mountain. To get there we experienced the cheapest Uber ride of our lives- a total of $4.00. We found out that this is the norm, so obviously we are loving Uber here!

We took the aerial cableway to the top and walked around to see many different views of Cape Town. We tested our fears and jumped up on rocks and sat on edges to get that perfect picture. As one guy told Ashley, don't jump- you can always find another man!

                                                              
Table Mountain definitely had the most stunning views!

To end our day, we went to the V & A Waterfront to have dinner and watch a beautiful sunset. Tomorrow we are headed on a tour to see the Cape of Good Hope and Boulder Beach.

                                         Signing Off,
                                            Jen and Ashley
 

                                                                                                             

The Last Day on The Emerald Isle

Days 5-7:

Again, we woke up bright and early to catch a tour bus. This time we were headed to the Cliffs of Moher. We have now become expert sleepers on coach buses as this has been where we get the majority of our sleep.

When we finally made it there, we got extremely lucky and the weather was beautiful! The Cliffs are located on the west coast of Ireland with the highest point rising 702 ft from the Atlantic Ocean.
 
After the Cliffs, we made a quick stop in Doolin for lunch and then saw the Cliffs of Burren and the Plateau of Limestone.


From here we made a stop in Galway City to walk around and check out Quay Street. We enjoyed strolling the streets and listening to live music in the city.

          

To end the night, we went to a spanish restaurant with Bene and Thiago to enjoy each others company and share many laughs! Thank you for your hospitality for the last four days. We cannot thank you enough!

The next morning we spent time at an Irish pub for Jen to have a Guinness. 


Then we spent the next 24 hours traveling from Dublin to Cape Town with a layover in Istanbul. When we landed, we spent our first day resting and planning our next couple of days. Tomorrow we will adventure out into Cape Town for our first full day!

                                                                                                                                                                                                     Signing Off,
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Jen and Ashley

The Castle Trifecta

Day 4:

Today we woke up bright and early again to head on a castle tour in the southern part of Ireland. The first castle we stopped at was the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel is also known as St. Patrick's Rock.

Our next stop was Blarney Castle near Cork, Ireland. Yes, we were the typical tourists who stood in line for an hour to kiss the famous Blarney Stone. It is also known as the Stone of Eloquence, with a legend that states if you kiss the stone, you will never be at a loss for words. Not sure either of us needed to kiss the stone for that quality, but we had to make sure that trait never went away!

The last stop was Cahir Castle. This castle is one of the largest and most preserved castles in Ireland. It is used for many Hollywood films such as Braveheart and a new movie coming out called The Green Knight.

  

Tomorrow we are headed off to the Cliffs of Moher for our final tour and full day in Ireland!

                                                                                              Signing Off,
                                                                                                  Jen and Ashley

The North Remembers

Day 2 & 3:

On Saturday, we woke up early and took a flight to Ireland. We made it into Dublin around noon and spent the afternoon at a pub for lunch and a lot of time resting to catch up on sleep. Later that evening, we went to a pub to enjoy some Irish music and a good beer!                          

The next morning, we woke up early to catch a tour up to Belfast. We started with a tour of the Titanic Museum that opened in 2012 at the location of where the Titanic was built. Even though Leonardo DiCaprio did not make an appearance, he still stole our hearts. We will never let go!


                                              
After the Titanic museum, we got to drive past the set of Game of Thrones where they filmed episode 5, season 8 of Kings Landing. We are still searching hard for Jon Snow.

                                                      
Next, we moved on to tour Giants Causeway. On the way, we saw Dunluce castle that inspired the House of Greyjoy from Game of Thrones. Still no Jon Snow.... Once we got to Giants Causeway, we hiked and saw beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean and the coast of Scotland in the far distance. We even met a local tour guide that was a Minnesota Vikings fan!

Lastly, we ended at the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. A little rain didn't get in our way of hiking the trail and making the trek across the bridge that is suspended 100 feet above sea level.  Our day ended with a rainbow off the coast of Scotland- a perfect ending to a great day!

                       
                                                                                   Signing Off,
                                                                                        Jen and Ashley

The Land of Fire and Ice

Day 1:

After a 6 hour flight and running on 3-4 hours of sleep, we started our adventure in Iceland. In our same clothes with unbrushed teeth and yesterdays make up, we immediately caught a bus to go to our South Coast tour after landing. We thought taking our biggest suitcase, a roller carry-on and a backpack was a good idea, until we had to lug it around and carry it up some stairs. Maybe worrying about fashion isn't the most convenient??

Our first stop on the tour was the beautiful waterfall Skogafoss. Here we walked to the foot of the falls and hiked up 370 stairs to top where a rainbow was waiting for us.
                 

The next stop was to Iceland's famous black sand beach. Our disappointment started when we realized that Game of Thrones was no longer filming and Jon Snow would not be there waiting for us. But we got over the sadness, and enjoyed strolling the beach and gazing out at the ocean.

         
Then, we made our way to see the glacier, Solheimajokull. We were amazed to hear how much the glacier has shrunk in the last 25 years.

                                                                                     

Our last stop, was at the waterfall of Seljalandsfoss. Here we got drenched as we walked behind the waterfall to capture that perfect picture.

                                                        

                                                                                                             Signing Off,
                                                                                                                 Jen & Ashley