Luxury Travel Wisdom

Whitstable is a great little town to unleash your inner glutton. We tried Jojo’s (Tapas, Meat and Meze)  for lunch and ate so much we expected forklifts and a jeering Jerry Springer show to laugh us out of the restaurant. Our expanding waistbands and creaking chairs could’ve had something to do with massively over-ordering  (ehm… cough… we did leave ONE half of a deep fried pea and mint risotto ball on the plate). I maaay’ve used the excuse “I’m blogging about this so must therefore order everything on the menu”. Whose nose ?

Did I mention that before this we tried to blag our way into Wheeler’s Oyster Bar ? This magnificent, polished little periwinkle of a place just won a spot in Britain’s Top 100 Restaurants, published by The Sunday Times Food List. It only seats 14 people so it really wasn’t going to happen. Instead, we queued as everyone else did, and we ate our oysters al fresco out of a plastic bucket, standing in the street. But they did supply the black pepper, tabasco and lemon so we weren’t complaining !

Apparently that wasn’t enough for our insatiable appetites. We HAD booked into The Crab & Winkle, just above the fish market over-looking the harbour but we actually couldn’t haul our lardy selves off the couch. Well, you’ve seen The Oyster Shack below. Would you have wanted to leave ? Instead we patted our bellies, surveyed our sensational sea view and vowed we’d be back again and again and again…

If you love seafood you owe it to yourself to visit Whitstable. And if you don’t, there’s always Fiocco di Spalla, Serrano Bodega Ham, Cecina Smoked Cured Beef and the Monkshill Mutton & Feta Koftas at Jojo’s… and then hotfoot down the beachfront before Biggest Loser UK harpoons you from behind and drags you off to boot camp.

… I do like to be beside the seaaaaaaa !

On Monday morning I woke up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore. Obviously this was hugely disturbing to me as I live in London. But wait… no I don’t ! Well, not that particular Monday.

Just under two hours in the car (most of it getting in and out of London) and you’re on the Kentish Coast, in the little town of Whitstable. And if you’re very lucky, you’ll know about and be staying at The Oyster Shack (also known as The Beacon House and The Artists’ Beach House) on Tankerton Beach. This property’s extraordinary location is probably the most envied on the entire coast as it’s literally 5 metres from the beach. Happy people stroll past walking their dogs, breathing sea air or getting some exercise… but other than that, it (and the house next door) is on its own.

It’s one of those ‘lived in’ houses… utterly unpretentious. There’s a proper kitchen with enough space for 8 cooks to make a mess. It is also properly stocked so that the Head Chef doesn’t have a nervous breakdown when faced with 50 oysters and no means to shuck. The oven cooked 2 damn good roast chickens and 8 whole trout too.

Pardon as I skid back to the oysters. The house is about a 10 minute walk from the fish market along the beach and the harbour. It’s filled with fresh fish daily and more oysters than you could consume in a weekend. I know, I tried.

More about Whitstable tomorrow… I’m hungry…

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I’ve been wanting to write about the Azores for ages only because it’s so beautiful and untouched… and I’m smug and I used to live there !

As a fresh, young tour leader for Explore! it was the first place I was sent to work. For my sins I spent six months leading volcano treks around a few of these teeny islands waaaay out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There are worse ways to spend your time.

So if I were to tell you about my top 5 favourite things to do, these would be up there:

1) Hike the Pico Alto volcano (2,351m) on Pico island – you need to be relatively fit for this one and it’s around four hours to the top if you’re going at quite a pace. Camping overnight in the crater is amazing for sunset and sunrise viewing as well as for watching shooting stars. Being on top of the highest mountain in all of the Atlantic Ocean is also pretty romantic in itself. There’s also something of an adventure in dossing down on a volcano that is also only sleeping…

2) São Jorge is a special island – long and thin with some of the most beautiful walks in the whole of the Azores, especially during June and July when the hydrangeas are at their bluest and most breathtaking. Take a walk down from the spine of the island to the coast at Santo Cristo. This famous fajã (small, flat piece of land that sticks out into the sea, formed by lava and rock falls from volcanoes and earthquakes) is only accessible by foot or quadbikes… and only about 12 people live there at any given time.

3) Experience a bull run. They happen on all of the islands in some village or other from May to September and there are often a few happening at the same time so you shouldn’t miss out. Make sure you’re viewing the action from a HIGH wall as it can get quite rowdy. Watch the bravest villagers ‘dancing’ with the bulls using umbrellas and coats. NB note: the animals aren’t hurt in any way… but sometimes a villager does get tossed onto his backside !

4) No matter how spoiled you are by where you live in the world (Cape Coast – South Africa or Newfoundland – Canada), whale watching in the Azores is special because of how many different species can be viewed in one go. Being in the middle of the Gulf Stream, whales and dolphins migrate through the islands at certain times of year. I remember seeing a Fin whale (second largest whale in the world after the Blue whale), Sei whale, Minke whale and Sperm whale in one afternoon. And that’s not to mention the Pilot, Risso, Common and Bottlenose dolphins we spotted on the same trip too.

5) The town of Horta on the island of Faial is the centre of fun, with plenty of yuppie yachtie action at Peter’s Cafe Sport. Make sure you don’t miss this establishment as it’s always packed with people from all over the world telling tall Atlantic tales ! Also take a trip down to Capelinhos and see the moonscape of the most recent significant volcanic erruption (between September 16 and 27, 1957 and ending October 25, 1958) which ruined buildings and extended the land by 1km. It’s like a film set.

Hydrangeas on high - the volcanic walks of Sao Miguel (photo: Karolina Klara)

… in Portugal it seems. Even in October. And while the sun is shining over a view of the sparkling Mediterranean, a handsome young waiter is topping up your glass of Quinta da Lixa Espumante (at 11am, tell no one). The day stretches ahead with thoughts of a meander through the Old Town markets or a walk along the beach. Alternatively, eating and then lying down always sounds like a good option to me.

About the eating: choose a restaurant with locals in it (or one recommended by a local) and eat a fish that’s just sprung out of the net and onto your plate. You cannot go wrong with fresh Portugese tuna, seabass or golden bream (dorada in Spain). At the same time add a little side salad… tomatoes actually taste like tomatoes in Portugal. *Sigh*

I was completely beside myself flying back into London on Monday. The temperature plummeted to 1 degree as soon as the Monarch flight-of-horror landed on the tarmac (more about THEM later when Customer Services deigns to write back) ! Today, it is at least sunny but I can’t help but dream about Albufeira and the gorgeous villa with the huge pool. I won’t lie to you… I think there are some idyllic parts of the Algarve that go undiscovered by most tourists because it requires effort to find them (this is a very good thing)… but a lot of it is hideously reminiscent of the Costa Del Sol in Spain. Why oh WHY do they make hotels look like that ? How is “Paddy’s Irish Pub” allowed that signage ? Who signs off on that leaping dolphin traffic-island fiasco ?

And thus, my tip of brilliance for today is to visit off-season. Extremely off-season.

I’d also give us a shout if you want to find the right villa. We’ll know how to get you the best one for a family break, second honeymoon or party pad. I’d show you photos but I was in this part of Portugal for a hen party – an extremely glamorous and sophisticated affair mind… but I’m still not allowed to show them.

Instead… here is one from the tiny island of Sao Miguel in the Azores (way out in the mid-Atlantic but part of Portugal none-the-less)… a little tantalising tit-bit for my next post. And if you have time click on the photo for a silly story on leading volcano tours in the Azores: