This is our Rio de Janeiro shopping list, the latest in our Price Check* series. Rio de Janeiro is on par with Europe when it comes to shopping and is no longer the budget destination it once was when I visited a long time ago – at a time when Brazil’s famously fashionable Havaiana flip flops … Read more
When our global grand tour project partners HomeAway asked us to include a Rio de Janeiro holiday rental apartment on our Grantourismo itinerary and stay at this cute Ipanema apartment, we jumped at the chance. Terence had never been to Rio de Janeiro and I was keen to return to show him ‘my’ Rio. Movies … Read more
Our second home away from home in Costa Rica is called The Beach House. Now, there are plenty of resorts in this neck of the jungle that attach the name ‘beach’ to their title as often as they do ‘spa’. Some may well have a spa, but most are generally not on the beach. The Beach House couldn’t … Read more
This soft-centred chocolate cake recipe was inspired by our visit to the Villa Vanilla Spice Farm. Seeing fresh vanilla and cocoa beans was a real treat. Seeing the flowers that lead to the formation of a cacao pod and seeing the cocoa beans out drying in the sun was amazing. It was so inspirational that … Read more
“Your house is very big!” our driver said with a grin from ear to ear, as he unloaded our bags in the rain, and the gigantic wooden door swung open and Susan, the friendly tanned concierge came out to greet us at our first Costa Rica holiday house. Despite the driver’s warning, we didn’t quite understand … Read more