A-Z of Me!

I saw the ‘A-Z of Me’ on http://mrsmagovern.com/ and thought what a good idea. Some of the of the letters were tough!

Agility – Dog agility, something I have missed when I suffered SPD during pregnancy, the dogs getting older.  So Sweep it is down to you!!

Bridgnorth – Where Macy was born, a lovely little MLU, the staff treat you as an individual and we just had a lovely experience there, very well looked after.

Cape Verde – Amazing holiday, guaranteed sunshine heat and no rain with a bonus of no time difference.  Amazing beaches, cocktails, desperate to go back!

Dolphins – I will never get bored of watching the dolphins play in the wake of the boat.  Previous post when we saw them a couple of years ago.

Epic – One of my favourite words, I want everything in my life to be epic and if it isn't I want to make it so. 

Farm – Farming is in the family on my mum’s side, Macy loves to visit the animals and so do I.  When she is older it will be wonderful to teach her where our food comes from and how important farming is.

Goats – I love goats, have always fancied having some pygmy goats, naughty aninals are the best!

Horses – I love riding, there is no better way to relax and clear the cobwebs away.  I love being around horses and the smell of them, wonderful – only a horsey person could understand it.

Important - Important people in my life including my mum and my husband both of which are my best friends.

Joules – I do love Joules clothing!

Karting - I love karting but only on the big tracks like Rednal, Oswestry, I hate the little indoor tracks.  I am awful at karting which surprises people as am good on track in a car but I never did any karting as a child and haven't done a lot as an adult, I seem to be able to nail a car round a track and in a kart I am a big girl!!

Lamborghini – One day…..we can all dream…..

Menagerie - Frequently told we have a menagerie of animals but really 3 dogs, 2 cats and the occasional horse on part loan isn't a lot.  I do love my animals but have never really understood the point of caged animals - little furries, rabbits etc.  If we had land I would have goats, horses, alpacas - now that would be a menagerie!

Nemo - I have watched this film for the millionth time today thanks to Macy's new obsession!

Offspring – My crazy child that is Macy!

Photography – Another hobby, everywhere we go I want to be able to take decent photographs.  These hold your memories, capture a moment in time and you will always look back at them so I want to capture them in the best way possible.

Quit - Something I do too easily a lot of the time, I need to practice that try, try again ethos.

Roses – The only flower I ever plant in my garden, they last forever, flower several times a year and are hardy so withstand my not very green fingers!  There are so many different colours and varieties.

St Lucia – This is where we got married at Calabash Cove, it was perfect in every way.

Track – A track day in a fast car is a great way to spend a day :)

Unimaginative - I wish I had more imagination, I gave up canine freestyle as I just didn't have the imagination for props and routines etc

Vegas – We got engaged in Vegas on horseback on the ranch – how could I not mention that!

Wales – Holds many a happy memory from childhood holidays.

Xscape - Milton Keynes houses airkix and an indoor ski slope - the sort with real snow.  We have enjoyed doing a bit of skiing, boarding and skydiving there :)

Yummy - I love yummy food, I eat most things.  I love my Michelin star dining, but I also love a Maccies as well!

Zzzzzzz – without 9 hours sleep I can’t function, luckily Macy has always been a good sleeper!

 

Melia Tortuga Beach Resort - Sal, Cape Verde

We arrived at the small airport on Sal and went straight through passport control as we had Macy. Our luggage was a different story and typically ours was last through, as a result we were the last for our coach which had filled up and gone so we had to wait for another. By the time we had reached the resort most people from the earlier coach had been checked in so we didn't have to wait long. We were transported down to our room via golf buggy which Macy loved!

Accommodation

We had booked a two bedroom suite and were upgraded to a two storey three bedroom, three bathroom villa with private pool.  Fantastic accommodation with a little garden for private sunbathing, two balconies, one large enough for several sunbeds. A tv in the master bedroom and lounge. Well equipped kitchen with microwave, fridge, dishwasher, kettle. The only thing I would fault was the pool was cold, only my mum was brave enough for a swim, Macy screamed as soon as her feet hit the water!  Here is a walk through of our villa:

 

Bars

There are several bars, the O'Grille beach bar (beautiful at sunset when a DJ is playing) and a poolside swim up bar, both of which serve your regular drinks and cocktails. Then there is Sway Lobby Bar which is the piano bar by reception, they don't serve everything the other two do - no cocktails or diet coke. Finally the Late Bar which is adults only so we didn't go in.

Eating

Spices

This is the main restaurant situated just by reception, it is a big buffet restaurant and you don't need a reservation. 

Breakfast - massive selection of food. You have the German cheeses and salamis, French croissant and pastries, English full English, lots of fruits, cereals, pancakes, omlettes made to order. Brilliant selection and good food.

Lunch - huge selection of salads and other hot foods like casseroles and fish. Pasta can be made to order. Lots of different cakes for dessert.

Dinner - similar to lunch but fewer salads. What I would say is there is a lot of meat on the bone which I don't like so even with avoiding those dishes I still had enough choice. Every night had a different theme.

 

Waterside

This restaurant is situated by the pool in the middle of the complex. It can get a little cold and night as one side is open which is lovely during the day. It is open for breakfast, snacks during the day and dinner (you need to book but can probably get a reservation for the same day).

Breakfast - this is basically a cut down menu of the buffet restaurant. There is a small selection of typical English, German and French breakfasts.

Lunch - consists of pizza, a couple of stews and rice and some salad.

Dinner - this is a fish restaurant and everything on the menu was fish. Out of four choices for starters we had chosen what we wanted only to be told no we get a bit of everything. A bit disappointing as we didn't like the octopus or the sushi so ended up not have much for our starter. For mains there was a choice of four dishes and we all had the cracked black pepper which was beautiful. For dessert, again you couldn't chose and had both options on the menu, a coffee and a chocolate cake which was a bit dry.

All in all it was nice to try once but unless you're a lover of fish you're probably better off with the other restaurants. 

O'Grille

The restaurant has the beach bar attached, situated right on the beach with the front all open, so it is a little chilly at night. There is complimentary ice cream which you can help yourself to throughout the day.

Breakfast is served late and consists of sandwich rolls, bread, fruit and cake.

Lunch gets busy and you usually have to give your table number and wait a little which isn't a problem as you can be enjoying cocktails at the bar. Its the only restaurant at lunch time which is waitress service and not buffet. The menu consists of burgers, steaks, salads and pasta, it is good food and the atmosphere is lovely.

Dinner comprised of three different set menus but you could mix and match courses from each. There was a good variety to choose from so there should be something for everyone. Everything was cooked perfectly and presented nicely. A saxophonist played while we enjoyed dinner. 

Aqua

The restaurant is only open for dinner and is the smallest so gets booked up quickly. It is inside by the piano bar and has a mediterranean feel.

There are two set menus which consist of Mezze (sharing platters) and you can decide whether you want meat or seafood. We decided on meat. The starters were lovely, 3 hot and 3 cold little portions of various Mediterranean foods. Then came the mains - a tough steak, a chicken kebab more fat than chicken, a lamb shank again chewy and fatty, a chicken breast and a lamb kebab. I personally don't like fatty meat and this was mostly fat, all they're meat here in every restaurant seems to be rubbish meat so I have tended to live on fish and veggie dishes

Facilities

There are two big pools, one has activities throughout the day and one is just for relaxing. There is then a children's pool and a baby pool. None of the pools are heated and this time of year they are COLD! We were assured before we booked they are warm all year round, if we had known they were that cold we wouldn't have booked as we wanted a pool where we could swim our 7 month old but we couldn't.

There are plenty of sunbeds and management quite rightly will take up towels if people put them there before 9am. Unfortunately we had a run in with a certain nationality you might guess which who claimed we had stolen their towels and sunbeds! It might be an idea for management to leave a note to state towels have been confiscated rather than let innocent guests have to fight their corner!

Santa Marilha Horse Excursion - Sal, Cape Verde

I came across this excursion on facebook, wherever I go on holiday I always take the oppurtunity to explore my surroundings on horseback.

This looked and sounded perfect as they don't take massive groups out on tours, it is more about you and the riding. Therefore you can tailor it to your needs.

Being an experienced rider I wanted to properly gallop along a beautiful beach and they said no problem. Mark decided to come along and they said they could take him off if he didn't want to gallop but he said he wanted to give it a go. Brave man having never galloped and not ridden properly since he was child!

It was amazing, really was, I have never been on a ride where you can truly do what you want when you want. If you wanted to gallop, off you went then if you wanted a nice gentle relaxing walk you could. One guide comes with you to take care of you but like I say you can pretty much do as you want.

Horses are beautifully looked after and tack is in brilliant condition. They also take photos for you as you ride and these are included, no extra cost.

If you are travelling to Sal, definitely something to do, it's just so idyllic :) Here's our Go Pro video