Stefania Zaretti

he was so amazing, we danced and sang African music all the way back to the hotel, it was the most perfect ending to the perfect New York City night. Val hasn’t ever been there, so she couldn’t see the actual beauty of it but it was soooo cold and snowy that it was understandable, the cold froze the park haha. Now, you can only imagine the hunger we felt after walking through the park for a whooole 15 minutes haha and it was so cold so what better thing to do then find something to eat… we thought of trying a new Italian place but instead… who goes to NYC and doesn’t have a dirty dog with pizza? ? It was a rough, and I mean a ROUGH morning- this grandma can’t hang after 7 drinks haha but that didn’t stop us on our last and final day!

I chose a 9hr layover because I realized that Turkish Airlines provides all their guests to go on custom, organized tours according to how long your layover is. We took a 3hr bus tour throughout the city to see all its beauty and cathedrals and then left the bus to go out on our own. It was cold and beautiful, we walked and shopped around but after some vigorous sightseeing, it was time for some real shopping! ! OMG they have everything; food, restaurants, tea shops, shopping of all kind, jewlery and soooo many shops that sell teas and Turkish Delights.

The ambiance was magical; right on the water and facing all of Table Mountain, this place is amazing. Sorry, after 3 bottles of wine too, the last thing I was thinking about was taking a picture of my dessert haha but just look at this gem and get a nice little table outside if you can. From there we took that beautiful walk down the boardwalk (not really a boardwalk but a street walk along the beach haha) and took in all the scenery, checked out our next food destinations and of course, stopped for a glass of Rosé. Another gem of a restaurant with a view, MAReSOL is a Brazilian restaurant with the best Chicken special in the world haha.

I would recommend hiring a private car, (very affordable especially if you’re in a group) wake up early and head over to Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope and the Penguin Colony. Cape Point & Cape of Good Hope is first- After Cape Point, you go down to Cape of Good Hope which is pretty much the tip of Africa- how crazy is that? ! Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point