Having been to Paris over 20 times, it's nice to take a little side trip and explore other areas. And with so many destinations and so many fast trains, it is very easy to get away for a night and even see a tiny country!
Neither Forest or I had been to Luxembourg so decided to do exactly that last February. The morning after I arrived in Paris we boarded our train at Gare de l'Est, made our own mimosas in our seats, and had a relaxing 3 hour ride to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (country #58 for me).
Luxembourg City is the capital and main city in the country of just under 700,000 people (~137,000 in the capital). Generally if people say Luxembourg they are referring to the city. The official language is Luxembourgish but most everyone spoke French and German also. It is the only Grand Duchy country in the world, meaning its ruler is a monarch bearing the title of Grand Duke or Grand Duchess. In the past there were up to 14 Grand Duchies including Tuscany, Finland, Frankfort, Baden and Transylvania.
Luxembourg offers free public transportation around the city so from the train station we jumped on a tram and headed to Le Bouquet Garni for our lunch reservations. This was a very historic restaurant in the center (it has since closed sadly) in a wonderful old building with exposed wooden beams, fireplace, and view of the Grand Duke's palace next door.
We ordered the set 3-course menu along with a lovely Pinot Blanc from the Luxembourg region of Moselle. I'm pretty sure I had never had that grape before, and it was for sure my first Luxembourg wine!
After lunch we walked to Le Royal Hotel and checked into our double room. The brutalist designed hotel was very much geared towards business clientele, but it was a good price and very close to the town center.
We dropped our bags and headed back out to explore; the town is super small so it didn't take us long! Passing an art gallery with some interesting work in the window, we went inside and ended up meeting and chatting with local artist Pablo Schwickert who was taking a break from live painting.
It was dusk as we walked thru the old town, called Ville Haute, and I found the buildings, big squares, and cobblestoned streets to be very charming. And clean!
Ville Haute was once just a small fort built in the 10th century on a natural rocky hill. Over time the fortress was expanded and reinforced and the settlement continued to grow around it. Today the entire area is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We walked through quiet and narrow streets to Dipso Wine Bar, which specializes in wines from Luxembourg but carries a selection from all over. Inside the old building the ceilings were low and the room dim, the service was super friendly and educational, and we had a great time trying some more local wine and asking for other recommendations.
One of the recommendations was Bellamy Bar, just a few doors down. We stopped in for a glass of the Cremant Luxembourg, while having a conversation about all of the European regions who make cremant, before making our way to Shinzo Bar.
We were ready for some cocktails and the ones at Shinzo were quite good, and quite good looking. We also had some bar snacks which were fine. The bar itself is very pretty, with gorgeous custom wallpaper and plush bar stools and seemed to be a popular spot.
Back at our hotel we stopped in the bar for a nightcap but had to take them to our room as the bar smelled so strongly of cigar smoke I was about ready to gag! Our room had been turned down and chocolate coins with an image of the Luxembourg coat of arms were on our pillows. Cute!
Our train back to Paris wasn't until 6:30pm so we had a full day to continue exploring. After checking out and leaving our bags at the front desk we grabbed a (free) bus and got off where we could walk and take in views of the Red Bridge and the city below.
From these viewpoints you can really see how deep the canyon at the bottom of the plateau is and how much the locals probably appreciate being able to drive or walk across!
From here we walked towards the city's famous Bock Casements; a series of underground tunnels and weapons' platforms that also were part of the original footprint of the fortress built in 1745.
The tunnels are really interesting but for me the views all around the valley really stole the show. You can see the Adolphe Bridge from here too.
Walking back into the Old Town from this area gives you a very different perspective of the upper and lower towns.
We walked past the Palais Grand-Ducal and stopped into a few souvenir shops to take a look at all things plastered with the royal family's face before stopping for lunch.
I really love trying traditional dishes whenever I travel so in Luxembourg I chose the restaurant Um Dierfgen. We had a glass of the local white wine while waiting for our table; the restaurant was very busy with a lot of regulars so it was good we had made a ressie.
It's a cute place with a menu full of comfort foods, lots of creamy sauces, potatoes, ham, stews, etc. I ordered the kniddelen mat speck or dumplings with lardon/bacon in a creamy white sauce. It was quite good, it was also quite heavy!
I had planned to do some shopping after lunch but as it was Sunday a lot of places were closed. We wandered around a bit and decided to check out Urban which was another cafe that had been recommended to us and is open daily. It was very busy with locals and we could only get seated in the back bar area so we just had a glass of wine and left.
Being close to our hotel we grabbed our bags and then met a friend of Forest's at a very cute cocktail stop called Paname. Quick side note, I did not know that Paname is French slang for Paris! Anyway the cocktails here were great and it was nice talking to a local about their home.
And that was it! We walked a short way to the train station, which looks a bit like a church and was all lit up. Inside we grabbed some wine and sandwiches to eat on the train. I loved this little getaway to Europe's 6th smallest country. Luxembourg has got a ton of history, is very pretty, and wasn't crowded. Those all score an A with me.
In just over 2 hours we were back in Paris and mixing up martinis in Forest's apartment.
I hadn't been to the Cayuse annual release weekend party since before Covid so I was really looking forward to it! I invited a couple of friends from our wine group to join me for the weekend, driving over on Friday afternoon, and we were all surprised to have snow while going over Snoqualmie Pass! In April!
First stop, Yakima for Mexican lunch! We chose Taqueria Rolly's for tacos inside their fun retrofitted school bus. Good stuff!
We rolled into the Marriott in Walla Walla with not a lot of time to get cleaned up for dinner and get back on the road. Our dinner reservations were at 5:30 at Bar Bacetto in Waitsburg which is about a 30 min drive away. 5:30 is not my preferred dinner time but reservations are hard to get here!
Waitsburg is so cute and very, very, quiet!
We had great seats right up at the counter and had to restrain ourselves from just ordering everything as it all sounded, and smelled, so good. In the end we had 4 dishes between 3 of us plus some dessert. I highly recommend Bar Bacatto, even after a long drive over the mountains!
Back in town, I parked the car at the hotel and we walked over to Passatempo for a couple of cocktails. I've drank here multiple times but still haven't had dinner. Will have to rectify that!
By the time I rsvp'd for my Cayuse party tickets there weren't a lot of time slots left so we ended up going at 10am. And it ended up being a great choice! It gave us time to taste everything and graze through all the small bites provided by one of my favorite Seattle restaurants Lark. And it wasn't crazy busy, or crazy tipsy yet!
When we were in line to enter we actually ran into Chef Sundstrom and he invited us downstairs to check out the catering prep and say hi to everyone. Downstairs was actually in Cayuse's barrel cellar, which was very cool!
We were at the party for a little over an hour and then hit the road for some new-to-me winery tastings. First up was Devona. It took us a while to find the entrance but we were so glad we did! These wines were just lovely! Winemaker and owner John Abbott makes wines from both Oregon and Washington. We tasted their pinot noir and chardonnays (merlot and cab are poured during the fall release) and I absolutely loved both the pinots. Highly recommend a stop here and you do need to contact them to reserve.
Next up was Devium, not too far down the road (both of these are in the airport district), and also requires an appointment. Devium had been recommended to us by a few friends so we were excited to try. But as soon as we walked in we were all a bit put off.
As it was Cayuse weekend there were a lot of people in town ready to party, but it seemed that almost everyone at Devium was more that a bit tipsy. And loud! Now that isn't necessarily the winery's fault, except that as we started tasted we realized there were no dump buckets anywhere. And we when asked for one they seemed quite put out. So maybe it was...
But besides the party atmosphere, I honestly just did not like the wines. And winemaker/ owner Keith Johnson would not be surprised by that as he is purposefully making very different styles. Unfiltered and funky; if those words are part of your wine love language than you might be a fan.
Back in town we grabbed delicious burgers from The Ice-Burg and then walked to the downtown area. We had a great time at new-to-me Time & Direction, the tasting room and the folks working are super fun and the wines were all interesting in a good way!
We all bought a couple of bottles and asked if we could pick them up in the morning, as we were on our way to an early dinner in town and didn't want to be walking around with our wine all night. Turns out they offer delivery depending on where you are staying! Awesome!
It was a short walk over to Brassiere 4 for a lovely bistro dinner capped off with nightcaps before walking back to the hotel.
In the morning we stopped by Bacon & Eggs for breakfast before hitting the road. It's always been delicious in the past but this time all of our dishes were either over salted, luke warm, or both. Not sure if that was a one-off or not.
The required stop at Los Hernandez in Union Gap was made to grab tamales for our freezers. They had nopale which I hadn't tried (theirs) before and they were delicious!
And then we were back in Seattle with a trunk full of wine and tamales :)
Seychelles, made up of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, is the smallest country in Africa. It's also about 10,000 miles of flying from Seattle!
My BFF was invited to visit the Takamaka Rum Distillery on the main island of Mahé and the owners generously also invited her to stay at their family beach house. They also encouraged her to bring some of her friends! So after being home for just 13 days from my trip to Mexico City and Oaxaca I was enroute to this tiny spot off the east coast of Africa!
As usual I used points to fly, and this time I flew business class on Qatar Airway which was VERY nice! You can read about how I booked my Qsuite from SEA to DOH here.
My DOH to SEZ flight left Qatar at 3am! The Boeing 777's business class lie-flat seats were very comfy and there was lots of room, especially as no-one was seated next to me! There were pillows and a blanket waiting on my seat and a bottle of water inside the armrest. And even though it was 3am I could not turn down a glass of champagne and a little mezze plate before getting a few zzzzs.
I landed at about 8:30am and it was just a short ride to the Takamaka Beach House in Au Cap where Forest, Thibault, and Caitlin were already settled in. They showed me around, I dumped my stuff in my room, and within 30 minutes I was swimming in the beautiful and warm Indian Ocean!
The beach house sits on its own small stretch of white sand with a huge yard who the local land crabs call home. As the Seychelles are granitic vs volcanic islands, it was no surprise that huge granite boulders were in the front and back yards, but it was surprising to see that the inside staircase of the house had been built around one too! Very cool!
Around lunchtime one of our hosts, Retha who is married to one of the Takamaka founders, picked us up and took us to lunch at Kafe Kreole, just down the way in Anse Royale (anse means bay). This was the perfect first place for a meal! The open-air restaurant is steps from the ocean, has comfy swings and loungers if you want to enjoy your drink with your toes in the sand, and has a great menu of local favorites like octopus curry. Everything is "curried" on this island but octopus is the most famous and that is what I had! Along with a refreshing cocktail!
After lunch, Retha drove us to Port Launay Beach. Even though the island of Mahé is very small, the roads are equally as small and very twisty, so it was about a 40 minute drive to go 12 1/2 miles. Oh and they drive on the left in this country!
This was the first week of Nov and even though the rainy season generally starts mid to end of the month we got some rain each day, including when we were swimming here. It was still very warm (our daily high was 83 and daily low was 80f) and most squalls passed after just a few minutes. The water was always incredibly warm and clear. Heaven!
We also got to try out a few rounds of drinks at Kabana which is part of the the Constance Ephelia hotel and right on the beach. Drinks, service and location here were all top notch!
It had been such a great first day. And the best part was we were able to relax back at the house each night. Our hosts had very generously stocked it FULL of Takamaka rum and the house manager Sophie prepped dinner for us each day so all we had to do was grill up whatever she had prepared- pork chops, curried fish, etc. Then we just made cocktails and played cards and caught up with each other.
And waking up to this each morning definitely did not suck!
The next day Retha fetched us again and took us to the distillery after we finished breakfast. Takamaka Distillery is housed in La Plaine St Andre, a spice and sugar plantation believed to date back to around 1792 in Au Cap. It was built by some of the first settlers of the island and Richard and Bernard d’Offay, the brothers who founded Takamaka, purchased the plantation in 2008. They set about completely renovating the very neglected historic buildings and gardens. The d'Offay family were early settlers of Seychelles also, having moved there in 1778, so there is a lot of pride and care in what they are doing.
Richard gave us a tour of the entry room, filled with framed photos of the family and the old plantation. Then we moved out to the amazing gardens, where Retha showed us the ruins of the original outdoor kitchen area and the garden filled with all sorts of medicinal herbs and spices.
The highlight of the garden was definitely a visit with Taka and Maka, the plantation's Aldabra giant tortoises. This species of tortoise is endemic to Seychelles and the 2nd largest in the world! Since they've been around before any of the folks at Takamaka they aren't sure how old they are but guess ~100 years.
We then went on a tour of the distillery followed by a wonderful tasting of the Takamaka line up with one of the distillers. They make both molasses and cane rum and they work with local farmers hiring them to grow and harvest.
After all that rum tasting, Retha invited us outside to have a few cocktails from the bar and lunch from their on-site food truck. Everything was delicious and it was just an incredibly fun day. And of course, extremely generous of them!
We spent the rest of the day and evening back at the beach house swimming and relaxing... with more rum!
The next day the incredibly kind folks at Takamaka arranged for a private driver to take us around the island for some sightseeing. We drove about 40 minutes north to the capital city of Victoria; with a population of under 30k, I'm using the word "city" loosely!
It was a fairly quick stop but we had time to stroll through the Sir Selwyn Clarke Market & check out the vendors selling fresh fruits & fish, dried spices, and lots of little souvenirs.
Then we were back on the road and on to Beau Vallon Beach. It was a beautiful drive with the "postcard" granite boulders and stunning coastline. And of course a few rain showers!
In Beau Vallon we had lunch at The Boat House. The restaurant sits right across from the beach in a big wooden open-air building. Lunch and drinks were fine but that was ok; we finished pretty quickly and hit the absolutely gorgeous beach.
We had such a great time swimming here! We were able to snag a table at the Beach Shak, which sits right in the sand, and spent the entire afternoon having cocktails and running back into the ocean to swim. That is pretty much my perfect kind of day!
5 hours later we had one last drink while taking in the beautiful sunset. It had been another incredible day!
As we did every night, we swam under the moon back at home too!
Another day Retha picked us up and after making a quick stop at a local food truck for curry we drove south to Anse Intendance Beach. This was even more beautiful than Beau Vallen! The day was hot but the skies looked a little stormy and the waves were HUGE! We still swam but it freaked me out a bit honestly.
The sand was so soft and there was zero seaweed or anything! Forest and I went on a beach walk and found a little rum shack blending up drinks. Obviously we had a couple of pina coladas served from fresh coconuts!
After a couple of hours the sky opened up and we were caught in one of the biggest rain storms I've ever experienced! We ran to the car but not before we were completely soaked! It was crazy!
In six full days in Seychelles, each one so fun thanks to our hosts, the absolute best day was a Sunday when the d’Offay family (Richard, Retha and their daughters) came over with their friend Alex and his daughter. The house manager Sophie set a pretty table and laid out dishes, then another of their friends Jemmy came by delivering an amazing lunch he cooked for us! There was a whole fish with chili, octopus curry, lentils, rice, etc.
Richard made rum cocktails and we spent the entire day swimming, drinking, eating, and laughing. Lots of laughing! The d'Offays are incredibly nice and generous people!
We did actually go out for dinner one night. We arranged a private driver who drove us across the south end of the island to the Mango House Resort. We started at their cocktail bar Kokoye where we sat outside on the balcony with our drinks enjoying another stunning view.
Afterwards we moved to their restaurant Muse for some very good seafood. It was a nice evening out and fun to check out this really gorgeous resort.
I had one more night after my friends left for home so I used one of my Marriott free nights to stay at the Laila Hotel. The hotel is located in Anse Royale right across the street from Kafe Kreole (turns out the hotel owns it), so I was looking forward to heading back over there the next day for lunch and drinks.
I was upgraded to a large ocean view room, complete with a little balcony. The hotel was pretty new when I stayed so everything was in perfect condition and the bathroom with huge shower was spotless.
I headed to the bar, the Marée Basse Lounge, and had a great daiquiri, before heading to the restaurant Laroul, for an ok dinner. Unfortunately I was starting to feel unwell so I headed back to my room and just watched a movie in bed.
The next morning I was able to arrange a 5pm checkout so I spent the day by the pool. I didn't feel well enough to go out for lunch as planned but relaxing with a couple of mimosas in the warm weather was good.
And then this lovely little getaway was over. I had arranged with the taxi that brought me to the hotel to pick me up and take me to the airport. I had time to check out the Takamaka bar there and also the Qatar Lounge before boarding my Qatar flight to Doha.
Seychelles is absolutely lovely. I didn't have time to get to the other islands, which I hear are also complete paradise, but I got to hang out with my friends and soak up the fun and the rum! It's a very expensive destination so the generosity of our hosts was really appreciated. If you ever find yourself on this island in the middle of the Indian Ocean be sure to visit Takamaka and tell them hello for me!
If you'd like to listen to the interview that Forest did with the owners of Takamaka you can find that here.
