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Gibraltar

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The Monkeys on top of the Rock of Gibraltar

I like to plan our travel routes in detail and outline what could be interesting to visit and where to stop, but still like to be flexible enough to make an unexpectant detour or interesting stop. We were driving from the southernmost tip of Spain (Tarifa) up the coast to Valencia. Our only planned stop was eating Malaga ice cream in Malaga. Shortly after driving through Algeciras ,we were looking at the map and decided it would be fun to make a small detour and stop in Gibraltar. It was very exciting for the kids because they wanted to see the famous wild monkeys. It is also the location of the opening scene of a James Bond Movie and we love to visit movie locations. And as a bonus, we also got to visit another country. Even though we were in Southern Spain, Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory and we had to pass through a border and show our passports. To get to the city, we had to cross an airport runway. Everything felt very exciting…

Because our time was limited, we drove straight up through tiny and narrow streets towards the rock of Gibraltar. We did not know where we had to go to and just drove until we got to the Gibraltar Nature Reserve. We parked our car close to the Moorish Castle and bought tickets to go inside. I like to be adventurous and it seemed totally possible to hike up the 426 m (1,398 ft) rock of Gibraltar with the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa as a backdrop. Looking back and researching a little, there are much better hiking paths up, but we did not know that at the time and just followed the map. (I would like to see the cave and Mediterranean Steps the next time) . We mainly kept on the paved road at the beginning, which worked out well with the stroller for the little princess who liked to be always barefoot at the time. The boys preferred a more difficult path and climbed the rocks next to the street.

It was a beautiful hot summer day and the views were spectacular. The birds were chirping and the mood was fabulous. Our first stop was the Princess Caroline’s Battery located at the northern end of the Upper Rock Nature preserve. We took pictures and saw the first monkey. Oh, what a happy moment. This little monkey made my day.

We were heading towards the Apes Den, when we discovered the cable car for the first time. All of the sudden the boys long faces could touch the floor. They were not happy to hike up any further, but it was too late to turn around and we kept going. After some complaining, the excitement for seeing more monkeys at the Apes Den returned.

The view from Apes Den is fantastic, and seeing the monkeys in their natural habitat is something really special. Originally from the Atlas Mountains and the Rif Mountains of Morocco, the Barbary macaque population in Gibraltar is the only wild monkey population on the European continent. Currently, some 300 animals in five troops live in the Upper Rock area of the Gibraltar Nature Reserve, though they make occasional visits into the town. There was a cute monkey sitting on the side of the wall and posing for the perfect pictures. He did eye our stroller and backpacks, but did not move.

The Charles V Wall Stairs and upper wall were up next on our adventure to the top. The stairs are bigger than they look and it was a great challenge. The sun was shining pretty hot, so we had to rest a couple times on the way. There are 4 sections with tables and benches in between, so resting is not a problem. The view gets better and better going up. Its so spectacular and can’t even be described properly. There are about 660 steps which Olivia decided to do barefoot. I think Giorgio had the most fun, because he kept on running up the stairs and kept waiting for us. We encountered several more monkeys, but were determined to get to the top. Chris was the least excited to climb up the stairs, because he also carried the backpack and stroller. Looking back, the stairs were my favorite part and I would prefer them over taking the cable car. It such a great achievement reaching the top, but the little things on the way make it really worth it. Take your time and soak up everything around you.

We were so excited when we reached the top of the stairs and the monkey feeding station. Even though it is called the feeding station, visitors are not allowed to feed the monkeys. They are managed by the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society and the monkeys medical and nutritional care is provided by the Gibraltar Veterinary Clinic (GVC). Each day the macaques receive a supply of fresh water, are given vegetables, fruit and seeds as supplement to the natural food resources that they forage, and are regularly caught and checked to assure their good health.

There was a group of tourists that showed us what not to do with the monkeys. One girl had a pretty deep wound on her back because a monkey had bitten her in the shoulder when she stopped feeding him. They were debating if she should go to a doctor, when we arrived. There was no greater learning experience for my kids. They learned right away that we could not get too close and that these cute little monkeys were wild animals that may react violently. We continued to walk to the Skywalk area which is a little platform with views spanning three countries and two continents. The floor and balustrade panels are made up of 4 layers of laminated glass and makes this experience even more awesome. Of course there were more monkeys.  

I felt the monkeys on the top were a little more confrontational. They really wanted to see what we brought and tried to get into our backpack and stroller. I would avoid taking bags when going specifically to see them, otherwise just try to keep a distance. One monkey was specifically interested in Luca and followed him for a short while. At first he was too terrified to go on the platform, because the monkey got pretty close to us. We made it up in the end and were not attacked by any monkeys.

All in all, a visit to Gibraltar would certainly not be complete without having seen the Gibraltar monkeys up close and be a little terrified of them. It’s an experience of a lifetime and definitely not one that should be missed!

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Sault, Southern France

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The fragrant Lavender Fields of the Provence

The beautiful vibrant fields of purple together with the aromatic but calming scent of lavender have captivated people for a long time.  Visiting the Provence in France and standing in the middle of a lavender field was on my bucket list for a long time. We had the opportunity to drive through France in the beginning of August in 2019 and I promised myself to make this dream come true.

I didn’t know at the time that August was already very (too) late to see the beautiful Lavender fields . The best time to visit is between mid June to mid July. Most fields have been harvested by the end of July. I still wanted to try to find a blooming lavender field and did not get discouraged.

I had researched before online and found several areas that sounded promising. Once we were in the Provence, we found out that most of the fields were already harvested. We drove to many sites that I had found and there were no more blooming Lavender fields.

We were ready for a break and for something to eat and stopped spontaneously in Sault. I am so happy we found this small charming village. It lays up on a hill at an altitude of 750 meters with gorgeous views of Val de Sault (which in June and July must have been painted in purple with all the blooming fields).

We parked the car and wandered around streets, old stone houses and village squares. It was such a quaint little village with lots of purple accents. We visited several shops and tasted the different nougats, macaroons and delicious lavender honey. We ate lunch and bought some nougat and lavender to take with us. There was a really nice girl in one of the shops that explained to us the difference between Lavandula and Lavandin. She told us that the higher the altitude of the field, the later the flowers will bloom and gave me direction to several possible late blooming fields.

I was so delighted to finally see purple spots of lavender fields in the distance. I am still happy today, that even though the chances were slim, we actually found Lavender fields. There was somebody working on a field harvesting lavender. We got a “hands on” lavender lesson on how it is harvested and dried in the sun. Such a cool learning opportunity and adventure I will never forget.

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Avignon/Nimes, France

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The Pont Du Gard Bridge in Southern France near Avignon/Nimes

The Pont du Gard is one of the sites that shouldn’t be missed on any trip to the South of France. The Aqueduct is one of the most beautiful Roman constructions in France and a Unesco World heritage sight. With more than a million visitors per year, Pont du Gard is the most visited ancient monument in France.

After visiting the lavender fields in Sault, we spent the day in Avignon before continue to drive to Spain. I love to revisit places I had seen as a child on vacation with my parents and sister. We had visited Pont Du Gard, when I was 8 years old. Since it was kind of one the way, I spontaneous decided to stop and revisit this beautiful bridge with my children. We arrived pretty late and the museum was already closed for the day, but the golden light of the sunset made up for it. It was a beautiful warm August evening and most of the people had already left for the day.

The bridge, which spans the Gardon, is 48 meters high; it extends over a distance over 272 meters but was originally 490 meters long.

We didn’t bring any bathing suites, but that didn’t stop us from heading directly to the Gardon River to cool off in the perfectly clear water. The boys tried to catch little fish with their hands, Olivia was splashing around happily, and I just enjoyed being there and appreciated the moment. Of course, I also took a lot of pictures.

We could have definitely spent the entire day there. A picnic at the banks, kayaking, the museum , a guided tour of the different levels of the bridge, swimming and the surrounding gardens offer so much possibilities. I do love to revisit places, so we might be back again. This time, I will plan it before and visit the entire site.

I am so happy we stayed for the spectacular illumination of the monument. They started at 10pm and were so worth it. The bridge and surrounding area was transformed with lights and pyrotechnics, to tell a beautiful story. It was the perfect ending to enjoy a warm summer night.

Opening hours of the site

From 9 am to 8 pm from January to March

From 9 am to 9 pm in April and May

From 10 am to 10 pm in June

From 9 am to 00 pm in July and August

From 9 am to 10 pm in September

From 9 am to 9 pm  from October to December

Entrance fee ticket:
– Discovery Pass (Pont du Gard, Museum, Ciné, the Mémoires de Garrigue path, Exhibition)
Adult rate: 9.50 € / pers (8€ On line preserved)
Reduced price: 7 € / pers
Free for children under -18 years

Free entry is granted to :

-People with disabilities, regardless of the degree of disability as well as up to one person accompanying them.

– Guided tour at the top level of the Aqueduct : + 6€ (Free under -6 years)

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Arcadia, Florida

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The Historic Downtown Antique District of Arcadia, Florida

Florida is most famous for sunshine, beaches, amusement parks, oranges and maybe the Everglades. But there is so much more to our beautiful sunshine state. Most tourists visit Miami and Orlando, however some of Florida’s best secrets are in more remote locations away from tourist areas. Arcadia is one of those places and worth a visit.

Located just about one hour east of Sarasota and about one hour north of Fort Myers, Arcadia is nestled between miles of orange trees and cattle fields. It is a charming old Florida town with a beautiful historic Main Street. The Downtown Historical District now encompasses 3,400 acres with 293 historic buildings and is part of the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Driving by beautiful historic houses and old trees covered in Spanish Moss, Arcadia feels like being transported to a different time. But the main reason, we like to visit, is the historic downtown antique district on main street. The charming antique stores are filled with little treasures, collectibles, rare finds, antiques, vintage deco and much more. It is a dream for antique lovers and was even named the state’s “Best Place for Antique Shopping” by Florida Monthly magazine.

The heart of the historical district is extends 18 blocks and consists of buildings constructed between 1900 and the late 1920. Three buildings that survived the devastating 1905 downtown fire as well as those that were rebuilt, are generally masonry vernacular in style. The most imposing structure is the 1912 classical Revival courthouse as well as the 1906 Opera House that is both museum and antique store. It houses an amazing collection of historical items and the theater is in near original condition.

My favorite store is the Vintage Garden right in the beginning of Main Street. It’s full of shabby chic furniture, accessories, treasures and more. I just looooove it so much and would love to buy everything. And it is pink too. The perfect store for me.

Another of my favorite buildings is the Rosin Building, which is commonly called The Pink Building and is one of the most iconic buildings on main street. Over the years, the ground floor of the Pink Building has housed different antique stores, restaurants, a bar, a barbershop, a post office, a hardware store, a beauty parlor and a drug store.

I like to include my kids in our adventures and antique shopping might not be on the top of favorite things to do for a child or a teenager. To get them interested, everybody gets $5 or $10 and can buy whatever treasure they can find. That usually works perfect for my older boys, because they are very careful to spend their money wisely and want to find the greatest and best treasure out there.

Another fun way of getting the kids interested, is to find something odd or funny. It can be anything. In our case, we were looking for creepy faces. There are lots of beautiful old dolls, stuffed animals and toys, but some of them do look a little creepy. My sister noticed the first doll and took a picture of the face. Once we started to look for them, we noticed more and more faces of dolls, clowns and little figurines that qualified. It became a game for everybody to find the most fascinating and creepy doll face. Of course, we could have looked for something else instead, but the dolls just found us. Sometimes a creepy face is all it takes to get kids interested. (by the way, that strategy has worked for us before…. One time we visited the Louvre in Paris and my youngest son was so excited about finding naked baby bottoms in the pictures) Here is a little selection of our favorite doll faces:

Most stores open around 10 am and close around 4pm. One of the largest antique fairs in the state, the Antique Association of Arcadia hosts over 100 quality dealers is held monthly on the 4th Saturday of the month. We haven’t been to this event, but it sounds very interesting.

Anyways, Arcadia was the perfect place to spend the day with the family on an overcast Sunday. We found several little treasures and spent a beautiful day all together.

One last thing: There is an Annual Watermelon Festival in May at the height of the harvesting season. A watermelon seed spit competition is the perfect reason for my boys to come back. Or maybe looking for shark teeth inside the Peace River…… We definitely will visit again.

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Dunnellon, Florida

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Tubing on Rainbow River and Rainbow Springs State Park

One of my favorite summer adventures last year was Tubing on the Rainbow River by Dunnellon….. In case you have never heard about this town, it is about 100 miles northwest of Orlando. There’s no better or more relaxing way to experience this magical river than tubing! At least it is for me…. I wasn’t sure if Chris or Olivia would be too excited to float in the rather cool water….The water temperature averages 72 degrees year-round. It is a little fresh going inside, but I promise it will be perfect about 1 mile down the river and the sun will be almost too much by mile 2.

There are different tubing experiences available. We decided to launch from K.P. Hole, a Marion County Park, and floated approximately 3 1/2 hours down the river. There was also the shorter option available from the State park which would have lasted only about 2 hours. I was unsure before if tubing from K.P. Hole park was not too long, but time went by way too fast and I wish, there would have been a 6 hour experience available.

We went tubing together with my sister and her husband, which made it even better. To stay attached, we tied our tubes together with ropes. We also brought waterproof bags, reusable water bottles (the only ones allowed), goggles, snacks, hats and of course sunscreen.

Despite being 30 feet deep in some places, it feels like you could reach out and touch the bottom since the water is crystal clear. We saw turtles, fish, dragonflies and forests of aquatic grass that provide food and habitat for many of the creatures that live here. Although everyone wonders about alligators, we did not see any.

As I mentioned before, Oliva would have not liked to be in a float for that long or even touch the cold water, so we resolved that problem and rented a kayak in addition to the tubes. It was the perfect solution, because we also transported all the drinks, snacks and even towels.

It was the perfect day and it was over way too fast. It was peaceful and beautiful. And it inspired us to visit more springs in the future.

 Tubing season runs April to October. On summer weekends, both Rainbow River tubing operations generally reach capacity, so early arrival is important,

The next day we visited the Rainbow Springs State Park to see the waterfalls. We love to visit waterfalls, but Florida doesn’t have too many…. So I was excited to find out there were some at Rainbow Springs.

Rainbow Springs State Park is magnificent and we strolled through shady gardens laced with azaleas, oaks and magnolias. The walkways are paved and even though some are a little steep, they are still pretty easy to navigate.

The walkways pass by three man-made waterfalls and a native plant garden. When we visited in August 2020 only two waterfalls were working at the time. We continued through the garden and passed many relics (remains of old animal cages) of the glory past, when the park was a private attraction.

At the end of the path, begins a small Butterfly Garden. The sun was casting the perfect shadow on the entrance gazebo, it was warm and other than butterflies, we were the only ones there. It felt so peaceful and perfect.

To our surprise, there was more… A small trail right out of a fairytale lead us to three nature trails through natural oak hammock and sandhill communities.

We did not have a map, so we just followed the colored markers of the trail. There is a blue, yellow and white trail and we decided to follow the blue trail.

It had rained the previous days, so the blue trail (which is the closest to the water) became muddy and inaccessible. We decided to go for the yellow trail instead. The trails offers both river and phosphate pit overlooks…..

This area was the first place where phosphate was commercially mined in Florida. The deep pits and spoil piles left behind were recovered by the forest and are looking unreal in a normally very flat Florida. What a surprise when the first pit suddenly appeared in front of us. (My batterie had died, so I didn’t take any pictures.)

The most fascinating thing were the changes throughout the trail. We started in a forest, followed by sandy terrain punctuated with ravines created by mining and restored by nature. It did not even feel like Florida. At times we felt lost, because we couldn’t see any markers. I would have loved to see more along the paths, but it made it also more adventurous. It was also very overgrown and felt a little longer than the miles on the sign. I still found it magical and we did not meet anybody during our walk. I highly recommend a hike on these trails and hope we will be back one day…

animals, city, free, USA

Fort Worth, Texas

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The Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas

The Stockyards in Fort Wort feel like stepping inside an old Western Movie. I loved the whole feel of this Western Town from the cobblestone street to the saloon doors of a bar. The Texas Longhorn and the American Cowboy are two of the most famous symbols of the Old West. They are a big reason why Ft. Wort earned the nickname “Cowtown”

We tried on cowboy hats, belt buckles and boots and felt like real cowboys. Actually we do not know how real cowboys feel, but we felt great, ready for adventure….

We first watched a traditional Western Show and learned some interesting facts and then watched our first Rodeo Show. The boys loved it and we were fascinated by the entire atmosphere. A trip to the Stockyards is not complete without going to a Texas Rodeo.

One of the highlights of our day was the great cattle heard drive – Texas Longhorns driven by genuine Texas Cowhands. This drive is held twice a day and is free. (for more information, see below). Every detail of the drive – saddles, chaps, boots and hats – is authentic and historically true. The Fort Worth Herd Steers can be viewed daily between drives in their pens behind the Livestock Exchange Building on East Exchange Avenue. Drovers are available before each cattle drive for photos and questions. (for a small fee)

In my opinion, there is no better way to experience the essence of what this historic district is all about.

The Fort Worth Herd is the world’s only twice daily cattle drive, held every day at 11:30 AM & 4:00 PM in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
Drives are not held on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day. The Fort Worth Herd Trail Boss determines drive cancelations due to inclement weather and necessary onsite changes. 
The Fort Worth Herd steers can be viewed before and after cattle drives in their pens behind the Livestock Exchange Building on East Exchange Avenue. 
Drovers are available before each cattle drive for photo ops and questions.
Be sure and ask for a Steer Trading Card!

We finished the day at Cooper’s Old Time Pit-BBQ, where it’s all about the meat….

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Meet our Family

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“The World is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Augustine of Hippo

It’s an amazing, wonderful and spectacular world out there and we want to discover and wander it all. Traveling is our passion and it makes me so happy to expose our kids to new places, foods, cultures, experiences and people. We want to inspire other families to travel with their kids and discover the world, go on amazing adventures, learn about other cultures and make new friends.

We are a multicultural family that live in a multicultural city. What does this mean, you might ask? I am originally from Germany, my husband is from Italy, all of our kids were born in Miami and that’s where we still live. We are very happy to live in this tropical melting pot with people from all over the world. Since we do have family in Germany and Italy, Europe is one of our favorite travel destinations and we like to visit as often as we can. We love to visit family and friends all over the world, but also make sure to travel to at least one new country, city, famous landmark or place.

I thought a fun way to introduce our family is to write an introduction as well as post 5 pictures with 5 character traits that describe each of us. There is much more of course, but here are some qualities that defines each family member….

If you would like to learn a little more about us individually, just click on the pictures below…

Leave a comment with 5 character traits that describe you. We would love to connect with you here and on our social media platforms.