Travel Barossa Valley - Spend the weekend

May

Barossa… Love at First Sight!

And so it happens that time goes by… 1 becomes 2, 2 turns into 3 and then all of a sudden, you’re 30!
For my big 3-0 I was lucky enough to spend 3 wonderful days in the beautiful Barossa Valley. If you haven’t been there, make sure you choose a weekend, pack your bag and get ready to spend couple of truly amazing days. So, following my recommendations, just a few things you cannot miss.

From the airport it’s very easy to hire a car, and then in only few minutes from landing in South Australia you can be on your way to Barossa or Clare Valley. My birthday was on Friday, after one hour freezing cold flight, at 8am in the morning a well deserved breakfast was very much needed. There is something about me you have probably figured out by now… I love chocolate. It’s easy to love chocolate, and there is nothing wrong with that, but how many of you could actually have a divine chocolate cake for brekkie? Not sure how many…

Anyway, what you see above on the left hand side was my treat for being such a good girl for the last 30 years, a little bit of auto-celebration never killed anyone so if you want to give it a go, whether is your birthday or not, write this down or visit the website. A place to remember!
Cocolat
283 Rundle Street (East End)
Adelaide 5000

So after our luscious start of the day, jump back in the car and drive to the Barossa. It takes approximately 1 1/2, no rush, and it’s a lovely drive although there is not much to do or see, you can enjoy the scenery and make plans on what is just about to come.

Of course wine testing is on top of the list. There are hundreds of Winery Estates, everyone with its own story, background and wines. Make sure you take breaks between testing as your palate could get easily fatigued and the result could be that you don’t taste the wine properly anymore. During this trip, I fell in love with sweet wines more than ever. I guess it’s a common misconception that sweet wines are only for dessert. You would be surprised by how many go so well with cheese and dry fruit, tabbouleh and salads. You just need to be a bit adventurous, but why not give it a try?
My top purchases? Here we go:

After the wine tasting, and shopping, you probably feel hungry right? So why don’t stop at the amazing Maggie Beer Farm Shop!
Every product is produced right there, and you can taste olive oil, wine, cheese, jam… everything you want, they are amazingly fresh and if you want to have a bite, you simply order one of the baskets on the menu and eat outside in the shade, over looking the water. Quite spectacular.
What else? Well, for dinner try 1918, an extraordinary restaurant with, as head chef Christian Fletcher describes “fresh, seasonally-inspired cuisine based on modern Australian tastes and flavours borrowed from Asia and the Middle East”. I have had the most amazing vegetarian dinner, with fried haloumi, hummus and freekah wheat tabbouleh for entrée and Tempura of stuffed zucchini flowers with goats curd and a cherry tomato vinaigrette for main. Soooo delicious!!!

And finally, on your way back to Adelaide, make sure you stop in Hahndorf. All of a sudden, it seems you are in a different country, but definitely not Australia!
The German influence is quite obvious, however if you don’t feel like würstel, pretzels or beer (especially if you get there around 10am!) I highly recommend the White House, an adorable café on the main street. An exquisite place where everyone is welcoming and lovely, coffee is great and food is quite special. They also have an Open Air Cinema so if you have enough time, stick around…
Sadly, time to leave… But we’ll be back for more!