I never thought that I would actually go to the Fiji Islands one day! I mean, from Europe it’s like flying all over the other side of the world and even further..
BUT from Singapore it is “only” a 10 hours direct flight to Nadi, the main Island of Fiji. So, we booked it!
We landed very early in the morning, like at 4, so we got to see the sunrise from the beach where we were stranded before having a very early check-in and access to our amazing room – many very grateful thanks to the Hilton Nadi, the upgrade was great and we really enjoyed our short stay with them!
And this sunrise and beautiful calming view was already a proper reward for the long flight, don’t you agree?
So, as I was saying, after the 10 hours flight we thought we might need a break before taking the ferry to our final destination on Tokoriki Island. And traveling with two children, this was definitely the right decision. We enjoyed the time on the main Island, did some shopping and were lucky to have great pools at the Hilton.
On the next day in the afternoon we then headed to the ferry Terminal (actually, they picked us up at the hotel) and after almost 2 hours, we were in paradise!
Do you want to see more pictures? Because they definitely say more then all the words I can put together.. I have never seen so many different blues at once! And the colors, their depth and intensity kept changing like every minute, I was never tired of looking at the view!
See? Amazing, isn’t it?? The water was obviously crystal clear, perfect for snorkeling at the coral reef just a few hundred meters away from the coast, accessible by the complimentary jet ski service provided from the Sheraton, great especially for our 8 year old son, so he didn’t have to swim all the way, but was able to enjoy the snorkeling and of course the jet ski ride!
Every night gave us a different sunset, the sky would slowly turn from blue into warm tones of red, pink, orange and yellow. And yes, some guests would arrive by helicopter!
By the way, do you see the island on the picture? That’s where Tom Hanks was stranded while producing the movie Castaway!
Ok, so not only the view, the sea, the vegetation, the underwater life was amazing, but of course the food as well.
The Fiji kitchen has been influenced from the indian one, so we tasted very mild curries and dishes that reminded us of the indian cuisine. They use a lot of coconut – I love it, so it was perfect for me! We also found a lot of Taro and other roots and the interesting (and yummy) thing was that they use the leaves as well, they turn out to be a kind of spinach, mostly sautéed and then enriched in a coconut gravy sauce.
The food at the Sheraton was really really good! And as it sometimes happens, good food is not necessarily photogenic, so, before you have a look at the pictures, bear in mind that it tasted amazing!!
This Entree was really interesting and tasty: scotched eggs with potato and mustards seeds, tamarind chutney, pickled onions and chimichurri.
The picture above and below are the same dish, first before adding the fragrant curry sauce and after. It was a wild fish in fragrant curry sauce (mild, lovely!), aloo chop (an indian spiced potato dumpling) and jasmine rice on the side.
An international cuisine with local flavors, offered also the dish above, squid ink linguini with smoked paprika and lobster bisque, mussels, prawns, fish and cherry tomatoes.
I’m Italian so I usually never order italian inspired dishes as I have certain expectations, but I have to admit, that this was really good, also the linguini were fantastic!
And you see what I mean when I say that the dishes just don’t look pinterest worthy?? But believe me, this Tuna was sooooo good! That even in the darkness I had to take this terrible shot to share this amazing dish with you: freshly caught local tuna in coconut broth with palusami (taro leaves with coconut and onions) and snake beans.
You could really taste the freshness of the tuna and the portion was big enough to feed two hungry adults!!