Cruise...

Last week I went for a Cruise on the Douro River in Portugal - I simply adore cruises, they are such perfect holidays, they allow you to explore different places, be amazed with different landscapes, and at the same time chill, relax and kinda forget all about the real world. And this cruise was no exception!

Portugal is amazingly beautiful and there is just something about the North part of the country - breathtaking landscapes, interesting history to learn, fascinating places to visit, gorgeous food and wine, friendly people to meet. After your holidays, you leave feeling happier, with a lighter heart and immersed in nothing but positive feelings. I truly believe that good things should be praised and one of the best advices I can ever give you is, if ever possible, do a cruise on the Douro River - simply wonderful :)

The weather was absolutely beautiful, so when writing my "clothes for the cruise" list - yes, that's a true fact, whenever I need to pack a bag, I always write a list, makes my life much easier - I found myself choosing light, fresh summer dresses and the odd pair of shorts. I know I am always singing the praises of creativity, but not this time - this time I've decided to go for an easier nonetheless stylish solution. And felt exactly the same towards accessories - few, simple and non-fussy :)

Well, here are some photos (and respective description) of a few of the outfits I wore during the cruise:

*Outfit 1*


To pack well is a true art in my opinion and to tell you the absolutely truth I totally suck at it! Hours before boarding the ship I realised there were a few items missing on my "clothes for the cruise" list, which meant that I would not have anything to dress by day 2. Solution? A quick run to the mall, where I went straight to H&M, a faithful companion that always manages to save me when I need something to dress but am short of time.

I saw this lace aubergine dress on the window and fell in love with it! Actually, nowadays, lace is my fabric of election, so feminine, so ladylike, so innocent, love it :)

I wore this outfit for our very first dinner on the Cruise, at the Convento of Alpendurada (Convent of Alpendurada), a truly magical place :)

When wearing such a feminine dress, I always tend to pick not so ladylike shoes and accessories in order to balance the outfit and avoid looking so girly - but not this time, for this particular occasion the inspiration was definitely "as girly as it gets", and I was surprisingly pleased with the result :)

Dress H&M | Cardigan H&M | Ballerina Flats Tory Burch | Hairclips H&M | Clutch Paparazzi | Bracelet Gifted | Earrings Louis Mariette

*Outfit 2*

This was the only outfit that required some creativity on my side - I bought this bandeau maxi dress last year (I have a thing for maxi dresses!), but never felt completely satisfied when wearing it, for some reason it was always lacking some sort of spark! So this time, I decided to try something different and play a little bit with the stripes - I loved the small stripes/big stripes combo but will probably alter the dress and turn it into a real maxi skirt!

Crop T-shirt Asos | Maxi Dress River Island | Necklace Gifted | Sunglasses Miu Miu

*Outfit 3*

There really isn't much I can tell you about this outfit - simply a summer-perfect, breezy dress with a gorgeous colour and as you can see I did my thing and toughed up the look with some wedges :)

Dress Warehouse | Wedges Just Cavalli | Necklace Mango | Bracelet Gifted 

*Outfit 4*

This year I promised myself I would not get any jumpsuits - I adore them but they were pretty much my staple look last Summer. But I'm weak when it comes to jumpsuits so once again they are part of my Summer wardrobe - the thing is, some of them, special plain cotton jumpsuits, also miss some sort of spark and demand a little bit of creativity to give them a little bit of something, and I think this loose knitted jumper is just perfect to add a "je ne sais quoi" :)

Add I love pairing golden outfits with silver accessories or vice versa, it is so much fun :)

Jumpsuit Decenio | Knitted Jumper H&M | Ballerina Flats Tory Burch | Necklace Dorothy Perkins | Bracelet (left arm) Swaroski | Bracelet (right arm) Swatch





And I could not resist sharing with you some of the beautiful places we have visited and some of the inspiring landscapes we have seen:


*Convent of Alpendurada*

*Church of Our Lady of Remedies (Nossa Senhora dos Remédios), in Lamego (a gorgeous city!)*

*Sandeman's Port Wine tasting at their winery in Quinta do Seixo*

*Delicious temptations abroard the MS Douro Cruiser*

*Mateus Palace and Gardens in Vila Real*

*Museum of Art and Archaeology of the Côa Valley*

*Douro River*