Cannery Row
The town of Monterey as a great place to visit with many things to do. We spent the morning in Cannery Row, which is filled with shops, restaurants and hotels. For some really great chocolate treats, stop by Ghirardelli Square - yum. We had some fabulous chocolaty goodness there - some kind of super-thick and creamy hot chocolate - yum yum. We didn’t stop by the Aquarium, but we were told by the locals that its worth the visit, so maybe next time…
Chocolatey Goodness at Ghirardelli!
The best way to our next destination, Carmel-by-the-Sea, from Monterey, is to drive on 17-mile drive which takes you right past the world famous Pebble Beach Golf Course. You have to pay a small fee to take this scenic drive, but it is well worth the cost because the views are breathtaking. You have the ocean on the right and golf courses as well as a few fabulous homes on your left, for most of the drive. The only thing that made it even more special than it already is, was a dolphin sighting - amazing!
Entering 17-Mile Drive
17-Mile drive - beautiful!
You drive past a few (2 I think?) golf courses to get to Pebble Beach, and those courses look pretty cool too, but once you get to Pebble Beach, you know why it has the status that it has (and greatly deserves). It is just absolutely beautiful. I am not a golfer myself - yet - but I highly recommend all you golfers out there to one day go play there. My friend Butterfly’s husband (Beautiful Boy) played the course with his dad and it was an experience that he’ll never forget.
Pebble Beach Club House
Carmel-by-the-Sea is a quaint little town with beautiful beaches and interesting houses and many interesting shops and galleries. The town is also home to a large community of actors and poets, one of them being Clint Eastwood who was the town’s mayor in the 80’s. The shopping and restaurant area is a short drive away from the beach and is quite hilly. Be careful while doing window shopping, because the pavements are quite slippery and uneven. This would explain the bizarre law that they have which prevents one from wearing high-heels without a permit. Unfortunately I didn’t know about this law until it was too late.
Lovely lunch outside - pre-fall!
After a beautiful lunch of fabulously succulent duck and gorgeous wine, outside in the sunshine, we decided to go for a spot of shopping. I wore flat - I repeat - FLAT sandals, but even they were no match for the steep and dodgy pavements of this town. One second I was walking and the next I was sitting on the pavement in a hurdler-type position. When I got up, I winced from pain. The top of my left foot was scraped. In some spots only a layer or to of skin was missing, but in other spots, it was blood and gore all over the show. This kind-of spoiled the afternoon slightly, because I could no longer wear my shoe and I didn’t want to walk through the town with a painfully burning and bleeding foot. Thank goodness I remembered the emergency kit, so when we got to the car, my hubby cleaned my wounds, bandaged me up and gave me a pain killer. After a bit of a nap (we were on holiday afterall), I was feeling much better and ready to take on another one of Monterey’s great seafood restaurants for some fabulously fresh scallops, prawns and calamari.
The view from our table at Fisherman's Wharf
Argh, Pebble Beach stirs up very complex emotions... Awesome place but that was of course where I was 'stuck' while trying to replace my stolen passport, misery! Wish I could have it over again without the issues but that's life. Also, I sprained my ankle on our last night in Mexico and spent the night crying in bed instead of living it up in Playa del Carmen. Damn holiday injuries! Sounds like you had a great time anyway!
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