...and so onto Carmel by the Sea, Monterey

So that was Tiburon and I loved it. It had nothing to live up to as we'd never heard of the place until this year but Carmel was different.

We left Tiburon along the the Pacific Coast Highway crossing the Golden Gate Bridge - can you believe it only costs $5 to cross this magnificent piece of iconic engineering? It costs over double this to cross into Wales!!!

Everyone knew and said they loved Carmel. What could be so special? Could this place really be that NICE? Oh yes! This tiny seaside town (which incidentally is next to a town called Seaside) totally lives up to it's repuatation. Is it any wonder Clint Eastwood once lived here and indeed was once the mayor of this little idyll.

The streets are clean and there are flowers and welll kept plant borders wherever you go - even the shopping mall looks like an entry in the the Chelsea Garden Show.


The shops are without exception niche and there are many galleries which can only mean decadence! The cars range from between Bentleys, Porsche, Maseratti and Jaguar to an amazing collection of well preserved classic cars. This places ouzes money - even more so than Tiburon.

The journey along the coast road to get here took us past some wonderful beaches and coves then then onto true Steinbeck country. There are acres and acres of fruit (mostly strawberries at this time of year) and vegetables with the familiar sight of fruit pickers beding over in the fields - so familiar to anyone who like me loves Steinbeck. This is also the home of Cannery Row.

So onto our very nice hotel/motel and then onto the well renowned Hog Breath Inn which was once owned by (you guessed it) Clint Eastwood. The food was fantastic (horrah! Vegetables at last). I had the chops yum and Alan had the over-sized steak. I'd recommend this place to anyone who comes here. It's small, friendly, tucked away and the food and drink is superb!