Category: Beaches

Big Sur

Part of Highway 1 (the Pacific Highway coast road) was closed because of rock falls due to the heavy rain earlier in the year, but we drove down for the day from Monterey. The coastline is amazing with rocky coves, crashing waves, forests dropping into the ocean. There was one place where it was possible to drive down to a beautiful beach where dozens of people were enjoying the sunshine. As we were leaving more people were arriving to see the sunset.

We hiked along one of the paths into the forest up to a waterfall. When we stopped to eat our lunch we were joined by a beautiful Steller Jay perched on the edge. As we walked we were surrounded by huge redwoods reaching to the sky.

The redwoods are extraordinary trees and here is some further information about them.

Finally we had some refreshments at Nepenthe a delightful restaurant, cafe and shop in the woods. The place is owned by family of Kaffe Fassett and the shop contained colourful displays of works using his materials.

A brilliant day.

Santa Barbara

In Los Angeles we picked up the RV (motorhome) and arrived at our first stop, Santa Barbara, in early evening.  The next day we walked  along the beach, passing lots of sailing boats moored there until we reached the town centre. We then walked up the very pretty main street of Santa Barbara, State Street.  It’s a pedestrian street with lots of palm trees, restaurants and interesting little shops.  We had delicious empanadas in a Mexican restaurant and then visited the famous court house, which is still in use as a court house but is open to visitors.  The building is in Spanish Colonial style and was completed in 1929 after the previous courthouse was completely destroyed in the 1925 earthquake.  Like many of the buildings in Santa Barbara it has red tiled roofs, white stucco walls and various balconies.  Inside it is gorgeous, with terracotta floor tiles, ceramic tiled walls and lots of interesting paintings showing historical scenes.  It also has the amazing Mural Room featuring scenes from Santa Barbara’s history.  It is such a beautiful building that it is frequently used for weddings –  including that of US Vice President Kamala Harris -and a wedding  was taking place in the garden on the day we were there.

Entrance to courthouse
Wedding
Mural room
Presidio neighbourhood
on the street

Brent’s and Santa Monica

Monday 27 May was  a public holiday in the US – Memorial Day – when the country honours US military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Services.  It was a beautiful, sunny day (though the wind was chilly) and everyone was out enjoying themselves.  Our cousins first took us to one of their favourite eating places, Brents – a famous family run Jewish deli and restaurant which has become one of the best delicatessens in the state.  The place was packed with families enjoying their day off and we left feeling very replete. 

We then drove to  Santa Monica, a coastal town (or “city” as they call it in the US) west of downtown Los Angeles.  It too  was buzzing.  We strolled along a delightful pedestrian street called 3rd Street Promenade and noticed lots of brightly coloured wooden rocking chairs (we discovered these are called Adirondack chairs) just sitting on the pavement for people to use.  Then we walked to Santa Monica’s wide, sandy beach for our first sight of the Pacific ocean. Interestingly Santa Monica is the western end of the famous Route 66.

The Long Island Beach Club

Ellen invited us to a barbecue at her beach cabin at the beach club on Long Island. What a fantastic experience. First we took the subway down to Wall Street and walked along the river to Pier 11. Then we took the Rockaway Ferry passing the Statue of Liberty, underneath Verrazzano Bridge and docks at Rockaway where we were met by Alan and driven to the beach club.

A cabin with electricity, a fridge and a shower! (far removed from our English beach huts). And a special area for barbecues – I counted 64. We had a wonderful salad followed by delicious barbecued corn and fish washed down with Mimosa (that’s what we call Bucks Fizz). And of course a fabulous beach with all sorts of birds.

Kefalonia

We took the ferry from Astakos and stayed in the campsite at Argostoli, but each day drove around the island visiting other beaches and villages.

Agia Kyriaki was a beautiful beach with a taverna where the owner would let you stay in the car park (N38.3103, E20.4888). We thought we might wild camp there until an Italian camped there showed us the invasion of ants in his van, but we had a lovely swim in the wonderfully warm water.

Fiskardo was a very pretty town with a beautiful harbour with lots of boats. The town was full of cafes and very tasteful gift shops (rather expensive). We had some delicious ice cream and sorbet.

en route from Astakos
Agia Kyriaki
Fiskardo
Myrtos beach

Our friend Caroline described Myrtos beach as the loveliest beach she’d ever been on – sandy, white pebbles and turquoise clear water. It certainly looked lovely but the road down to it looked far too steep for our van. Still at least we saw it from above.

We drove to a lovely little beach called Trapeziaka. Again it was a very steep and narrow road down and unfortunately as it was a Sunday lots of people had driven there and quite a few of them were leaving as we arrived so we had to try to reverse up the hill to let them pass. Then there was a burning smell and we realised the clutch was overheating so Valerie had to run down to all the cars coming up to say “sorry” in Greek and persuade them to reverse, as we couldn’t. The upside was that there was a great taverna at the bottom so we ate a delicious meal as we waited for the clutch to cool down, and all was well.

Peljesac Peninsular

Our third campsite in Croatia has been a delightful small family run site on the Peljesac Peninsular called Camping Palme in the village of Kučiste. We are on the front edge of the site, right by the sea. Fantastic. The sea is crystal clear, calm and warm enough for swimming before breakfast.

We discovered a lovely little wine bar called Dino’s not far from the campsite where you can sample local wines by the glass whilst looking out at a wonderful view of the sea and neighbouring island. We asked if they had any snacks we could have with the wine and this is what they brought. Both the rosé and the white were delicious. Didn’t manage to get on to the red as we still had to cycle back to the van.

Snack at Dino’s

Cycling along the coast we stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the sea and had a variety of vegetable dishes – all delicious.

Lunch – Djuvec rice, chard with potatoes and olive oil and roasted mushrooms

On the way back Valerie took a detour up a mountain to a Franciscan monastery above Orebic. “It was a steep 1km climb, partly cycling but mostly walking, up to the Franciscan monastery above Orebic. But it was worth it for the view of Korčuk and the other smaller islands.”

Varkala – fishing village

We went for an early morning walk along the long long beach to a fishing village. The fishermen were hard at work bringing in their canoes.

We decided to explore the village and found a little place selling chai. So of course we had some sitting outside on the step. Then the lady suddenly brought out an appam on a plate for us, and then a second appam, and then some sambar. So unexpected and it was delicious

 

 

Foz do Arelho

A great camperstop by the sea in this beautiful place

Went for a cycle ride and saw a flock of white flamingos on the lagoon. The tide was low and they were wading looking quite extraordinary

White flamingos

Here’s the evidence

Sunset over the misty sea

Thus was our second time at the camperstop. For €4 you are right by the beach and have water, washing up and laundry, toilets, shower, brilliant. Also a pleasant little village 1k away and cafes restaurants on the beach