The morning after the e.g. conference, our friends K, her hubby FC and their nephew visiting from London drove two cars from Saratoga to pick us up. We left Monterey early because we were going to do the 17-Mile Drive that would lead us to a quaint town south of Monterey called Carmel-by-the-sea, or Carmel for short.
But first, we checked out the other part of Monterey, the part which tourists love to visit: Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, two of Monterey's most famous attractions. The biggest attraction, however, is the annual Monterey Jazz Festival, which debuted in 1958 with performers like Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. If you plan to visit SF, September is a good time because that's when the festival is on.
I think it was a 10 minute drive from the hotel. If you have the time, it'd be nice to just take a walk there from the city.
The world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Cannery Row, where sardines canneries existed since 1908 until the 50s where most of the factories had to close due to depletion of the sardines.
I was delighted to find this same spot where I took a photo 15 years ago.
Of course you can't go to Monterey and not know that it was the place for American artists and writers such as Henry Miller and Robert Louis Stevenson ('Treasure Island', 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde') but it is John Steinback, who wrote 'Cannery Row', 'East Of Eden', 'Of Mice and Men' and others), who is most associated with Monterey.
The Wing Chong Building (rust color) was the Chinese general store called Lee Chong in John Steinback's 'Cannery Row'.
This was the bordello called La Ida Cafe in Steinback's book. Now of course it's where you find pizza and ...
...pretty petit fours.
Bubba Gump is a chain restaurant inspired by the 1994 movie Forrest Gump. The first Bubba Gump to open was this one in Monterey. Writing this post, I wish we ate in Bubba Gump or Denny's or Applebee's or Roy Rogers. We saw these chain restaurants, but always at the wrong time.
love the way how the building in Monterey looks...
ReplyDeleteWhat sweet memories, stayed in nearby Seaside for a while and every evening after dinner would tease the racoons living under the pier, or take a slow drive down to Big Sur. Don't miss Phil's at Moss Landing on yr next trip. Christmas is a lovely time, and anywhere else as US has too many beautiful spots.
ReplyDeleteI love Carmel, visited this place some years ago. It's such a picturesque town and your photos show that it's almost exactly like how i remember the place! Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteUSA really has lots of nice little towns.
ReplyDeletejune: yes...
ReplyDeleteshen: i didn't do the place justice by rushing through it. it'd be lovely to just stay a couple of days n drive around. will do tt next time:)
pureg: this is monterey, not carmel! carmel post coming up next.
blurting: it does:)
Hope to see more photos of Carmel if possible. Read a lot about it in Danielle Steel books. Thanks.
ReplyDeletewow...i was there last year. love the place. the moment we got down from the car, the first thing we noticed was the strong smell of fish in the air. it was amazing.
ReplyDelete