Following our trip to Carmel Valley and Holman Ranch, we took the short drive to the chocolate-box town of Carmel by the Sea. Before we left to go to the US I googled Carmel by the Sea and was excited about it, however this excitement increased whenever we mentioned to people where we were going and they told us how beautiful it was.
Driving into Carmel by the Sea feels like you’re going back in time, and even with the town buzzing with tourists, it had a sleepy feel to it. Things are done a little different here, no businesses are allowed to have neon signs, in fact all of their signage must be made out of wood. There are no traffic lights, just stop signs, and each store (even the gas station) has the same distinct look to it as the others on the surrounding streets.
I remembered when I was shooting this outfit post whilst in Carmel feeling like a lot of people were staring and feeling quite uncomfortable at all of the looks I was getting, and at first I assumed it was because I was quite dressed up and being photographed. This is probably still the case, however after doing some research on the town it turns out that it is actually illegal to wear high heels in Carmel, due to many falls in the 1920’s which resulted in law suits against the town! Quite odd yet amusing, I know.
During our 3 days in Carmel we stayed at the European inspired family owned ‘Hofsas House‘, located at the end of the main street in Carmel and a short leisurely stroll to all of the restaurants and shops. I absolutely adored this place. It had such a homely, comfortable feel to it, and the owners were so hospitable and made us feel so welcome. On arrival we were show to our room which had a warm fire, a bottle of Californian Chardonnay and a cheese platter waiting for us… what more could anyone ask for! Breakfast was also served every morning in the reception area where we started each day full of yummy pastries.
The first night in Carmel we went to dinner with Cristen from The Naptime Reviewer and were treated to dinner and drinks at the very popular Mundaka restaurant. The food, drinks and ambience were perfect, and the waiter made us feel like we were locals returning back to Carmel after spending a few years abroad. My tip, get the Brava’s potatoes… they are incredible and so hard to eat just one plate! The second night we had a late night dinner at Christopher’s and were lucky to have the restaurant to ourselves. As seen in the pics below, I had pasta and Nathan had the chicken special, both of which were full of flavour and absolutely yummy. I’m getting so hungry right now thinking about all of this delicious food we had!
One of my favourite things we did while we were in Carmel was the Wine Walk Passport. I’ve said it a few times on my blog and I’ll say it again… I love wine. When I was told about this wine tour of Carmel which involves you walking around the town visiting various tasting rooms of wineries in Carmel Valley etc, I couldn’t think of a better way to explore and discover a new place, in fact I think all cities should have them! There are 12 tasting rooms on the Wine Passport, and let me know you now that it is almost impossible to do all 12. As we only had one day in Carmel left we attempted to do this, however as their ‘tastings’ are more like half a glass of wine (God bless America) and each tasting room gives you about 5 of these ‘tastings’, we were pretty silly come the fifth place! I wish we were able to take some more photos of the wine tour, but we were a little preoccupied!
I had such a lovely time whilst in Carmel by the Sea and it was the perfect, quiet holiday I needed before the craziness of New York Fashion Week started. Thank you to all who made our stay so lovely, we can’t wait to come back and visit soon.
