One Night in Monterey

On a recent trip to The San Francisco Bay area, my husband, Keith, and I decided to make this trip unique from the last few times we made it to this destination over the years. Instead of spending all of our free time in the city of San Francisco and me spending time in the El Camino Real corridor (Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and San Jose), we decided to travel further south and a bit north of the The Golden Gate City. 

Once Keith finished work in Palo Alto, we headed south on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH, Route 1) with our first goal being Monterey! Last year we made it down to Santa Cruz on the PCH. This landed us on the northern shore of Monterey Bay. This year I wanted to visit cities at the southern shore of the bay; namely Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea.

I was so excited! I’d seen movies and television shows that featured these towns and had a romanticized view of this destination — and it was well-founded. As we only had 24 hours to see these two locations (thank God they are less than seven miles apart) we were able to get a brief impression of this amazing locale.

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We stayed at Monterey Hotel & Spa for the one night we were in town. Choosing a four-star hotel online is a bit nerve-wracking as you hope the price is worth it. In this case, it absolutely was! Everything about the place from the initial greeting by the bellmen, the gentleman at the check-in desk who offered us a glass of wine to carry up to our room while we waited on our luggage, made us feel like royalty. And when we walked into our room on the fourth floor? I hate to use a cliche’, but it was breath-taking. 

Walking in, the first thing we saw was the ocean view through the balcony doors and we were lost. I planned to take a photo of the room before our stuff was slung all over the place (we can be messy guests) but we nosedived for the patio doors and balcony. The waves were crashing under our room as the hotel is built on pilings that reach out into the surf. And let me tell you about a fabulous night’s sleep with the surf resounding through our door.

For dinner, we used the prompt and reliable bell service (our driver and guide was Shakim and he was extremely informative and personable) to get to Old Fisherman’s Wharf for dinner. On starting out, we were just going to check out the wharf and choose a place randomly. Shakim made sure we didn’t have to do that. He recommended The Old Fisherman’s Grotto and Scales. He told us that most of the restaurants on the wharf offered a sample of their New England clam chowder and we could decide that way, too.

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We chose The Old Fisherman’s Grotto http://www.oldfishermansgrotto.com/ because it looked cozy and elegant. Again, we were not disappointed. Most of the restaurants offered a free calamari appetizer if you chose to dine with them. The Grotto offered a choice of four appetizers. Ironically, we chose the calamari and it was lightly-breaded and delicious. We also ordered their barbecued oysters along with a bowl of clam chowder to share. I ordered the Grilled Scallops with Ginger-Lime beurre blanc, toasted Israeli couscous and sauteed organic Vegetables. Yum! Keith had the same. For dessert we shared the chocolate creme brûlée. It was so elegant and delicious.

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During dinner, we had an amazing view of the (park bicycle and walking trail), the inlet between the shoreline and the wharf with was populated with cormorants, seagulls preening themselves with outside the window, a sea otter floating on its back eating a fish, pelicans, houseboats, seals, etc.

After dinner, our server offered me a long-stemmed red rose. Well played. I highly recommend this restaurant if you happen to be in the area some time.

After dinner we walked back to our hotel along the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail, changed into our bathing suits and took a dip in the street-side hot tub. If you want to soak in a hot tub and watch the ocean, you can do this if you visit the Blue Spa and enjoy a treatment.

We visited the hotel bar at Schooners Coastal Kitchen Bar and had a drink (mine was the Monterey Tea Party and they also had a Big Little Lies drink — the bartender said, “Of course we have one.” (Monterey gained recent popularity for some of the locales in the HBO series, Big Little Lies. Note: The coffee shop where Jane, Celeste and Madeline go hangout in Season 1 is actually Paluca Trattoria, a rustic Italian and seafood restaurant just to the right as you enter the wharf.)

We sat on the outside deck and watched the lights over the ocean and listened to the waves. We realized we could have the same experience from our balcony, so we retired to the room.

The next morning, we woke to the sound of the surf four floors down and right under our room. We had coffee on the balcony then headed down to The C Restaurant further down the shoreline (about a ten minute walk). It turned out to be the restaurant inside The Clement Hotel and was delicious with gorgeous ocean views. After breakfast we strolled their decking which had portions cut out so you could watch the surf below.

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We had very little time before checkout and heading to Carmel-by-the-Sea, but we stuck our heads into a few of the shops along Cannery Row. The Sock Shop offered the largest selection of socks I have ever seen! The Steinbeck sculpture along the way is very cool too.

The only thing I planned to do that I missed was take a bike ride (Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa offers free bike check out but it’s first come first serve and they go early each day). This whirlwind visit to such a lovely seaside town will have to be on our itinerary in future.

We both told friends after arriving home, Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa is a place we could call home. We couldn’t afford it, but if we could…..

Have you ever been to Monterey? What was your favorite experience there? Let me know in the comments so we can check it out next time we are there.