Another couple of days of our San Diego city break and first leg of our trip.
Walked along the beach this morning in Mission Bay, wrapped up against the slight chill although enjoyed the bright sunshine and sea air.
We visited Coronado and “ Hotel Del Coronado” the historical Victorian hotel whose claim to fame is that Some Like It Hot was filmed there in 1958 (one of my favourite movies). It’s an upmarket hotel and its restaurant “ 1500” has a good reputation although we did not eat there. The cost of parking at the hotel is USD15 per hour and if you are a guest it is USD25 per day which is extortionate so beware. We were lucky we noticed before it was too late.
Coronado’s Orange Avenue though, is nice to while away a few hours as its full of deli’s , cafes, boutiques and a few restaurants.
We also spent a few hours and drove to the Carlsbad Outlet Mall. It’s about 30 minutes drive from downtown and highly regarded, but don’t bother. Its not worth it and like any other mall the world over but without a lot of choice.
Another place to visit is Seaport Village in San Diego. A tad touristy bordered by the Hyatt and Marriot hotels with tacky souvenir shops but do not let that put you off. It is a lovely setting on the bay with some nice restaurants and a picturesque promenade around the bay which is great for a stroll on a bright sunny morning or afternoon. If you are feeling energetic join the local joggers or the San Diego fire brigade who park up and jog most mornings. One for the girls! It’s also not far from the Gaslamp District which is full of bars, clubs and restaurants . I humoured Alan and we visited the USS Medway a couple of blocks down from Seaport Village. The Medway is a huge aircraft carrier which for 10yrs was the biggest ship in the World. It was decommissioned in 1992. Frankly, it was more interesting than I thought it would be. Certainly great for kids with some accessible fighter aircraft from the forties and current models such as the F18 Hornet (So Alan tells me) and flight simulator rides.
We spent last night in the restaurant “Alchemy” on 30th Street. Modern Californian fusion cuisine all sourced from local farms with “in season” ingredients. 30th Street has grown up over the last 5 years as San Diego’s restaurant row and set in a residential area is supported by the local community and most of these restaurants support sustainability and operate a farm to table policy.
All in all our impression of San Diego is a good one. Its clean, cosmopolitan and welcoming. For a city break or holiday it is much better than LA and also close to the Mexican border and Baja for excursions and only a couple of hours into the desert. We are visiting in one of the quietest months and although we have not been able to appreciate the miles of beaches ,swimming and sailing as it is a tad too cold for us we have still enjoyed our stay and look forward to writing about the city and our experience in more detail in our travel guide.
