"More Bentleys than a top league footbal team!" Carmel-by-the-Sea by hotlipz

As I've been to the United States for more than ten years now I have to say that not a lot surprises me about America. I have found the weird, the wonderful, the stereotypical and unusual but I have to say that Carmel even surprised me. This little town was just as if it was out of a chocolate box, beautiful - it even smelt nice because of all the flowers growing in the well kept front gardens (and no I cant call them 'yards' - these a just like English Country 'gardens'.

The houses - mostly shingle fronted cottages with picket fencing - have no numbers as most people in the US are used to - although of course a lot of houses in the UK just have names. Instead they are called for Example the house on the corner of next to the so and so - how quaint! We stayed in the Holiday Inn and even that didnt look like your run of the mill motel.

We were only in Carmel-by-the-Sea for a couple of days so had no chance of trying out all the eateries but where we did eat was well above the average. We had both our evening meals at the Hogs Breath Inn - previously owned by Clint Eastwood (I believe he still lives here and I can see why!) There is a lovely almost British style bar and a friendly, cosey restaurant with fires going and a wonderful courtyard. Set back from the main street it seems incredibly popular compared with some of the restaurants we passed on the way. I loved the food. It was good, old fashioned comfort food like steak, chops, ribs etc and there was a good selection of beer and wine.

For Breakfast we went to Katies - this was recommended by someone in Tiburon and I can see why it's so well known. Although the food can be a bit too much for us Brits the quality and selection was second to none. The kitchen is very busy and on full display so you can see whats going on. The service was exceptional.

...and the last place we ate was Alan's idea. We went to the very famous Carmel Cheese Shop and bought (you guessed it) some cheeses, salami, french bread and beer. The shop gave us napkins and forks and wrapped it all up. We headed off to the beach and spent the whole afternoon with our picnic, reading our books and chilling out! It was incredibly relaxing and the icing on the cake for me was meeting another Gordon Setter on the beach (and the owner of course) and exchanging notes on our common interest!

• Pros:it feels safe and friendly
• Cons:Like my home town it's very hilly and could be a challenge for some people