Monterey: Summertime In January!

A couple of days ago i visited Monterey with my international friends for the first time. And I've been happily surprised :)

It took us about two hours to get there with the bus from San Jose - and I gotta say that our bus driver was pretty crazy. When we took off I fought against myself no to throw up -.- I'm sorry for this awful detail -.-

Anyways, despite we are still in January, the weather was awesome: Blue sky, just a few clouds that didn't ruin the atmosphere, warm breeze coming form the sea and bright sun.

The group was pretty big and half of us went to visit the famous aquarium; The other half - including myself - went to enjoy the beach and the historic downtown.

We got to the most touristic area in less than ten minutes and the pier was overcrowded.
We tasted like four different soups (clam chowder) - gotta love free samples haha - and we decided to go for the last one.

After that we went up to the panorama view to take some pictures. Aww that was soooo good, love the smell of salinity :)

We moved then to the beach, where an unpredicted wave made us really wet! We walked for a while following the shoreline when we finally met up with the rest of the group.
The guys decided to show off their courage and they got naked - kind of - to go and swim in the ocean.
...
Useless to say that they got frozen haha ;) Actually there were so many people swimming, but most of them were wearing suits to cope with the cold water. If you will ever decide to go surfing or scuba diving on the west coast, be sure you're provided of good equipment. The bathing suit is not enough :)

Afterwards, we went back visiting the town and we ended up in the most famous street in Monterey: Cannery Row.
So many good hotels there, amazing views and a great restaurant right on the beach. We didn't eat there, but I really wish I could go back just to sit there and enjoy the landscape :)

Before going back to take the bus, we passed in front of the United States Army - Presidio of Monterey and then we finally got back to the bus station.

Despite the short time, we definitely had a good time. Monterey is really tiny and nice - maybe a little too much touristic -, and the weather is supposed to be good pretty much all the time. I really feel like suggesting it as a stop if you will ever pass near through the area :) http://www.monterey.org/

C.