Monterey

Monterey
County has come a long way since it served as the
setting for John Steinbeck’s 1945-published novel Cannery Row,
which opens with a description of the city’s docks. While you’d be
hard pressed to recognise Steinbeck’s Cannery Row – or its
salubrious fictional characters – in the revamped sardine factories
lining Monterey’s waterfront today, this understated Cali town retains a magical, Janus-like
character.

Bohemians, artists and literary types persevere, alongside a TV
exec or two. The backdrop to HBO’s hit series
Big Little Lies, Monterey County pairs its well-heeled
beachfront properties and glossy-haired luxe living with the city
proper’s quirky galleries, cafés and literary hubs (stop by the
quaint Old Monterey Book Co. to pick up a Steinbeck or three).

Jump into a car or on a bike and dip in and out of the
peninsula’s secreted-away settlements: historic Pacific Grove, with
its Victorian clapboard cottages, the chocolate-box cobbles and
unusual architecture of storybook Carmel-by-the-Sea and the artist
enclave of Moss Landing, just a 25-minute drive away.

Like its residents, Monterey County is well-heeled and well-kept
– but its discerning side keeps good company with quirkier,
under-the-radar spots. San
Francisco urbanites are starting to recognise the bubble of
calm that surrounds this area, but guarded residents keep their
favourite hangouts under wraps. A stroll away from Cannery Row’s
hubbub, you’ll find Italian restaurants and chic French bistros.
Venture further afield to the satellite villages dotting the
peninsula and local brew houses and sustainable vineyards to rival
Napa’s begin to appear. Wherever you go, however, you’ll encounter
glorious landscapes – the shimmering sea mists, stretching
shorelines, endless horizons and boulder-strewn coastline
punctuated by wind-whipped beaches that led Steinbeck to call
Monterey “a dream”.

Just two hours’ by car from San Francisco (and another five from
Los Angeles), Monterey County is the perfect
stopover on a road trip down the Pacific coast. Whether you’re a
literary pilgrim seeking what Steinbeck described as the city’s
“quality of light” or a BLL fanatic wanting to get lost in the
show’s setting, it’s time to turn up that Michael Kiwanuka track
and hit the highway. Let’s hit the road.