Waking up in Sandwich, at the Quince Tree House Bed and Breakfast was a delight. Staying in New England bed and breakfasts in general make you never want to go home again. The service, the breakfasts! Wow. Now, as Quince Tree House has only three rooms and one table in the dining room, we all ate together, which is really something. We met a lovely couple from near where The New England Patriots play and a lengthy conversation ensued. I love the Americans. They can talk to anyone about anything and make people feel so welcome. I have a feeling the morning would have been much different if there were other Brits across from us. Or maybe I'm doing my kinsman a disservice.
Oh and I love the way they say Boston, it's more like "Bworston." It's amazing and of course whenever we refer to Boston, we still say Bworston, just like the locals.
Our three course breakfast consisted of home made cranberry and tangerine muffins to start, with apple juice. Then we were treated to poached plums and then omelet and bacon. I think 'stuffed' just about covers it but once again hats off to the owners, who took great care of us during our overnight stay. All those little touched really made it special and I would recommend to anyone visiting the Sandwich/Cape Cod area, to stay there.http://www.quincetreehouse.com/ We stayed in The Voden Room, the cheapest of the three but it was huge and had ensuite and was fabulous. http://www.quincetreehouse.com/voden.htm I still love the novelty of the step up to the bed. (It's the little things....)
The Dining Room - Tea, coffee and snacks are available in here 24/7 and here you are treated to your three course breakfast of champions. (No photographs from breakfast - I didn't think the other guests would appreciate being photographed while we ate. But believe me.....delicious!)
Time to explore Sandwich. Now this was speed tourism and we did have the whole Cape to do in one day, so we had to make a decision. We had a quick walk back past The Belfry where we ate last night, taking in some cute shops in Sandwich village and then whisked off to the Sandwich Boardwalk and our first beach of Cape Cod.
The Belfry Bistro. Looks even more incredible in daylight.
Keep going, keep going, you're almost at the beach.
The rugged beauty of the salt marshes; a natural wet land habitat for
coastal birds and animals. And an area of natural wonder. The colours
are so vivid, the yellow and orange and green on the reeds and grasses.
The browns of the mud and silt. The shiny transparent water and the
grey, weather washed boards of the boardwalk. Scintillating and that's
all before you even hit the beach!
Town Neck Beach, Sandwich MA...........Wow!
Sand, sea, rocks, pebbles, sand dunes.
The sun was barely up but the wind was, in a rousing blustery November way. Still there was something magical about that morning on the beach, something I can barely describe, something I'm sure Sandwichers know well. If you want to know more about Sandwich and it's boardwalk check out: http://sandwichmass.org/ And if you want to read about the boardwalk and it's fame as a Top Ten Boardwalk in the US, check out this article from The National Geographic: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/us-boardwalks/#page=2 They placed 8th and I was pleased to see that I'd been to one other - in this same trip, a week back when we were in LA - The Venice Boardwalk.
So basically, take from this: Sandwich is fab. Visit there. Walk the walk. Visit the beach. Stay at Quince Tree and if you have time explore some of the other attractions in town, whether it be The Sandwich Glass Museum, or the Heritage Museum and Gardens or one of the many other sites you'll find on the Sandwich website. But for us it was time to move on and take the drive all the way to the tip of the Cod and the happy smiley, always shiny Provincetown.
Stopping off for a drink and a rest in The Post Office Cafe.
More amazingly colourful shops in all shapes and sizes.
Provincetown is full of tiny streets and art galleries, quaint houses perched in almost impossible places and a feeling of "Anything Goes". In the Summer you can understand why the numbers swell and the streets are filled with the flavour of carnival, dance and music. Even in November, on a chilly Friday morning, there was a certain understated bustle to the place, an eagerness to enchant those tourists and locals alike.
Two things Provincetown definitely aren't short of are character and beaches.
I love the spindly, half collapsed pier in the distance. There's something so comforting about it, obviously a comfort you wouldn't find if walking on it. But as far as sight goes, it's pretty special.
Looking from beach to town and rising above P Town like a skinny cyclops is the staggering tower of the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum. Of course we thought straight away: I want to climb that!
And climb it we did.................
It'll cost you $10 to climb, which we thought was slightly steep, though it does include the museum, so not really. You can't buy a ticket just to climb. But we love to climb things and when faced with only 116 steps and 60 ramps we thought, this is a doddle. Hmmmmm. Actually, it does takes it's toll on the old legs.
Oh look, it's the spindly, I-once-was-a-pier, slightly less comforting when seen from this angle. Interesting building behind it though, with that polygon opening. Maybe we'll visit there later........
Looking up, up, up.
More views. The sweeping arc of land is rather majestic don't you think?
Check out the Pilgrim Monument website for news and events. http://www.pilgrim-monument.org/
There's lots of fun facts too and exhibition news. For instance, the tower is modelled on that of the Torre Del Magia in Siena. It's the tallest granite structure in the US. And all the granite was from Maine. Keeping it New England. Oh and the tower is 252 feet high. Ta-da!
We did have a quick blimp in the museum, but sadly didn't have the time to do it justice. We did claim our stickers though that proudly state: I made it to the top. You're darn right we did!
The Nut House (Bakery and Nut Stuff) But not everything contains nuts.
The bakery, which opens out onto Commerical street and into the Wharf is a treat. The Nut House. We had raisin scones that had literally just come out of the oven. We saw her do it. And hot cider. Oh my, what a treat for the mouth. We had a gander through the shops and sat at the open air end to eat our scones and drink our cider. Then sadly it was time to leave and explore more of this amazing Cape Cod. Thank you
P Town. http://www.provincetown-ma.gov/
So heading off towards Truro, back on Route 6, our first stop was Cape Cod light, which was sadly, but not unexpectedly, closed for the season. Still, a cute light house and interesting detour. For times when it is in season and you can climb to the top for fantastical views, check out it's very own website:
You can hear the waves crashing below you but weirdly from here you can't see the sea, so it's just this dismembered, thundering noise, battering the cliffs to within an inch of their life. Oddly unsettling.
Then we continued along the 6, just a short drive to the Truro Vineyards. http://trurovineyardsofcapecod.com/index.php They had such fabulous light house shaped bottles of wine, but we knew there was no way we had enough room or baggage allowance to take any samples home. Still they had a great shop with interesting and unique gifts. You could take a walk by the vines and they also do daily wine tastings and tours.
The vines at Truro Vineyards, Cape Cod.
On the way to Wellfleet, some beautiful marsh land.
Remind any one of Dawson's Creek? Just me? (Actually some was filmed on Martha's Vineyard, not too far away from here. Sadly we weren't able to fit in an Island visit.)
Wellfleet, our next stop is a tiny little village with an awesome general store. There was only a handful of shops open, which we visited and there was free parking and toilets, with amazingly vintage hand dryers. We bought some provisions from the general store, deciding that skipping lunch due to a large breakfast and a raisin scone was not going to cut it.
Wellfleet General Store
The Main Street
The Vintage Hand Dryer
Continuing on the 6, slowly winding our way back towards Boston, we stopped off at the Marconi Station Site, which was the site of the first ever radio broadcast. You pass a weird blobby thing and keep going to a look out post with a model of the original Marconi Site. http://www.stormfax.com/wireless.htm
The message transmitted from Wellfleet, Massachusettes to Poldhu in Cornwall.
Scale model of the original site and Marconi's towers.
Looking out towards Marconi beach with some cracking waves. Our next stop!
Normally you would have to pay around $15 to access the Marconi beach and facilities, but as it was out of season - sometimes that comes in handy - you could just drive straight in, park up and watch the crazy surfers going for it. I kept a safe distance from all that deep water but it was definitely a sight to behold.
Some how the waves don't look that fierce but they were, trust me. And the sound was incredible.
I stood for ages trying to get a decent shot and literally the last one was it. Congrats to the surfer who managed to do this, though you do terrify me slightly. Visit the National Parks page for Marconi beach at:
http://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/marconi-beach.htm for more information.
Time for another lighthouse and this time the stripy Nauset Lighthouse between Wellfleet and Eastham.
Another interesting little site. This lighthouse had also been relocated due to cliff erosion in the 1990's.Originally there had been three light houses on the Nauset cliffs called The Three Sisters. At this site is also a huge black wire that goes under the sea and across the Atlantic delivering the Internet and giving me the ability to blog and search online. Creepy and fascinating. I never think about those things as being done by a massive cable, to me it's more: Magic!
The light was beginning to fade on us and it allowed just enough time to visit the salt marshes at Yarmouth port and Sandy Neck Beach as we headed back towards mainland Massachusettes.
Just as the sun was setting. What a full day, brimmed with interesting sites, breath taking views, history, fun, colour and that pounding ocean. Visit Cape Cod. http://www.visitcapecod.com/ And if you have the time visit the islands Nantucket and Martha's Vineyards. They are our, absolutely-must-come-back-to-see places on the Cod. Not that we really needed an excuse to come back, did you read the blog? Anyhoo. An amazing place that needs to be seen to be believed.
Ah, from the serene empty beach to the big lights and traffic of the city. Welcome to Boston.
We found the accommodation, this time an Air b 'n' b reservation, settled in and then ventured out for some well earned dinner. We headed to Cambridge which is a huge area encompassing Harvard and MIT: the student's playground. All we wanted to do was eat but first we had to park. Oh dear. 40 minutes to find a park on the road space. Then you have to have loads of quarters to put in the machine. My partner was less than impressed, plus hungry and exhausted. Evil combination. So just bear in mind parking can be a nightmare. If public transport is an option, go for it and make sure you've got loads of coins.
Half a chicken and large sides of rice and sweet potato mash.
I thought this was Key Lime Pie as I'm certain I didn't have a dessert and my partner had the Key Lime, but now I look at it, I'm not sure it looks like a Key Lime Pie. Ah well. Looks great!
Next time we explore Boston, the last leg of our New England Road Trip and the final days of the USA 2012 trip. *sad* We return to Uni, have more parking issues, eat a load of food, look down on Boston from it's highest restaurant and catch a show.
The Sarky Traveller
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