Solvang Sideways - March 4th continued
This has been quite the movie-inspired trip; the next stop was to Sideways country. In case you haven’t seen it, Sideways is a movie set in the Santa Ynez valley wine region of California. The main characters sample wine and deal with their life issues. It’s a pretty funny film. Amy had sent me a Sideways map and we covered a lot of it over the two days.
http://www.santabarbaraca.com/listings/index.cfm?catid=9¬ify=1&contentid=63
We stayed at a lovely place called the Wine Valley Inn in a town called Solvang. Amy had described Solvang as “a little cheesy”. This turned out to be an understatement. It was originally a settlement of Danish people in 1911, but the Danish theme has got out of control and the place is a theme park. Imagine a small rural American town (population 1000) full of gift shops, bakeries and inns constructed with half-timbered walls and simulated thatch and copper roofs. The buildings are connected with cobblestone walkways and lit by gas lamps. It is very surreal - we counted four windmills. Places called things like “Hamlet Hotel” and “Viking Lodge” line Copenhagen Drive. The clientele? How can I put this delicately… Well, our neighbours were having an argument when we arrived. The guy was bandaging a bloody hand, and glass lay on the pavement outside. You could see a line of empty wine bottles and hear him yelling to his girlfriend “I’m not moving. They can call my lawyer”. It was real drama. We even turned off “Law and Order” to be able to listen better.
http://www.winevalleyinn.com/
Deciding not to succumb to the charms of “Big Bopper Diner” or “Viking Grill”, we went out of town to the upmarket Los Olivos café (featured in the movie Sideways) in the nearby town of Los Olivos. Fabulous food and wine (Buttonwood cabernet sauvignon 2004) and no riff raff.
http://www.losolivoscafe.com/
http://www.santabarbaraca.com/listings/index.cfm?catid=9¬ify=1&contentid=63
We stayed at a lovely place called the Wine Valley Inn in a town called Solvang. Amy had described Solvang as “a little cheesy”. This turned out to be an understatement. It was originally a settlement of Danish people in 1911, but the Danish theme has got out of control and the place is a theme park. Imagine a small rural American town (population 1000) full of gift shops, bakeries and inns constructed with half-timbered walls and simulated thatch and copper roofs. The buildings are connected with cobblestone walkways and lit by gas lamps. It is very surreal - we counted four windmills. Places called things like “Hamlet Hotel” and “Viking Lodge” line Copenhagen Drive. The clientele? How can I put this delicately… Well, our neighbours were having an argument when we arrived. The guy was bandaging a bloody hand, and glass lay on the pavement outside. You could see a line of empty wine bottles and hear him yelling to his girlfriend “I’m not moving. They can call my lawyer”. It was real drama. We even turned off “Law and Order” to be able to listen better.
http://www.winevalleyinn.com/
Deciding not to succumb to the charms of “Big Bopper Diner” or “Viking Grill”, we went out of town to the upmarket Los Olivos café (featured in the movie Sideways) in the nearby town of Los Olivos. Fabulous food and wine (Buttonwood cabernet sauvignon 2004) and no riff raff.
http://www.losolivoscafe.com/
posted by Jo at
10:50 AM
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