St. Martin, French West Indies
 |
| St. Martin |
When you want to decompress,
relax, and read a few books, spend a week in St. Martin, on the French side.
Jet Blue flies non-stop from
Boston. Rent a car at the airport; it is fun to drive around the entire island,
which also includes the Dutch side, Sint Maarten.
We prefer the French side,
which is rural, quaint, and quiet. We have stayed in the little town of Grand
Case, home of many family-owned French restaurants. Le Petite Hotel and the
Bleu Emeraude (bleuemeraude.com) are both charming small inns on Grand Case
Blvd and on the beach. The larger Grand Case Beach Club is a popular resort.
This year (2012), we decided
to stay on Orient Beach, further northeast on the French side. It is a large,
busy beach with many little restaurants and BBQ spots, windsailing, and other
water sports. It can also be topless and offers one totally nude section (not
our section, of course!). L’Hoste Hotel
(hostehotel.com) is located a hundred steps from the beach and partners with La Playa to offer breakfast and lunch. It is comfortable, clean, a beach hotel,
not a resort. We enjoyed rolling out of
bed to have breakfast next to the beach and being able to come and go at will.
The beach and its activities are great fun!
Restaurant favorites:
Grand Case: La Villa, owners Florence and Christophe
L’Estaminet, owners
Carol and chef, Ina
Marigot: Tropicana
Sandy Ground: Le Santal, owner Madame Dupont, who owns/manages the restaurant since her husband’s
death a few years ago. Le Santal, with table views on the water, is an
incredibly charming and romantic restaurant with delicious food. Expensive.
Sandy Ground is a tiny section outside Marigot.
Mont Vernon le taitu, family owned
Very casual, near Orient
Beach
Isle de Pinel is an island
off the French side. A 5 minute ferry takes
you to a lovely beach, calm snorkeling waters, and 3 restaurants. Rent a beach
chair.
March 2013 we will return for
our 4th year of relaxing and book reading on an interesting island.
Marsha Lamson 2008 and 2014