The first day, we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. It took us around an hour for the meal. When we came out, to our utter surprise, the street outside, which happens to be the lifeline of the town, had been converted to a fruit market. That is
Santa Barbara. A very relaxed town at the coast line of
California. I have never been to such a small, beautiful and relaxed town as this one. The downtown has no building above two stories, rather too small for a person from
Chicago. However it has a wide variety of restaurants and other stalls to keep you engaged. It has a lot of green. People can be seen loitering all around or just sitting on the benches. For a moment, I had to recheck if it was actually a weekday. Nobody showed any sign of a rush.
The co-existence of the hills and the ocean makes it a very scenic place. The pier offers a good view of the city. I went to the Goleta beach too which is closer to the university campus. However, the only disappointment was that the water wasn’t clean. I had to drop my plan of bathing in the sea. I had been to the university beach on the last day just before leaving. The water was clearer there but then I didn’t have the time to enjoy it. Our trip to the vineyard for the dinner on Thursday was a very noble experience. The hilly road by the side of the ocean and through the country side was awesome. We went through a Dutch town and farms of horses and ostriches to finally arrive at the winery. The dinner with fine wine and adequate supplements was perfect.
The University of Santa Barbara campus was very attractive too. The very well-defined campus is surrounded by the natural beauties all around. The campus itself is very green. The dearth of students in the summer made it all the more silent and serene. The over-all get-up of the campus, the trees, the abundance of bikes, entrance of the student halls, the buildings reminded me of the KGP campus. It was so unlike UIC.
The note will be incomplete without a mention of the airport. It is again so small. It is made out of a building which wasn’t meant to be an airport. These days I am so used to the big airports, I was actually confused there. It was easier to figure my way out in the LA airport then in Santa Barbara. And, the planes that flew between LA and SB, are pretty small. The American Eagle flights carry hardly forty people. It initially feels a bit uncomfortable travelling in these old style planes, but then the views from the top help you get rid of the worries and enjoy the journey.
Downtown
A view of the Goleta beach
New Day Dawns
The Vineyard
University Campus - silent and serene
The small plane
3 comments:
Nice Picture :-)
Wiwi W
http://myfavecorner.blogspot.com
We actually do have building higher than 2 stories in the downtown area, however we do have a height ordance. The two remaining "highrises" are essentially the only ones that remained after an earthquake destroyed the town in 1925.
The airport is small because the land it is built on is essentially "swampland" (as is most of the land in the area) and heavier planes would do great damage to the landing strip....
One of my favorite named streets here in town is "Salsipuedes" which literally translated means "get out if you can" for when the rains came, the area around the street would get even more "swampy" and "quicksandy" and the horse and buggies would get stuck in the mud. Our underpasses continually leak water due to the "swampy" condition of the area.
We have our Farmer's Markets in the downtown area on Tuesdays and Saturdays...and we offer up much more than fruit.
No beach is clean anymore due to the pollution and garbage we toss into it...and into rivers and streams that flow into the ocean.
Sorry you didn't get to see our neighbors out in the ocean. We have some humpback whales going through the channel and there are blue whale sightings as well.
Glad you enjoyed your stay. Keep in mind, however, the median priced home here in "adobe Disneyland" is approximately $1.25Million. Yes...MEDIAN priced.
@wiwi - thx a lot for the compliments
@cookie jill - thx for ur detailed comments, i didn't have all the info, it is no doubt a very nice town
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