St. Barths- info:
A luxuriant villa and an immaculate beach. Leisurely dinners alongside movie stars and supermodels. A vacation could be worse.
But wanting a vacation on St. Barthelemy and having one are different things. This island’s beauty, luxury and exclusive company come with a steep price tag. And should you have what it takes for a holiday on St. Barthelemy, a word of warning: If you are lucky enough to recognize a celebrity behind a pair of sunglasses, don’t expect to collect an autograph. Those breaking the island’s law of studied nonchalance will likely be deported.
St. Barthelemy (better known as St. Barts or St. Barth) first came into the spotlight back in the 1950s when David Rockefeller and a few other prosperous individuals built holiday homes there. Slowly but surely, jet-setters from two continents followed suit, and St. Barts was on its way to becoming the fashionable getaway for the rich and the famous.
They don’t choose St. Barts for the company, though that’s certainly part of the allure: The beaches are secluded, the water is warm, and the landscape of hills and ravines is lovely. The island is sophisticated yet laid-back, with a decidedly French ambience. The people of St. Barts are adept at providing comfort, quiet and security to their well-heeled visitors.
The island has an area of 8 sq miles, it’s small! 🙂
——————-
We got here on the Jet Blue flight from NYC to St. Marteen and then took a small commuter plane ( 10 m) to St. Barth. The landing is quie like coming down from a rollercoaster! It’s really not for the faint of heart!
1st Stop today, was a stay at Eden Rock, http://www.edenrockhotels.com ( Part of the Relais Chateaux affiliation).
This hotel was built in the 1950’s and it has only changed hands once. The English couple that purchased it, David and Jane Matthews, wanted to make this their home, but they ended up converting it into a hotel. They are not from the industry and this is their only hotel ! It’s kind of nice that it’s an independent boutique hotel. This adds to the charm of the place. it feels homey, as all art, fixtures etc have been picked by her.
They have been re-modeling it and in 2010, bought some more property along to beach, to build some more modern, beach villas. The beach is great, powder sand, great snorkling, padding, kayaking around here and the waters, are just so clear- turquoise blue!
They have 7 different categories of rooms. The rock side, is more for couples, more romantic. The beach side, is more for those who want to see and be seen, families etc.
This hotel is barely 5 minutes from the airport. Maps here are terrible, signs and directions even worse. We were lost for an hour, till we eventually found it! 🙂 Hotel does have a pick up chauffeur service.
Since we arrived at lunch time, we decided to try the beach restaurant, “SAND BAR”.It’s a Jean-George restaurant, so we were expecting a fantastic meal.
1stly- the menu was very odd, for the beach setting. It’s to hot to sit out and eat salmon, or fresh fish.
2ndly- the fresh fish sanwich was average, my chicken palliard salad was unevenly cooked.
Overall, we were disappointed, but figured , it was just lunch, we would give the ” ON THE ROCKS” restaurant, ( JG fine dining) a try.
Part of the afternoon was spent doing a site inspection and then we relaxed in our amazing suite. 🙂 In the evening, we drove our red mini convertible to the town of Gustavia, which has some fantastic high end shopping, interesting stores, restaurants, bars and a great place to look at yachts.
Our room, was a Fregate Suite, (premium room), it was a duplex, with 2 terraces and outdoor showers, and a jacuzzi over looking the water. HEAVENLY!! 🙂
Some pics of town:
For dinner, we returned to our hotel, to try ” ON THE ROCKS”. We just got main courses, as we had a late lunch.
The menu is french-asian fusion. For me, the fusion, means neither here nor there. I love French food and I LOVE Asian, but what I love most in my food , is big, bold flavors.
We got the scallops with ponzo sauce and noodles- it was ok. I got the salt and pepper lobster, with green chillies, ginger and napa cabbage. Sounds good right? it was ok… the seafood was cooked well, but the flavor profile for me, was just disappointing. I have eaten much better food at 1/2 the cost.
The view of the water, overlooking the Bay of St. Jean, was very pretty though.
pearltravels 