Knowing that we Indians don’t deprive any part of the world of our presence, I have been wondering where all the Indians were in Los Angeles. Well, I found them all this Thanksgiving weekend in a cute little Danish town in California. Talk about one world, eh!
I pay a bunch of money to keep this website alive but I haven’t really been using it well. One of the things I wanted to do here was post my travel stories regularly, but due to a mix of laziness, busy ness, motivelessness (ok, enough with the language butchering) and discouragement on seeing so many wanderlusters hashtagging away, I have refrained from posting too many articles here. Of late though, I have been missing my blogging days. So, I figured I’ll get right back on the horse. I have so many pending travel posts and wondered where to begin. To keep things simple, I’m starting with my most recent weekend trip to Solvang.
A 2-hour drive from Los Angeles (make it 3-4 if you’re traveling during holidays or weekends as this is a popular route), Solvang is a charming Danish town located at a convenient driving distance for both northern and southern Californians. Therefore, you can expect to see a bunch of tourists here on most weekends and holidays. We were here during Julefest 2023 and as expected, the place was bustling.
We stopped at Carpinteria at The Spot for some lip-smacking burgers. This is a popular eatery and we expected there to be a line. Fortunately, it took us just a few minutes to get our order and grab a table (free seating). After enjoying our burgers and milkshake while taking in the pleasant town view, we were back on the road to reach Solvang by 4 pm (check in time at our hotel).
If I were to describe Solvang in one line, it would be – happy, old-timey town full of bakeries, wineries, cool Scandinavian-style buildings, and an eclectic mix of tourists (but mostly Indians 😉 ). It is very walkable and has several souvenir and art shops for those who like shopping.
Breakfast places open early and have long queues if you don’t get there in the first half hour. Bakeries here are also extremely popular for their treats, so expect long queues unless you get really lucky or are there during their early hours. The Solvang Brewing Company is open late (midnight) for pub-lovers. Fitzpatrick’s Tavern closes at 9 pm but is a sweet Irish pub with several TVs for sports lovers.
We started our trip by hitting the Sanger Family of Wines located a stone’s throw from our hotel. After treating ourselves to their fine selection of wines and a decent cheeseboard (our friend Kirsti’s cheeseboards have ruined all other cheeseboards for us), we decided to walk around a bit to make some room in our bellies for dinner. As it started getting dark, we saw queues forming outside all restaurants. Thankfully, we were smart enough to make a reservation at Osteria Grapollo nearby so we were able to just walk in. A delicious pasta, salad and glass of wine later, we were ready to turn in for the night.
We started early the next morning to beat the long breakfast queues. One of the great things about our hotel, Hamlet Inn, was that we were literally on the main street and could see what’s going on from our window. I was so excited about this that when I woke up for a bit around 1 am, I peeked through the curtains to see what was going on outside. And voila – four Indians were walking down the street. Anyway, we saw in the morning around 7:30 am that there wasn’t a long queue outside Paula’s Pancake House. So we got there quick and got a table within 15-20 minutes. When we had the buttermilk pancakes and Danish omelette here, we understood what the long lines were for. Following breakfast, we stood in another small queue at Olsen’s Bakery next door, as my dear wife wanted to bring home some sweet snacks.
Other than the town itself, Solvang is a great destination for wine lovers on account of its proximity to Santa Ynez (15 mins) and Paso Robles (1.5 hours). Both these places have numerous wineries and vineyards, where you can enjoy wonderful tastings with lovely views. The drive to Paso Robles is very scenic and worth the road trip. Some of our favorite wineries in Paso Robles are Thacher, Kiami and Opolo. In the Santa Ynez area, we had been to Stolpman in our previous visit. This time, we visited a winery recommended to us by our friend Kirsti, and it was the highlight of our Thanksgiving weekend.
Roblar Winery and Vineywards in Santa Ynez was just a 12-min drive from our hotel in Solvang. We made a lunch reservation for 11:30 am and got there in time to get a good table right by the vineyard. The day was gorgeous with the sun shinging bright enough to give the sky a radiant blue hue. The weather was perfect – not too hot or cold – with a slight breeze making it fun to be outdoors. We were surrounded by plants and flowers of various colors – green, lavender, red and maroon. A couple of hummingbrids kept us company by buzzing around in the background, while we tasted a variety of wines and treated ourselves to some delicious marinated olives, caesar salad and a kale-mushroom pizza.
I was particularly excited to find a Grenache wine that, I’ve been told, goes well with spicy Indian food! Our afternoon at Roblar was as lovely as Kirsti had told us it would be, and we were happy to head back to town with no expectations of things to do for the rest of the day.
We ended up having some great coffee at the Good Seed Coffee Roasters, followed by a walk to the Book Loft where I had an epiphany. We had driven past a farm full of horses on our way to the winery and I was wondering about various horse breeds. I was browsing through the science section in the store when I saw that there was an entire “Horses” section on the other side. This side was next to a window and as soon as I got there, through the glass I saw two horses pulling a carriage across the road. And that’s how I stopped browsing and ended up buying a book called “Great Stud-Farms of the World” from The Book Loft. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing indoors.
The next morning, we had brunch at Mad & Vin located just a minute’s walk from our hotel . This was a posh fine-dining restaurant with elegant decor and a pleasant view to the minimalistic, green patio. We kept it simple with eggs, toast and bacon but the skillet this came in looked quite fancy (as expected). Our average cost of eating for 2 at most places ended up being around $40-60 which was not bad at all given the service and quality of food.
The drive back from Solvang to LA was quite fast since we decided to beat the traffic by leaving before 10 am. So we were home by noon. I have been on this route multiple times but still get blown away by the spectacular views of the ocean. The waves crashing against the rocks as viewed from the road between Carpinteria and Ventura is quite special. This is something I also had the opportunity to witness up close on my Pacific Coast train ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco, as the tracks are right up there next to the water.
Cheers to Solvang, that has proven to be a wonderful weekend getaway yet again. Leaving you with some more pictures here –
