Sunday, February 19, 2012

Lodging c/o A Stone's Throw Away, Lunch c/o Traveller's Rest

We spent the majority of our flight to Nassau talking about the Vampire Diaries. Or, more accurately, I attempted to distract L. from the flight by talking at her about the Vampire Diaries. In any case, we landed safely. L. was flying out that very day, which was sad making for us both I think. I had one more night to play with. After our arrival at the airport we took a moment or two to reflect on our trip and then I called A Stone's Throw Away in order to have someone from the establishment pick me up and bring me to where I'd be lying my head for the last evening of my Bahamian trip. I had chosen the place because it was far less expensive than some of the bigger chains, but seemed to be less sketchy than some of the other even cheaper places. And that's not to say that this was an incredibly cheap hotel. I think I got my room for $230 a night or so, which is still far better than the $300-$500 for some of the bigger chains and resorts. And it was really quite a little gem in my opinion. I had one of two rooms on the second floor that opened up onto one of the place's two levels of wraparound porches, with a great sea view. And then there were these day beds and other nice furniture to take advantage of. You see that day bed kind of thing right there? I lay on that for a couple of hours, yes I did.
The view.
The first floo's shared porch space, also where you could get breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The little lagoon-like pool.
The stairs leading up to the hotel. The hotel is literally an easy five minute drive to the airport and a five to ten minute walk to the water. And on a high embankment/hill/cliff, which really makes you feel like you're above it all, even though the major ring around the island road is just a block or two away.
After checking in I decided that I would follow through on my plan to have lunch at Traveller's Rest. So I walked down the stairs, then down a small hill and then along the water for about five minutes.



This was my view while I ate.
I was disheartened to learn that they only did conch salad on weekends, but I understood that it's not a dish that keeps all that well, so I made due with trying their conch stew...which was great. Peppery and spicy, rich and salty. A good thing.
For my main lunch I chose to go with the whole fried snapper, which came with peas and rice and the choice of two sides. I went with macncheese and coleslaw.
Early on I accidentally swallowed a small fish bone. The waitress thought that my expression of consternation was because I was afraid of the fish. I managed to croak that I just was having a little fish bone problem, she suggested eating a plug of bread. And that helped get that bone away from my throat. Good trick to know: bread. The fish itself was great. Spiced nicely, flaky white meat.
Afterwards I walked back to the hotel, changed into my suit and then went back to the water for a short spell.

Then I returned and made myself a Ricardo rum and pineapple juice drink. The hotel had an 'honor bar' where you made your own drinks and then would write them down on a clipboard and then be charged at the end of your stay. I wasn't planning on wiling out on my last night, but I both liked and disliked this feature. I liked it because it was homey and allowed me to ponder a drink choice without making a bartender wait on me. I disliked it because they didn't actually give you a sense of how they priced the different alcohols and mixers. It turned out not to be that bad, but I did wonder.
There was an older British couple in the other room facing the sea, and we made friends a bit. When the husband saw that I was trying to take a photograph of myself with the sea in the background, he offered to take the photo for me, which turned out better than my attempts. Though I look a little shiny. That is actually because I had just put lotion on my face after a shower and it hadn't sunk in yet.
Then I lay on day bed, read a book, drank my strong rum drink and generally basked in the setting sun's rays.

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