Gourmet Vacation to New Caledonia
Friday, October 23rd, 2009Looking for a vacation destination that is truly unique? You might be considering of someplace that provides beaches and sailing opportunities, plus the cuisine and ambience of a metropolitan city. A perfect vacation that has all of this is a trip to the French colony of New Caledonia, situated about halfway between Fiji and Australia.
This island is situated farther south compared to other South Pacific islands, benefiting from southeast trade winds, plenty of sunlight and balmy weather. If a sailing holiday is what you are intending to have, New Caledonia is situated in a part of the Pacific that has the most remarkable coral lagoon in the globe. Sailing charters are available and with the aid of the trade winds you can sail out of the capital city of Noumea along the coastal line, past the many small islands that dot the ocean around the New Caledonia. The island also has other outdoor activities such as scuba diving, snorkel diving, horseback riding, canoeing, and kayaking.
If you were thinking of a gourmet holiday, New Caledonia has almost everything you could want. New Caledonia’s capital, Noumea, also known as the Paris of the Pacific. Noumea offers delicate gourmet French food and wine along with the other benefits of a bustling cosmo town. The restaurants here are some of the best in the South Pacific. Colonized by the French in 1853, New Caledonia has a distinct French influence when it comes to food and wine.
There are great deal of places to eat, ranging from sidewalk cafes to elegant bistros. French cuisine is easy to come by, but other alternatives include Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and African food. Seafood is a specialty of the Island, including spiny lobster, prawns, crab, and mangrove oysters. One of Noumea’s national dishes is Bougna, which is fish or chicken, combined with sweet potatoes and bananas wrapped in banana leaves and then cooked covered in sand on hot stones. For the adventurous traveller on a epicurean vacation, you can try a dish popular with the locals, bat stew.
You can make a vacation to New Caledonia anything you want it to be: a sailing holiday, a gourmet holiday, or a time to just relax by the beach.