St. Barth's, French West Indies - Final Day

Gustavia Harbor

On my final day in St. Barths, we drove into Gustavia to have a look at the yachts docked in the harbor and to devour a delicious calorie-ridden crepe breakfast post New Year's Eve. Sadly, as it was January 1st and a national holiday, all the shops were closed, but at least my credit card was spared.

Ham, swiss cheese and egg crepe

Nutella and banana crepe

After walking around the harbor all morning, we headed to Saline Beach and then stopped for a late lunch at L'Esprit on the same road. This open-air restaurant serves a globally inspired menu that changes daily to incorporate the freshest available local ingredients. 

What we ate: Fennel and smoked Mahi salad:

Mixed salad:

Provencal pie with Mahi Mahi, tomatoes, olives, and caramelized onions:

A refreshing lemon sorbet:

In addition to its flavorful cuisine, the restaurant is also known for its romantic garden setting, with only 20 tables set on a teak deck surrounded by colorful flowers and coconut palms.

From lunch we headed to St. Jean Beach to watch the last of the sun disappear behind the mountains. This is my favorite time of day on any beach, hands down. 

Eden Rock Hotel on St. Jean Beach

A short stop at the villa to shower and change, and we headed back to Gustavia for dinner at an Italian restaurant called L'Isola, which came recommended as one of the best on the island. Indeed, we thought this was one of the best meals of our trip. 

The only downside was that it took two hours to get our mains, and the two menu items I wanted were already sold out (perhaps our fault for getting a 10pm reservation?). I don't think I dove into my fettuccine until about midnight.

Prosciutto from Parma and canteloupe melon:

Fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil salad:

Risotto with wild boar ragu:

Veal milanese:

Filet mignon in a porcini sauce:

Grilled mixed vegetables:

Fettuccine bolognese:

I just fell in love with the relaxed and chilled beachy vibe of St. Barths and cannot wait to return to this beautiful island. From great restaurants to magnificent beaches, fun nightlife, celebrity sightings and perfect weather, it really doesn't get much better than this.

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St. Barth's, French West Indies - New Year's Eve (Day Three)

Isle de France Hotel 

Flamands Beach

Day three in St. Barth's brought us to the magical setting of the five star hotel Isle de France on beautiful Flamands Beach, just five minutes drive from Gustavia and the airport. The great thing about St. Barth's is that the entire island is only 8 miles long, so nothing is more than a ten minute drive. 

We met about ten friends from New York City who were having lunch there, and then settled in with bottles of cold rose wine and beach chairs in the sand.

The pool overlooking Flamands Beach at Isle de France Hotel

Life really IS beautiful in St. Barths

After a long lazy day on the beach, we went back home to shower and get dressed up for the New Year's Eve festivities. Our friends came over to our villa for some pre-game cocktails. Here we are (me, my London roommate Aruna Seth, and her brother) all ready to hit the town:

We drove into Gustavia and settled in with champagne at Bagatelle smack on the harbor. 

Wild dancing, sparklers and lots and lots of champagne ensued leading up to the midnight fireworks over Gustavia Harbor.

From Bagatelle we danced until 4:00am at Le Yacht Club (we spotted Simon Cowell and Kimora Lee Simmons here on different days during the week), overlooking the harbor and the myriad of mega yachts in town for the celebrations. Le Yacht Club shares the same owner as the equally hip restaurant/lounge Le Ti. 

After such a late night (er, um morning) luckily our only agenda for the next day was more lazying on the beach. 

I have HUGE plans in the works for 2013, which I will share with you very soon. Life is too short not to follow your dreams, so I hope each and every one of you are inspired to do something great in 2013! Happy New Year!! 

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St. Barth's, French West Indies - Day Two

After a lazy morning lounging by the pool at our villa, we headed into Gustavia to Do Brazil, located on Shell Beach, for lunch on the sand. The entire beach is literally covered in tiny shells of all varieties. 

We lunched on "just jumped out of the water" fresh Mahi Mahi kebabs with goat cheese mashed potatoes, and a pot of tuna tartare:

There is live music most days:

A little homemade coffee and vanilla rum shot:

After lunch, we headed over to meet our friends at Nikki Beach for some champagne on the sand.  I love Nikki Beach because there is always such a festive atmosphere with live music, dancers and a fashionable crowd that makes for great people watching. (Spotted Ne-Yo at a nearby table). 

A magnum of Cristal arrived to a table via boat:

From Nikki Beach we walked over to the famous Eden Rock (one of the Top 100 hotels in the world) on St. Jean Beach and made a dinner reservation for that evening:

Around 10pm we were seated for dinner at the On The Rocks restaurant by Jean George at the Eden Rock Hotel. All open air tables overlook the Baie de St. Jean and illuminated coral reefs below, complete with warm ocean breezes. (Spotted at the next table: Olivia Palermo)

I couldn't resist more fresh Mahi Mahi for dinner:

Our dinner clan:

After dinner we went to meet friends for a nightcap at La Plage, a "feet in the sand" Caribbean restaurant smack on the beach. Their Sunday evening BBQ comes highly recommended.

Couldn't have said it better myself:

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