Bric-a-Brac 40
Bric-a-Brac 40
A Careyes deep-dive, your own elegant apartment in Rome, our gift-guide guide, and how to connect with Ireland’s most interesting chefs, artisans and producers
DISPATCH FROM…Careyes
by Alex Postman
Careyes, on the Pacific side of Mexico in Jalisco, is one of the most beautiful places I have been in my life. It is also one of the strangest. In a good way! It’s a private beach community originally founded by an Italian banker, Gian Franco Brignone, who in the late ‘60s flew over the Costalegre, as this rocky stretch of pristine golden coves is known, and decided to buy it. In the early years, it became a hub for Brignone’s friends—European nobility, celebrities, and assorted jet set—who built cheerful villas and brightly painted pleasure palaces along the steep cliffsides. Picture the Amalfi Coast in Frida Kahlo colors. Today, Careyes still feels like a semi-private village. (Brignone died last January at 96 and his sons, who live in fanciful castelli that face each other across a bay, still oversee the property). The social life revolves around house parties and many homeowners stay for weeks, especially during high season, which also happens to be polo season. At the same time, it also attracts the spiritual nomad-type crowd (it has its own Burning Man-style Ondalinda festival each November), as it is reputed to be an energy vortex, with the Copa del Sol—hemispherical bowl/alien transmitter in which meditations are held—as its center.
For such a self-selective crowd, the vibe is incredibly low key, and this is what I loved most about it. You can rent a boat and explore the coastline with a local fisherman or have a private feast set up on the beach, and neither is that expensive, relatively speaking. Most of the time I didn’t even bother wearing shoes. Everything is within walking distance or a very short drive away (you’ll want to rent a car). The only drawback is that it doesn’t feel particularly Mexican—this is not the place to come if you’re looking for authentic local artisan communities or food or textile traditions, though they surely aren’t too far away. There is just so little incentive to leave.
Getting there
We flew from JFK to Manzanillo via CDMX. Rent a car and Careyes is about 50 twisty, mountainous miles north of the airport, a bit daunting if you get carsick. You can also fly to Puerto Vallarta for a somewhat flatter 2.5-hour drive south.
Where to Stay
The fastest way to feel like a regular is to rent a house. There are huge, Xanadu-style domed villas with splashing fountains and private pools, and charming 1-BR casitas overlooking the water, which start at around $350. There’s no hotel, per se, but you can rent an apartment at the El Careyes Club, which sort of functions like one, though they are all privately owned; most come with a housekeeper and a cook. We stayed at Coco Beach, a bright 2-BR with a view of the sea belonging to Morena Zabeni, a Milan-based fashion curator, who styled it warmly with her collection of Mexican crafts. Her cook, Brenda, made us insanely good breakfasts each day—huevos rancheros, freshly-cut fruit, pancakes—and dispatched the fish that we caught into the freshest ceviche. El Careyes Club is more modern and less charismatic than the casitas, but its advantage is its three warm infinity pools that our kids spent half their days in. You can find a selection on careyes.com (or email: sales@careyes.com, + 52 (315) 351 0320), though many (as ours was) are found via word of mouth. To rent Coco Beach (price upon request) text Morena at +39 340 307 4390 and tell her I sent you. :) (She also has another cute casita in the pueblo area.)
Beaches
This part of the Pacific Coast can be very rough, so not all beaches are swimmable.
Playa Rosa is downhill from the casitas and is a beautiful little swimming beach with calm water.
Playa Teopa, 5 miles south (near the polo stables), is an amazing beach to walk on at sunset, though the riptides make swimming too risky. Down at one end is the turtle sanctuary where you might catch researchers digging up hatchlings to release in season.
Careyitos – Between the twin houses of Sol de Oriente and Sol de Occidente, it’s usually empty, though a new beach club is supposed to be opening there soon. Only swim to the far right.
Las Rosadas. 15 minutes north of Careyes, it’s a long gold crescent with an amazing restaurant, Bar Mono. We had such a fun day here, eating a huge lunch of grilled fish, chicken and shrimp brochettes with strong margaritas, and then having the hammocks, boogie boards, and bar practically to ourselves. The water is a bit strong/rough, but swimmable. You need to reserve ahead. Call or email Maria Campos: +52 315-100-5907 or maria@lasrosadas.com
Where to Eat
There aren’t many choices here, but they’re all really good, mostly split between Careyes and the Plaza de los Caballeros del Sol, a few minutes down the road.
Playa Rosa Beach Club, right on the beach with the best sunsets, has Mexican/Med cuisine. We came here most nights.
Pueblo 25 is a really lovely small restaurant near the Plaza, owned by Marco and Monica Torelli, an Italian-Peruvian couple. They’re known for working with local farmers and their deep wine cellar. You need to book ahead as they only have 5 tables +52 322 140 1809. Open Dec 15-mid April for the season.
Punto Como at the plaza—for pizza night
Shio Sushi - This sushi place at El Careyes Club looks like nothing, but it’s literally the best poke bowl I’ve had in my life—huge and really fresh.
Private picnics on the beach: It’s definitely worth splurging on this once during your stay. A friend of mine loved the lunch booked through Casa Tauro, on Paraiso Beach, a private cove with beautiful and calm, swimmable water, for $80pp including drinks—and you can stay all afternoon: Juan Ernesto Lobo + 52 449 890 5064.
Things to Do
Yoga/wellness: The wellness program brings in a rotation of instructors and healers from around the world for short stays during the season, with daily classes typically held in someone’s beautiful villa pavilion.
The Copa del Sol: This curious creation of Brignone’s, sitting on a cliff overlooking the crashing sea, was inspired by a dream in which a man and woman were united by the cosmos, bathed in the light of the setting sun. Seeing this acoustic marvel is definitely a head trip, and especially cool at sunset. It’s a bit of a rugged drive here on sand/dirt roads.
Architecture tour: I definitely recommend booking a private tour. Depending on what’s available (i.e., who’s away), you’ll get to poke around inside some of these incredible houses!
Polo: The season is late Nov to April, culminating in the Agua Alta tournament at Easter. It’s a hub of social activity in season. At any time of year, you can go horseback riding on the beach.
Surfing: The best beach for this is Arroyo Seco, which is 30m south of Careyes. Keoni, a Hawaiian surf instructor, was very patient and good with us beginners (805) 794-1509.
Boat rental/Fishing: Captain Cronchy (yes) is the one to book. He’ll take you to float around the sea caves, white sand beaches, or fishing.
The Plaza: This new build “village” is where you’ll find a couple of the restaurants already mentioned and the Careyes Art Space, with temporary exhibits, plus the Indigo Boutique, with a really yummy mix of handmade Mexican ceramics, candles, baskets, textiles and other stuff you will wind up buying.
In the area: About a half hour down the road, if you can get in, it’s worth visiting Cuixmala, originally a private retreat of Sir Alexander Goldsmith and his family. Set in 36,000 acres of biosphere reserve, just a handful of secluded villas are built discreetly around a giant domed building inspired by the Hagia Sophia and guarded by statues of a rhino and silverback gorilla. It feels like a sultan’s palace, complete with circular lounging areas with fat pillows and trilling fountains—and beyond it an animal menagerie containing more than 50 zebras—but it is also an environmental haven and turtle sanctuary. You used to be able to book for lunch or dinner but Covid changed that; hopefully they will be open to non-staying guests soon.
Another worthwhile day trip could equally be to the brand new Four Seasons Tamarindo, an hour’s drive in the direction of Manzanillo, on its own gorgeous hemispherical cove.
GUEST BOOK
I recently toured the Palazzo delle Pietre in Rome and was so impressed. The owner, Carlo Mazzi, former CEO of Prada, took on a massive renovation of this 15th-century building as a passion project, and the result is an incredibly special new place to stay in the center of the city. It isn’t quite a hotel: they call them luxury apartments—8 of them, each with a kitchenette—for short or long-term stays. There’s no bar or restaurant, but a front desk, a beautiful little gym, daily breakfast, and really interesting cultural programming that ranges from artist exhibitions to a talk with a Michelangelo expert. The huge rooms are beautifully appointed with a mix of Roman antiquities and contemporary Italian design alongside an incredible array of rare Caucasian tapestries and modern art from Mazzi’s personal collection. Like everywhere, the rates fluctuate depending on the room and the season (I’ve seen dates starting in the 500s), but for value and size they are really good, especially when you compare it with the hotels offering a similar aesthetic and vibe, like J.K. Place. The location is excellent—near Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, and across the street from one of my favorite hardware stores. —Y.E.
OUR GIFT-GUIDE GUIDE
We know how much work goes into creating a great gift guide—which is why, when guides started flooding our inbox well before Thanksgiving, we took ourselves off the hook and earned back a Saturday. (Though you can find some of our still-favorite “Gifts that Transport You” from 2021 here and Armchair Traveler reads here.) Instead, we’re offering a short guide to some of our favorite guides!
A Continuous Lean’s guide for garage dads, gear dads, golf dads, their kids and their partners.
Airmail’s guide for the world traveler, the francophile, and the true New Yorker.
The Wm Brown guide for the bon vivant (from last year but still shoppable!)
Laurel Pantin’s guide for those who are impossible to shop for and who like to eat/drink/cook
David Coggins’ guide for living generously
Sid Mashburn’s guides for the man who has everything and for the outdoorsman
Ann Mashburn’s guides for the woman who has everything and for the dinner partier
Issimo’s guide for those dreaming of la dolce vita, and under €100
David Lebovitz’s guide for the gourmand
Goodee gift guide for socially conscious design obsessives
Cabana gift guide for collectors
Frederick Magazine gift guide for homebodies
Style of Sport for the well-dressed athlete
Merci Paris for fun French cadeaux
And for a project-gift, this recipe from Emiko Davies for making torrone sardo, Italian nougat!
THE NAVIGATOR
Kate McCabe & Max Sussman, Co-Founders of Bog & Thunder
Tell us about you/your company
We run Bog & Thunder, an eco-travel company specializing in food tours of Ireland. In addition to creating custom itineraries for private trips, we also curate small group tours that are food-based and organized around a theme such as wellness & spirituality, outdoor adventures, and music. Our ideal customers are people who love great food and appreciate artisans and producers, but are also looking for deeper social, cultural, and nature-based experiences when they travel.
Kate’s family is Irish and spent many years involved in human rights work in the North, so we’ve spent many years traveling to Ireland for both work and pleasure. As veterans of the hospitality industry (Max is a chef and Kate worked primarily in FOH), we always seek out the best restaurants and new food experiences when we travel. We believe Ireland is destined to be the next big food destination, and we started Bog & Thunder in part to share an unexpected side of Ireland with the world.
What’s the entry level to talk to you?
We offer a free, half-hour consultation call for our private trip planning services, and our rates vary depending on the trip length and number of guests. While we prefer to curate all-inclusive trips (where we handle booking and reservations), we are open to working with smaller budgets if our schedule allows. Our guided tours are all open to the public and there is currently no membership fee to join any of our tours.
What is the sweet spot of your expertise?
We’re Ireland experts, so the exclusive focus on one country is certainly part of our expertise! Our work centers on areas where food, culture, and environment overlap, and we place tremendous value on collaboration in the work that we do.
Our ultimate sweet spot is our ability to create bespoke events and exclusive experiences that you can only do with us. This is a reflection both of our background in event planning and the priority we place on our personal relationships around the country; this allows us to create an incredibly exciting slate of programming. Our curated tours are designed in collaboration with Irish chefs, foragers, and artisans, and in 2023 we’ll be rolling out an Ambassador series in which celebrated American creatives will also join our tours.
A favorite experience/trip you’ve planned that best represents your philosophy…
We recently brought a small group to stay at Rock Farm, a 90-acre organic vegetable and animal farm on the grounds of Slane Castle in the Boyne Valley. It’s a family-run property with a strong commitment to truly walking the walk of sustainability and giving back to their local village. We spent time with the Conyngham family in their castle, organized dinners with outstanding chefs, and had a behind-the-scenes tour followed by a deconstructed whiskey tasting at Slane Whiskey, a distillery next to the castle. The Boyne Valley itself is one of our favorite places in Ireland, both because it is steeped in ancient history (note the Neolithic passage tombs that predate the Pyramids) and mythology and is home to some of the best farmland and artisanal producers in the country. Slane Castle is also well known for hosting rock concerts since the 1980s–everyone from Dylan to the Rolling Stones to U2 has played there. The combination of our time spent with our hosts, as well as the delicious local food, top chefs, farming, whiskey, and rock music made our trip to Slane a real 360 experience.
A favorite hotel/lodge/house you love and go back to again and again…
We love Liss Ard in Skibbereen, County Cork. Liss Ard is a manor house in West Cork on a private lake with 163 acres of forest and gardens. The interior is a lovely balance between modern sophistication and country charm and the dining room really honors the local, artisanal food producers that make West Cork the heart of the Irish food movement. James Turrell’s Irish Sky Garden is also on the grounds, a giant earthen crater embedded in the landscape in which visitors can lie on a stone plinth to view the juxtaposition of the landscape and sky. It’s a great location to serve as a base to explore West Cork and a place to settle in for a staycation if an escape is what you need.
The most memorable meal you’ve had while traveling…
It’s so hard to choose! We had an incredible meal at Aimsir, which is a two-Michelin-starred restaurant about half an hour outside Dublin. Aimsir was started by Jordan Bailey, the former chef of Maaemo in Oslo, and his wife, Majken Bech Christensen, who is the manager and sommelier. It’s an “all island” restaurant, so everything on the menu is grown or produced in Ireland, and they offer an 18-course tasting menu. We were traveling at the time with our son, who was four, and while we wouldn’t normally bring a small child to such a long, fancy dinner, we’d called ahead and they were happy to accommodate us. I can’t speak highly enough of our experience! The food was incredible, and the service was both impeccable and unpretentious. They even created a special ten-course tasting menu for our son, which he absolutely loved. While we’ve had other incredible, memorable experiences elsewhere, the ambiance, exquisite food, and the care that went into every single aspect of the experience was really unparalleled.
A not-to-be-missed favorite experience in your region of expertise…
How about a top three? Tom Hartley, a historian, writer, and the former Lord Mayor of Belfast, gives incredible tours of cemeteries in Belfast, including Milltown Cemetery, where Bobby Sands and many of the Irish hunger strikers are buried. John Fitzgerald of Atlantic Irish Seaweed in County Kerry organizes coastal seaweed foraging walks followed by a multi-course seaweed lunch. Last but certainly not least are the masterclasses at Woodcock Smokery hosted by Sally Barnes. Sally’s been smoking fish for more than thirty years and is the last fish smoker in Ireland to work exclusively with wild fish. Tom, John, and Sally are all natural born storytellers in addition to being fascinating people, and you’ll easily find yourself not wanting your experience with them to end.
What is a place we should consider traveling to that could really use our dollars, and what is a place we should put on hold because, even though we love it, it sees too many tourists?
County Donegal, which is in the northwest corner of Ireland, is sometimes called the “Forgotten County” because it’s pretty remote and not easily accessible by public transportation. It’s one of the most gorgeous places on the island, and it’s particularly suited for outdoor adventures. It’s got everything from great seafood to mountains and beaches that are perfect for surfing, and yet it doesn’t see as much tourism due to its location.
As much as we love Dublin (it’s a great city and very walkable), it can be very expensive and tends to be quite crowded in the peak season. We’d never advise people to avoid it, but we always encourage people to get out of the city and into the surrounding areas, like Wicklow and Meath, if time allows.
Underrated location, overrated location, personal favorite, recent discovery?
One of the most underrated locations is probably Belfast (and the north of Ireland in general). Tourists avoided going there for many, many years because of the political conflict, but now that there is stability there it’s quickly becoming more popular. In part because of its past, there is a different flavor to the north, and while the food culture is generally the same, there’s a bit more of a DIY aspect to a lot of the culinary experiences that are available. In addition to the political history, Belfast and the north are home to an abundance of literary greats, so there is a ton of culture to immerse yourself in. Being a primary filming site for Game of Thrones definitely adds to the draw.
Our tours tend to avoid a lot of the more touristy locations that travelers come to Ireland to check off their list. We hesitate to call some of these places overrated, but we’ve been known to drive right past a historic castle to visit an old stone mill or a favorite cheesemaker.
The Burren, in County Clare, is one of our favorite places. Located just east of the famous Cliffs of Moher, the Burren’s landscape is made primarily of glacial-era limestone which resembles a moonscape. Seventy percent of Ireland’s native flora can be found there, and grazing animals have been sustainably farmed there for hundreds of years.
We’ve just recently discovered that Ashford Castle, a five-star hotel in County Galway, runs a Wizard School for families over the Halloween break. They offer an all inclusive package which provides everything from magic and witchcraft classes, falconry, forest treasure hunts for the kids, as well as incredible meals and downtime for parents. Our son is really into Halloween and wizardry, and we’re really looking forward to attending as soon as we can.
The hardest-working item you always pack…
Our shoes–both sneakers and hiking boots. All of Ireland’s cities are extremely walkable, and there are countless opportunities for nature walks in the countryside. The weather can be a bit unpredictable as well, so it’s great to have a pair of shoes on hand that can get dirty.
What is something you wished we all knew or were better at as travelers?
We’d love for more travelers to develop a deeper appreciation for how hard people work in the hospitality industry, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. Businesses around the world are struggling with supply and staff shortages as well as increasing costs, and we believe it’s especially important to be kind to those who do show up to work. Besides, if you are nice to hospitality professionals, they will often go out of their way to take care of you.
How do you want people to reach out to you?
Our website is www.bogandthunder.com, and you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @bogandthunder. For inquiries, please email us at hello@bogandthunder.com. We also host a weekly podcast called Dyed Green about Irish food & culture on NYC’s Heritage Radio Network.
MOODBOARD
Our favorite instagram account this week.
Nihi Hotels, the team behind the world famous Nihi Sumba, will open an off-grid resort in West Timor in 2024.
Baguettes are the greatest thing since *before* sliced bread, and UNESCO agrees—they’ve just been granted World Heritage status.
The opening of Rick Torrisi’s eponymous Torrisi Bar & Restaurant in NYC’s Puck building, where the menu is less red sauce (or spicy vodka a la Carbone) and more New York-inspired Italian.
Ice Skating Waiters! We are loving Messy Nessy Chic’s St. Moritz throwback.
Pillows Maurits at the Park, Amsterdam’s newest five-star hotel.
This is excellent! Much appreciated as we start to see temps drop and conjure up plans for a bit of Vitamin D this winter.
So many gems in one spot, igniting my wanderlust again.