USA Guide
California
The Monterey Peninsula
At the northern edge of the Big Sur coast, a hundred miles south of San Francisco, are the rocky headlands of the Monterey Peninsula, where gnarled cypress trees mark the collision between the cliffs and the sea. The lively harbor town of Monterey was the capital of California under the Spanish and briefly under the Mexicans and Americans, and retains many old adobes and historic structures alongside the usual tourist traps. Carmel, on the other hand, three miles to the south, is a self-consciously quaint village of million-dollar holiday homes and art galleries, while pleasant Pacific Grove is known mainly for its lighthouse and resident butterflies.
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