I’ve never been a sun, sand and beach person much because I hate the heat! But since our cruise ship had to make a detour I found myself in Saint Maarten . We had to take a water taxi from the ship and I must admit the closer we got to shore the more laughter and music I heard. These people seem to have a good time at whatever they are doing. We walked the rough sidewalks and saw little shops filled with shells and bright colored wraps and bracelets of leather and wood. We saw the courthouse and went inside the little Catholic Church. Flowers are still in bloom here. But my favorite thing was when the rain came and we found an outside bar where we could sit and eat nachos and watch the rain. My husband and I watch on Netflix a show called “Death in Paradise” and We felt just like we were on the movie set. So we sat with our friends hovered under the umbrellas enjoying lemon mojitos.
We so enjoyed our stay!đ. We would drink our coffee on the kitchen porch every morning and eat our fruit and cheese with wine in the late evenings out there with little blankets. The afternoons were spent getting to know downtown Asheville. We loved the French restaurant called Isaâs and sat outside watching the people pass by as we nibbled on small appetizers. At the little childrenâs shop across the street I found the sweetest things for my two littlest  grandchildren. We rode the trolley and heard all the history and funny stories the driver told. We were even lucky to see a mama bear and her cubs while riding. The driver pulled over so people could take pictures, but made us promise we wouldnât get off the trolley.  We are going back to The Grove Park Inn for an early lunch because we heard some of the other tourist talking about how good it was. We tried and enjoyed the crepes at the 
The Mediterranean diet is an easy diet to be on when you’re in the Mediterranean. Everywhere you go things are cooked with olive oil or they put it directly on your salads and you can dip your bread into it. Their tapas is served the minute you sit down, and it consists of olives or small dishes of cut up tomatoes and herbs with olive oil, or just small plates of anything for you to nibble on while you wait for your meal. Your meal is never heavy with flour coatings and fried. And talk about salads, the lettuce is paired with a variety of healthy choices like avocados, artichokes, very flavorful tomatoes, onions, red peppers, fresh corn cut right off the cob, legumes and any kind of seeds and nuts. The dressing is olive oil and vinegar, of course. Â It looks as pretty as it tastes.
