Weekend Getaway Newport Style

Best Things Nearby:
When you walk on the grounds, they overlook the ocean. Newport and the mansions are within a mile or two.

Best Things About the Resort:
There is an indoor pool and spa, tennis courts, and video rentals.

Resort Experience:
This was my first timeshare experience, so I am not sure if it was typical. My friend’s sister has a week at this resort and was therefore able to get us a weekend night in a one-bedroom unit for $65. A two-bedroom unit would have been $75, certainly a good buy in Newport.

We were not impressed at first glance. It was the carpet that we noticed first. It was dirty; there is just no other way to describe it. That was a real shame, because the rest of the unit was in good shape. The couch and chair in the living room appeared to be almost brand-new, and the dining room table was new. The fireplace-enclosure door was off the track on one side, but that was the only other item that was not in perfect shape.

There were two bathrooms, both of a good size, and one with a huge Jacuzzi tube in a mirrored alcove. I’m not sure I need to see my naked self from every angle, but it did make the room look even larger. I am not a big fan of tan, and these bathrooms were tan: tan tile, tan tub, and tan towels. I like crisp white better, but that is just me.

There was plenty of storage: the headboard in the bedroom had deep bins, there was a long dresser, the closet was very large, and there were shelves in the bathroom from the floor to the ceiling. There were two remote-control TV’s and good cable TV reception. If you want to rent movies, you can at reception, and there is a week rental card for $15.

The indoor pool on the property has recently been reopened. (It was closed for repairs when we were there.) It has a retractable roof that can be opened during warmer weather. There are two tennis courts for guest’s use and plenty of open space. In season, there is a restaurant at the hotel next door, but in March, it was closed.

For what we wanted, this was a perfect place. We wanted space to scrapbook, and a typical hotel room would have been inadequate. This resort is part of RCI, and since I am not an owner, I’m not sure how this works, but non-owners can stay here for $120 a night for a one-bedroom.

The property is not in downtown Newport, but rather about 2 or 3 miles off of Ocean Drive. This makes it much quieter, but it also means that you must find parking when you drive into town.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Good
• Amenities: Good
• Unit Satisfaction: Very Good
• Family Friendliness: Very Good
• Service: Very Good

This is a fun place to eat. It is, in many ways, a very typical pub, with lots of jovial patrons sitting at booths and tables eating from plates overflowing with snacks. There are large overstuffed sandwiches, colossal salads, and plates of nachos big enough to satisfy the largest of appetites. This is all very good, but this isn’t all by any means.

If, like me, you are avoiding or watching your carbs, you will think you have dropped into heaven. Not only are you tolerated here, but you are welcomed by name and encouraged to stick to your diet, with the Dr. Atkins celery and olive plate just for starters. We decided to start with an order of Rhode Island red hot wings. These are Newport’s answer to Buffalo wings, and a very fine answer it was indeed. We were served crispy, well-cooked wings with a piquant but not overly hot sauce.

If you crave the burn, you can go for the hotter version, the Habanero pepper wings.

The menu is huge; it is overwhelming for a first-time visitor. They try to do a lot of different things, maybe too many. Some of the items we ordered were more successful than others. Cindy ordered the gourmet burger, and it was undercooked. The burger was large, juicy, and delicious, so the rarity was forgiven. My patty melt, on the other hand, was supposed to be medium-well, and the total life had been cooked out of it. On the upside, the grilled onions and cheese on delicious rye bread made up for the hockey-puck patty.

What we did like was that you could choose to have a side or Caesar salad instead of fries at no extra cost.

We decided to order supper to go so that we wouldn’t have to come out late in the evening. Both of us ordered salads. Cindy had the hot buffalo chicken salad, and I ordered a Caesar salad with a scoop of crab salad. My salad was wonderful; I enjoyed every sweet, crabby, luscious bite, but Cindy was much less impressed with her salad.

We arrived at 3:30pm on a Saturday in March and had a 45-minute wait to get a table. This is a very popular place, even in the off-season. Is it worth the wait? It could be -certainly the decor is very entertaining, and the staff is friendly and very hardworking. One visit isn’t enough to judge the food sufficiently to say if the burgers were an aberration or if it is a consistent problem. I certainly plan to give it another try.

www.brickalley.com

Where to eat breakfast was our Sunday morning mission. The downside of staying in a timeshare is that there was no restaurant at our hotel. We asked several local people for suggestions, and Annie’s was the unanimous choice

If you are looking for breakfast with atmosphere, keep on looking.

Annie’s is not your place. It is more dive than diva, but you are barely in the door before your first cup of coffee is on the table and a menu in your hand. We got the last table in the restaurant, the one closest to the restroom and the kitchen, which was not ideal, but believe me, if a table is available, you will be lucky. We have been told that, in the summer, hour waits are not uncommon.

Right after your coffee, you will be offered fresh-squeezed orange juice that is sweet, pulpy, and all together terrific. We were in love before we had even eaten a bite. We had a carafe of hot coffee to hold us over while we perused the menu, and it was good coffee. The menu offers most of the regulars: omelets; scrambled, fried, or poached eggs, pancakes; French toast and waffles; fresh-fruit cups; homemade coffee cake; and home fries just to mention a few.

I ordered scrambled eggs and bacon, with one banana pancake on the side. The eggs were cooked perfectly, and the bacon was nice and crispy. The banana pancake, however,

was the winner. It was wonderful, perfectly cooked to a golden brown, with chunks of fresh banana cut in it and on top, and served attractively. My only beef was that it was served with Log Cabin syrup, not real maple. Cindy had very delicious-looking eggs Benedict. The home fries are real winners, although I only ate one. They are thick slices of potato, with the skins intact, cooked to a golden brown. We got a breadbasket that had Portuguese sweet bread and some of the homemade coffeecake in it; that alone should bring you running. All this was served by a friendly waitress for under $15. You can’t go wrong. Bring cash, because Annie’s doesn’t take credit cards.

No visit to Newport would be complete without a visit to this historic building. Keep in mind, however, that it will not be open to tourists on Saturday, because this is still an active synagogue. There has been a Jewish community in Newport since 1677, and it is believed that it may date back as far as 1656. The original settlers were Sephardic Jews who had been forced out of Spain by the Inquisition. They landed in New Amsterdam in the early 1600s and worked their way up the East Coast to Newport. Rhode Island was an oasis of tolerance in the otherwise intolerant colonies.

The present building was dedicated in 1763. Peter Harrison was the architect, and the first rabbi, Isaac Tuoro, verbally gave him the description of a synagogue. This makes it the oldest synagogue in the United States. There are 12 pillars inside, one for each of the tribes of Israel. The men worshipped on the main floor along the walls, and the Torah was read from the center of the room. The woman worshipped from the second level. There are no stairs in the synagogue, so we wondered how the woman got up there. When you go to the gift shop, you will see that there are stairs in this building where there was a former Hebrew school. Good news for the near future is that the Hebrew school is going to be restored and the store is going to be enlarged and moved to another building across the street.

At the time of the American Revolution, there were 30 Jewish families in Newport, and this was their golden age: they were successful businessmen and ship-owners. This group was dispersed by the war, and the original community never came back, though individuals did. The synagogue survived the war because it was used by the British as a hospital, not because it was a house of worship. Later, it was used as a courthouse. Among the treasures on display here is a letter from President Washington guaranteeing the Jews of Newport freedom to practice their religion and a 500-year-old Torah believed to have been brought here by the first Sephartic Jews.

The present community is descended from Askenazy Jews who came to this country from Eastern Europe. Through all its many incarnations, the Jews held the keys to the building, and it is believed that they opened the synagogue as a stop on the Underground Railroad. (there is a trapdoor in the center of the Beema where slaves are believed to have been hidden). Visiting the synagogue must be done on a tour, and photography is not allowed inside. Our docent was quite knowledgeable, but the girl at the gift store, who is also a member of the historic society, knew even more. There is no charge to visit. Security is tight, so be prepared to have your purse searched.

www.tourosynagogue.org

We couldn’t believe our luck when we drove by Belcourt Castle on Saturday evening at 5:30pm and saw a sign that said candlelight tour tonight at 6pm. We blew a hewie and pulled through the gate. We naturally didn’t have reservations. In March, this turned out not to be a problem, but I am sure at most other times you wouldn’t get a spot without one. You can get a reservation either online or at the Visitor Information Center Downtown. The tour is $15, and you must pay cash. The visitors with tickets were allowed to enter first, then the people with reservations, and then the lowly drop-ins. In the end, about 75 people were crowded into the foyer.

When Oliver Hazard Perry built Belcourt Castle in 1891, he was a bachelor with a love for horses. This was his summer cottage, designed by Richard Hunt Morris. It was a 22,000-square-foot bachelor pad with one bedroom, one bathroom, and no kitchen. He refused to have a kitchen in the house because it posed a threat of fire to his horses. He planned to spend 6 to 8 weeks here every year with 30 of his favorite steeds. The Italian Banquet Hall, where we began our tour, was his carriage storage room. His horses had teak wood stables with drawings on the walls so that they wouldn’t get bored. Then along came his best-friend’s wife, Alma Vanderbilt. Before he knew it, he no longer had a best friend, but he did have a new wife. Life was never quite the same at Belcourt. Alma was a woman born before her time, and the word indomitable has often been applied to her. She was a staunch supporter of the suffragette movement of the tune of 1 million dollars a year.

The Belcourt Castle that we see today is the product of Alma’s vision, with the addition of the treasures that belong to the present owners, the Tinney family. Alma’s first move after Oliver’s death was to ship his horses across the street to Marble House. Her second was to add a kitchen. Maintaining a house this size has been an almost 50-year struggle for the Tinneys. They are a hands-on family doing all the repairs and maintenance, except the electrical tasks, roofing, and plumbing, themselves. They have opened the house to the public to help finance the repairs.

The tour itself was very interesting. We were divided into three groups. Our guide, Bill, talked nonstop during the hour-long tour. We learned that the ballroom is the second largest in Newport and the most haunted. If you want to find out about the ghosts, you will just have to take the candlelight tour, or even better, the Haunted Tour, which is conducted by Mrs. Tinney.

I have been on many different tours over the years in Newport, and this is certainly one of my favorites.

www.belcourtcastle.com