We continue our journey through London, although it is starting to come to an end. All good things are short-lived.
17th February
In the previous post, after our visit to the city of Canterbury, we have just returned to London. As the Olympic Stadium is close to the station, we decided to take a short hop before taking the tube back to the hotel.
The London Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It was built specifically for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, serving as the venue for athletics and the opening and closing ceremonies.
Since 2016 it has been the home of Premier League club West Ham United. Although it also continues to host events in other sports such as athletics.
Nearby is a structure that caught our attention. It is the ArcelorMittal Orbit, a 114.5-metre-high sculpture and observation tower. It was designed by artist Anish Kapoor in 2010.
The structure incorporates the world’s tallest and longest tunnel slide at 178 metres. It was designed by Carsten Höller.
As we were getting pretty tired, we decided to go back to the hotel and have dinner somewhere nearby. We went to a pizza place called Zzetta – Soul Fired Pizza. The pizzas were to die for and it was not expensive. It cost us £36.07 (€43.42).
After a sumptuous dinner, we go back to the hotel to get some rest. Tomorrow is our last day in London and we have to make the most of it.
Find your ideal hotel at the best price in London with Agoda:
*It helps us to maintain the blog
18th February
Last day in London. Or rather, last morning in London and we had to make the most of it.
We got up early, had some breakfast from the supermarket and set off on our way. Today we are going to visit the Greenwich area.
Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest green spaces in south-east London. It surrounds the Royal Observatory and stretches along the Greenwich meridian. It offers elevated views of the River Thames, the Isle of Dogs and the City of London.
As soon as we got off the DLR we came across St. Alfege Church. It is an Anglican church of medieval origin although the present building dates from 1712.
We arrive at Greenwich Park and the first thing we come across is the National Maritime Museum. It is part of the Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums located in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.
It was established by the National Maritime Museum Act 1934 thanks to donations from Sir James Caird (1864-1954). It was opened on 27 April 1937 by King George VI.
The main façade was obscured by building works…
Next to it is Queen’s House, a former royal residence that now serves as a public art gallery.
It was built between 1616 and 1635 in the grounds of the now demolished Greenwich Palace. It was commissioned by Queen Anne of Denmark in 1616 and Queen Henrietta Maria in 1635 from the architect Inigo Jones.
Directly opposite is Greenwich Hospital. It was a permanent home for retired Royal Navy sailors, which operated from 1692 to 1869.
Its buildings, initially Greenwich Palace, were later used by the Royal Naval College Greenwich and the University of Greenwich. They are now known as the Old Royal Naval College.
After the closure of Greenwich Hospital, it served as Dreadnought Seaman’s Hospital until 1986.
We move on to the park and stroll around it to the top of the hill. There we find several remarkable features. The most prominent of these is the Greenwich Meridian.
Follow us on social media:
The Greenwich Meridian is a prime meridian, a geographical reference line passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. This prime meridian (at the time, one of many) was first established by Sir George Airy in 1851.
In 1883, the International Geodetic Association formally recommended to governments the adoption of the Greenwich meridian as the first international standard meridian. However, France abstained from voting, and French maps continued to use the Paris meridian for several decades.
From 1884 to 1974, the Greenwich meridian was the international prime meridian standard, used worldwide for timekeeping and navigation.
The Royal Observatory played a pivotal role in the history of astronomy and navigation. Because the Prime Meridian passed through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the forerunner of today’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
The observatory was built between 1675 and 1676 on behalf of King Charles II. Between 1957 and 1998 it was known as the Old Royal Observatory.
The scientific work of the observatory moved to another location in the first half of the 20th century. Today the Greenwich site is maintained almost exclusively as a museum. Although the AMAT telescope became operational again for astronomical research in 2018.
But the best thing is the spectacular views of London from the top of the hill.
We walked down the hill to our next (and last destination). But on the way we saw something that caught our attention: Monument for a Dead Parrot.
Yes, you read that right. Monument for a Dead Parrot. It is in the grounds of the Devonport House Hotel in Greenwich. You might think it’s a cockatoo basking in the sun, but no, it’s lying dead on its little pedestal.
It is the work of artist Jon Reardon and was installed in 2009 after two years of negotiations with London councils. Anyway…. there are people for everything.
Now we are on our way to the last place of interest of the trip: the Cutty Sark. This is a sailing ship built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland, in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line.
It was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest. It was replaced by the steamships that took over its routes.
She was named after the short shirt of the fictional witch in Robert Burns‘ poem Tam o’ Shanter, first published in 1791. The ship was sold to the Portuguese company Ferreira and Co. in 1895. They renamed her Ferreira.
In 1922 she was acquired by retired naval captain Wilfred Dowman. She was then used as a training ship from Falmouth (Cornwall). After his death she was transferred to Thames Nautical Training College, Greenhithe, in 1938. Here she became an auxiliary cadet training ship alongside HMS Worcester.
In 1954 she ceased to be useful as a cadet ship and was transferred to the permanent dry dock at Greenwich for public display.
Fun fact: Cutty Sark whisky takes its name from the ship. An image of the clipper appears on the label and the manufacturer once sponsored the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race.
Now, unfortunately, it is time to start the retreat. We take the DLR to the hotel. Before getting on we stop at the supermarket and buy some sandwiches and some junk for the plane.
We took our tube to London Bridge station. On the boards we saw that the train was about to leave, so we ran like hell and got on just before it was due to leave… and we were wrong.
Luckily not at the destination, as it was going to Gatwick airport, but we took the one that wasn’t direct. So instead of taking 29 minutes, it took 46 minutes. But luckily we were on time.
The airport checkpoint was very easy to get through. It was very crowded but it went very fast. We didn’t have to take out our liquids so everything went very smoothly.
At around 14.15 we took off for Malaga, where we landed at around 18.00.
Discover the best activities and tours in London with Civitatis:
*It helps us to maintain the blog
Find out everything you need to know about London HERE.