A city for all tastes!
A city of fairy tales! With real kings and queens, stories of commoners who become princesses and every child's fantasy that becomes reality, but at the same time it's the cool city of free souls and incredible bands! People who mix magic with reality. An incredible and passionate place with things to please everyone! I loved it all and with a taste of wanting much more, I'll leave you with some London tips here.
Food
I've used a few tactics that have really helped me save some money, traveling and eating in restaurants all the time, you can't!
Breakfast.
I used to eat in pubs, which exist in every corner of the city, and are real meals! Their coffee is a mixture of beans, toast and eggs, which gives you a good boost and keeps your hunger at bay for a long time!
Lunches and snacks
I always stopped by a market, it's very easy to find good, cheap food there! They had a variety of options, pasta with some meat, sandwiches or tasty things, never more than 5 pounds and the best thing was that they were ready to eat. It saved money and time.
Beers, pubs and restaurants
The city is surrounded by great places to eat and drink! The European beers are very good and worth a try even if you don't like drinking (I did!).
Sitting down and enjoying a good meal is a tip that I leave at least once during the trip.
All the times I've done this have been in Italian restaurants, they're everywhere, and as a starter they serve garlic bread, which is actually a VERY GOOD pizza, the owners are usually Italian and sometimes they talk loudly and scare you, with fights, jokes or conversation between them that to this day I'm not sure what it was, but it was something between ugly faces, shouting and laughter that almost made me run away before I enjoyed the explosion of flavors.
Transport
I took the metro all over the city, it's very quiet and takes you everywhere, and you never wait long for the next train to pass.
I bought Oyster CardYou pay 5 pounds, but at the end of the day you just have to go back to the counter and return it and the money comes back to you! You have the option of buying a traveler's ticket scheme, you know the kind you normally buy and you have unlimited travel on the day? Even if you only use two tickets, with Oyster you don't have that problem! If you use a thousand tickets in a day, it counts as a travelcard! And it stops there, I think it's about 6 pounds a day, the maximum it debits, but if you only use one ticket, you only spend one, so you have two benefits in one thing, I thought that was very good!!! I don't always want a lot of tickets and sometimes I end up using a lot without planning it.
And for those who want a little more comfort among the sights, with stories and explanations, there's the famous bus that travels around most cities in the world, the open and traditional one that in London they call the Sightseeing
Tourist attractions
There are a lot of London tips, such as going to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye and many more.
Of course, all of these are worthwhile! The city is enchanting and everything about it is so perfect, but I'm going to talk here about the things I fell in love with and that made me want to never leave.
At the time I went, it was summer, with early mornings and sunsets at 9 or 10 p.m.! I was able to make the most of it, and the days were more productive than I'd imagined, I had sunny days without a cloud in the sky (but I've been told that this is a rarity in the city and that I've experienced an atypical London! So go even in summer, expecting clouds and rain showers) and a LOT OF HEAT! The sun was really hot, which made my daily wardrobe always consist of a dress or shorts with a t-shirt and comfortable sneakers, because we walk a lot, so let's get to the tips and first things first!
The Museums
My greatest joy was discovering that London's museums don't pay! Or at least most of them, that's right! Free entry and an incredible experience, fascinating places, superbly looked after.
Natural History Museum
Before entering the Natural History MuseumYou're already taken aback! The beautiful architecture looks like a palace, with a garden around it where people sit and chat in a very pleasant atmosphere, and then when you enter through the gigantic doors it's an even better surprise.
It really does feel like you're in the World of Harry Potter and you've just stepped into Hogwarts, with a gigantic main room and sub rooms, connected by stairs and bridges, the place is incredible and it was the Museum I liked the most!
It also has a magnificent collection of dissected and stuffed animals, dinosaurs and everything in between. A real biology lesson that no one will ever forget, a great choice for all ages, from young travelers to the elderly.
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British Museum
British Museum brings together everything from all over the world, more modern architecture, but with an ancient collection, there are parts of the real Acropolis of Greece, Egyptian Mummies and much more! Want to see the whole world in one place? Go to this museum, not to mention the fact that you can go back in time and reconstruct how our history has evolved so far.
It was the second museum I liked the most in the city, but book a little more than an afternoon because it's very big!
Park!
London has many parks dotted around the city and I came across a few on my walk.
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Green Park
I lay on that nice, green grass for a long time, resting my feet and enjoying the pleasant sunshine that warmed up the day, it's very pleasant and having a picnic there is almost inevitable.
The park is close to Buckingham Palace. I visited the park after seeing the changing of the royal guard, a very famous event in the city, which no tourist misses. It takes place at 11am (or 11:30am if it's summer) every day from April to July.
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Soho
Soho is a very alternative neighborhood with unconventional people and it was while strolling through this neighborhood that I discovered an incredible park with punks, rockers and lots of friends sunbathing on the grass without any beating around the bush and lots of conversation and music with guitars scattered around.
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Camden Town
Without a doubt, it was the place that enchanted me the most, and speaking of unconventional people, it's certainly the place in the whole world that has the most of them.
I felt like I was in a vampire movie, with elaborate outfits and everything. As well as a thousand stores of this kind, people take it seriously and dress like that, walk around and even make faces when they look at you, along with punk rockers and so on, there's exactly everything there.
Needless to say, it's in this district of north-central London that a figure like Amy Winehouse could easily be found, in a pub that bears many tributes.
A neighborhood of strong personalities and incredible stores! Great place to find cheap and beautiful clothes!
Ahhh it's easy to eat cheaply there too, the owner of the store I ate in liked me and gave me a discount, it was Asian food and very tasty.
To go to London and not meet Canden is a profound crime.
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge it's one of the most beautiful bridges I've ever seen, with cafés around it with wifi points and lots of nice places to sit and rest.
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The architecture of the surrounding buildings is incredible, full of glass and a lot of different constructions, there's a square with a fountain that helped me cool off in the sweltering heat, playing among the waters that appeared at synchronized moments, very cool and fun (yes, I looked like a child playing with water).
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There's a ship museum near the bridge, and it was from there that I saw the incredibly beautiful sunset! And then I sat on the grassy area next to the bridge to chat and see how beautifully it's lit up at night, both day and night are worth seeing.
Harry Potter
How would you like to be walking through a station and puft, find a trolley stuck halfway up the wall with the words Platform 9 3/4? That's right, in London it's real, at King's Cross Station, you can get on the trolley and pretend you're Harry Potter for a day, not to mention that London is home to the Harry Potter Studios and can be visited! Warner Bros Studio Tours if you're a fan, don't miss out.
4 Responses
As I had the opportunity to live in London for a while, I'll make recommendations in addition to those of Cris, who, by the way, has summed up the best attractions in the city very well.
Let's go:
I liked walking around Piccadilly Circus, it's a busy stretch of the city with lots of billboards. It's worth stopping and observing the hectic pace of life in London. There are some interesting theaters nearby.
Another interesting walk is to Greenwich, there's a nice park, but the best part is the observatory which has a meridian symbolizing "the prime meridian of the world", there's also a museum below the observatory with some interesting paintings. In other words, in a short time you can see a lot and get a great view of London.
Metro - When walking on escalators, remember to stay to the right if you don't want to be run over. People in a hurry like to have the left hand side free and sometimes complain if there is an "obstacle" - you - in the way.
Food - I recommend you try a fish'n'chip, typical of the UK. But one thing I was really addicted to was Kebab. Forget your concept of kebab! London kebabs are absurdly better than those found in Brazil, as well as being cheap and a good option for a quick meal.
Museums- The museums mentioned above are really the best, but another interesting one for those who like art is the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.
Nightlife - I liked to talk to people who lived in the city and get recommendations for alternative nightlife. I was always surprised and enjoyed the night more than I expected. It's not worth mentioning the places I went to, what's interesting is that you try to take a chance and "let the wave take you".
Eating in large markets is really good, they always have everything from typical food stalls to restaurants. Another good tip for eating if you're in a VERY different country to Brazil (China, Japan, India, etc.) and don't want to risk the strange/unidentified local foods? Mc Donalds! They have them all over the world and although the menu can change a bit from country to country (some places even sell beer), at least you can get an idea of what's there, right? Lol
The parks are Londoners' beaches, any resemblance to São Paulo is mere coincidence... =)
I really enjoyed this post! I lived in London for almost 2 years and it was a wonderful period of my life!!!! I miss it so much!
Cris, come and visit my travel blog *Planeta BM* - http://www.planetabm.com.br ! I'll be very happy to hear from you!
I also have a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmO5pNz-qDzvDw6_F_ZB0nA
Kisses