Yes, all right, I know; our most famous tourist attraction is called The Hoe. Let's get that out of our systems now. (Hahahaha... etc)
Anyway, today I found myself with half an hour to spare while I was walking from the Barbican to West Hoe Park on my way to work. I think that the moral of this story is to always get everywhere at least twenty minutes early, because then you get to enjoy things like this:
See, Plymouth is beautiful! I thought that, seeing as I had this time to spare, it'd be nice to show uni friends and anybody else who happens across my blog just how lovely our city can be. It does get bad press sometimes (particularly when you go to university in Exeter and people find out that Plym is your hometown...), but I really think it must be one of the best cities in the UK.
Where else would you get a real proper city with theatres, restaurants and whatnots, slap-bang next to both the sea and the rugged expanse of the moors, sandwiched between two of Britain's favourite holiday counties? The only downside is that lots of people think we're in Cornwall, but they're very (very) quickly set straight.
So, as I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, my photo 'journey' began at the Barbican - I got off the bus at Bretonside, but I don't want to shatter my illusion of Beautiful Plym, so no pictures of that.
The Barbican is part of Plymouth's 'old town' and in fact is home to one its very oldest buildings, the Elizabethan House, probably built in around 1584. It's also the place to go if you are in dire need of ice cream, fish and chips, rock and other tourists' essentials. As well as all of this, its streets are packed with independent shops and restaurants; if anybody is ever in the area, I highly recommend the Barbican Pasta and Pizza Bar. Mmm. (The Book Cupboard and Parade Antiques and Collectables are also worth a visit).
After walking through the Barbican and along beside Sutton Harbour, I left the cobblestones and walked up the hill in the direction of the Hoe. The wave-like building in the background of this picture is the National Marine Aquarium (which contains Europe's deepest tank - walking underneath it is scary) and you can make out the famous Mayflower Steps towards the foreground, from which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America.
And the shrimpy fish statue? I've lived here for all almost-twenty years of my life and I have no idea what that is.
When you reach the top of the (not too challenging) hill, this is the view that meets you. See what I mean about it being pretty? The other day, I saw a tour guide walk his group of holidaymakers backwards across the promenade, just so that the view would be a surprise when they turned around. In the top two pictures, you can just about make out Drake's Island in the sunshine and in the bottom is Mountbatten Pier.
As you continue around the road towards the Hoe (technically, it's just the grassy bit where the lighthouse lives), Tinside Lido can be seen in the distance. Tinside, after veeery extensive renovation work, it was reopened in 2005 and is now one of the best features of the Hoe - it's a saltwater outdoor pool, originally built in the Art Deco style in 1935. Unfortunately I couldn't go in to get any pictures of the buildings, but here it is from above:
So here's the bit you've all been waiting for - this is the 'proper' part of Plymouth Hoe, the famous home of Smeaton's Tower.
The lighthouse wasn't always all the way up here (it's not used for lighthousing any more), it's actually the old Eddystone Lighthouse and used to be out at sea. But it was taken down and rebuilt, for reasons which escape me, on top of the green, overlooking Plymouth Sound.
Just around the bend is the Plymouth Dome, which, when I were a lad, was a museum with a replica Elizabethan street and a man with a wind-up rat inside... Now it is owned by celebrity chef Gary Rhodes (see my post about Falmouth for some more celeb cookery action) and is a lovely posh restaurant, joining the likes of the Tanner brothers, Mitch Tonks and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who all have eateries in the city.
And here we are, almost at the end of my mosey around the waterfront. Above is a better view of Drake's Island. It's privately owned now, by an chap called Dan McCauley, who also used to own Plymouth Argyle, my hometown football club. Maybe the less said about him the better.
So I've reached my destination of West Hoe (yes, go on, have another giggle). Hopefully you enjoyed looking around one of Plymouth's beauty spots with me - and I hope that I've convinced you that it isn't quite as unpleasant as some people would have you believe.
And one more for luck.
(: xx
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