A stunning sea by our left side, on the road entering Penzance
By the time we reached Penzance the weather changed from rainy to stormy! I think that stormy is one of the best climate that makes you love Cornwall. The sea was so angry that waves arrived onto the street and next morning the parked cars were covered with seaweeds!Penzance is the town I've loved most during the tour. We stayed there 2 days, in a lovely Boutique Guesthouse called "Estoril Hotel", very pretty, neat and ruled by a lovable couple. It is very small (it has 8 or 9 rooms, I don't remember) but has everything you need. Breakfast is great and it also has free wifi! Quite unbelievable in UK. If you plan to visit Penzance, I would strongly recommend to choose a guesthouse in the town centre, instead of a big hotel. You'll be able to enjoy better the real life of the town. ESTORIL HOTEL 46, Morrab Road Penzance
One of the lovely narrow mews in Penzance, near Morrab Gardens
Our small but lovely bedroom at Estoril Hotel
Once arrived at the hotel we went for a cream tea, as it was tea time. You cannot miss a cream tea if you're travelling in the south of England! Rain had stopped and we reached "The honey Pot" a lovely cafè with gorgeous cakes, ruled by 3 enthusiastic girls. Our "TIME OUT Guide to Cornwall and Devon" recommended this cafè and it was just round the corned from our Guesthouse!
We had our fantastic cream tea!!! How can I bear its absence here in Italy?!? :-(
THE HONEY POT
5, Parade Street
Penzance
The Honey Pot - a charming cafè which served a delicious cream tea
Scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. What else can be needed in life? ;)
After the tea, we had a walk through the town. It is a lovely place, narrow streets on the higher side and a long promenade by the sea. There is an enormous swimming pool right on the sea, called LIDO, as you can enjoy swimming even if the sea is too rough. Morrab Garden is a little charming public garden with wonderful flowerbeds and lots of trees I couldn't believe could grow up here. But it seems like Cornwall is the greenhouse of England!One of the many Vintage Shops in town
A view of the charming houses along Morrab Road
We had dinner at "Sukothai Thai Restaurant". It is very small but cosy, with original Thai furnishings. It is defined on most of its reviews as on the best Thai restaurant in Cornwall. SUKOTHAI THAI RESTAURANT
47, Queen StreetPenzance
Tom Yam soup at Sukothai
On the second day in Penzance we visited the nearby: 1 - St. Michael's Mount, which is exactly the same as Mont St. Michel in France! An old monastery (founded by the French monks) which is reachable on foot when the tide is low. And the stone walk is the best part of the visit. You walk through a sea of seaweeds, with the water slowly approaching.
On the way to St. Michael's mount; tide is low.
Sssssooo windy! I was wearing ASPESI raincoat; KONTATTO scarf
A detail of the seaweeds you can find on the way to St. Michael
2 - LAND'S END: once one of the best places to look at the sea, with its high cliffs and wild nature. Nowadays there is a sort of Luna Park there. But I think it is still worth having a look there...wild nature is at its best in Land's End!
An astonishing moor at Land's end.
A detail of a Cornish Pasty, a typical Cornish dish, similar to a giant croissant full of meat and vegetables.
3- Minack Theatre; a real theatre build in the twenties into the cliffs of Porthcurno Bay by the owner of the land, Lady Rowena Cade. It is a stunning place where plays are still performed nowadays.
A details of the seats. In any of these it has been engraved a play and the year it was performed at Minack Theatre
The theatre seen while descending
The young Lady Rowena Cade. Picture taken at the Theatre's museum
I was wearing (actually, quite all my baggage as it was too cooold!!!) ZARA ballet shoes; leggings, PETIT BATEAU dress.
In the evening we went to St. Ives, another famous summer destination in England. It's a small town, full of gorgeous shops (sorry no pics; it was still raining cats and dogs, as they would say!). We had dinner at Seafood cafè, a young and trendy place where you can choose the fish you want to eat, the way you want it cooked and the sauces. Lovely! THE SEAFOOD CAFE' 45, Fore Street St. Ives...and now...if you aren't too tired after this loooong post, why don't you have a look at this video below? It's a video by a boy from Penzance back in 1964. Mr. B. found it on youtube while we were there. It's a lovely video, with a Beatles soundtrack. We found out that Penzance is not so different from 1964! (but back in 1964 it was definitely sunny! ;) PENZANCE IN 1964
That's all for now, folks! ;) See you on our next stop!