There is a small city 2 hours drive from London with a population of 163,000 where sometimes you think you are in England, sometimes - in France, sometime - in India, sometimes - in Barcelona and in general - in paradise. This city stole my heart today. This city is Brighton.
It wasn't crowded, but the water was full with yachts, boats, water scooters and even a rocket-man!
It became a city in 2000, when a town of Brighton was joined with a town of Hove and became a city of Brighton and Hove. It is located on the shore of the Atlantic ocean, on the south of England, overlooking the English channel.
I only tasted a resort piece of Brighton today, but it was so yummy and pleasant, I am sure I will come back for more.
The drive from London to Brighton took 2 hrs, just like Google Maps said, and most of the time it took to drive around London. Endless greenery, rolling hills and bright dots of sheeps on the grass - such was an enjoyable scenery we saw while driving south. Brighton met us with sun, fresh air and beautiful turquoise ocean.
We parked the car in one of the underground car parks and strolled down the cheering pier, full of food, drinks and attractions. Views were amazing.
After the pier we visited the Sea Life aquarium, conveniently located next to the pier and the beach and got lucky to enjoy a sharks and turtles feeding session. Then we took the ride on the Brighton Wheel. It promised at least 3 revolutions, but there was no queue at all, so we got 6! and even got bored, but still took some really nice pictures from above (pardon the glass reflections).
It was time to have lunch and we headed to the "restaurants quarter". During the day there we tried three different cafes/restaurants: Cafe Rouge, Bella Italia and Zio Peppe. The last one was slightly disappointing - the food almost had no taste, but the other two were quite good, especially Cafe Rouge.
Next on our list was Royal Pavilion. It caught our attention on our way to the beach leaving us wondering, what Indian? Marocco? palace is doing here. With a small garden behind it the pavilion, which was a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, it looks exotic and calm.
The Museum in one of the buildings promised a collection of amusing machines, of which we found only one
but it was still very amusing - built from hundreds of seemingly incompatible parts like teaspoons, toy kitten, an umbrella, badminton shuttle cock, a chest and teacup and many many other things.
Then we stumbled upon an exhibition of 50 world best wildlife photographers and enjoyed it alot as well.
After the museum we took the car and drove to the east of Brighton to discover Brighton Marina Village. Aside from 9 stressful floors of driving down the super-narrow passages of the car parking (I somehow managed to enter the parking building on the 9th floor, but the way out was only on ground floor), it was the most related and lazy part of the day. It reminded me of Barcelona marina, but cosier.
Closing the day, we drove even further east until Eastbourne only to gasp in awe and turn back north since the sun was setting soon. Eastbourne left us wanting to come back and enjoy Sussex more later.
