Weekend Getaway – London

A bonus of living in Spain is being able to jet off to many places for a quick weekend trip. So to escape the August heat of Granada, we decided to take a weekend trip up to London.

We also had 2 free hotel nights that were going to expire, so Michael did  his research and found that we could use them to stay at the Intercontinental Mayfair in London, which would have cost over $600/night!!!

With so much to see, and only 2 1/2 days in London, after we checked into the hotel, we dropped off our bags and headed straight out to start exploring!

Day 1  

First stop was to get some lunch. We started our search in Selfridge’s Food Hall, but ultimately decided to get fish and chips at a nearby pub. Then we did some window shopping on Oxford St. before making our way to Picadilly Circus. Next we made our way down to St. James Park for a snack, stopping along the way to see the Republic of Texas Plaque, that “was home to perhaps one its most unusual tenants…the Embassy of the Republic of Texas”, according to Atlas Obscura.

Afterwards, we headed to Trafalgar Square, before excitedly making our way to see Big Ben. What we hadn’t realized is the tower that houses Big Ben is being restored, so all we saw was a huge tower of scaffolding.

Disappointing, but we still got a nice view of the Parliament House from across the River Thames. We were getting exhausted, so we made our way back to the hotel to freshen up before eating an excellent Italian dinner.

Miles walked: 12.7

Day 2  

The day started with a ride on the Underground a.k.a. “the Tube” to connect with a Thameslink train to Greenwich.

After arriving, we walked up to Royal Observatory to get a nice view of the city and to stand on the Prime Meridian. In the park around the observatory we found the Park View Coffee Cabin and had possibly the best breakfast sandwich ever (or as they called it, a breakfast bap)!  Basically it was just a bread roll, sausage, bacon, fried egg topped with aioli sauce. But it was truly DELICIOUS!

Next we made our way back down the hill to the Greenwich Market, where we did a little shopping and stopped for lunch at the street vendors outside near the Cutty Sark.

Our next public transportation wasn’t on a train but on a river bus that took us back down the Thames to the Tower of London, passing under Tower Bridge.

We made out way to the Leadenhall Market, and then to Saint Pauls Cathedral. We also explored Fleet Street and the Temple Church area, stopping into visit Twinings Tea.

Our next goal was to see Westminster Abbey on our way back to the hotel, which we accomplished after a quick stop for a rest at Victoria Embankment Gardens. By this time we were worn out, so we headed back to the hotel and indulged in a room service dinner.

Miles walked: 11.6 miles

Day 3 

Our last day in London got off to a rough start, as we were woken up at 5:30am by fire alarm and had to evacuate; it turned out to be a hotel guest smoking or something that trigged the alarm so we were able to go back in after about 15 minutes and sleep for few more hours. Our flight wasn’t until the afternoon, so we had more time for exploring. First stop was Harrods for a coffee, followed by the Albert Royal Hall and Albert Memorial, before heading into Hyde Park to make our way to the Kensington Palace.

The last lunch ended up being pretty similar to our first, with fish and chips in a pub (although Tracey opted for Mac and Cheese with bacon this time). Finally, it was time to head home, which was extra-quick since we found a direct flight that took less than three hours to get us back to Granada.

Miles walked: 9.6 miles