Day 4: London: Westminster (Big Ben), Notting Hill neighborhood in London, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery
Like the previous days of this trip to London in 6 days, the alarm sounds at 6 in the morning, but with a small difference and it is that today a sun shines through the windows, waking up almost before the sound of the alarm clock and that according to the weather forecast, it will remain until the afternoon, so we confirm that the plan to visit the Notting Hill neighborhood in London, this morning.
But seeing this and although our planning of visiting London's tourist sites for today was to focus on the Notting Hill neighborhood, we make a small change of plans, anticipating the departure time this morning so we can get closer to the Big Ben area, where we were yesterday after being in the ferris wheel of London, and thus be able to take photos and travel with ease and well time, then return to Notting Hill neighborhood and continue with the planned.
With this idea we went down to breakfast at the Garden Court Hotel lounge and when it is 8 am we are already taking the subway, the Circle Line, which will take us to the Westminster area, which at this time of the morning looks spectacular, in addition with a totally clear sky that we had not been able to see since we arrived in London.
Westminster
If you want to enjoy this area with tranquility and without many people, we advise you to come early in the morning or late in the day, although in this last option you will surely find more people.
Coming around 8 in the morning also allows you to enjoy the ride with virtually no one, to be able to take pictures much more quietly.
Our first stop is in the 3 typical London booths, in front of Westminster Abbey, where many tourists always concentrate to take a picture and where now there is no one, being able to take all the photos we want, even allowing us to repeat some that we don't They just convinced us.
Typical London photo
London
After this photo session we go to one of the favorite spots for some wedding photographers, from where you have a perspective, at least for us, unique to Big Ben and where you have to come early in the morning if you want to take advantage A little loneliness.
London in black and white
This is the location where you can take this picture in case you liked the perspective //bit.ly/2wjVz8y
London in black and white
Although we said that coming early in the morning allows you a few moments of loneliness, unfortunately this only lasts a few minutes, since it does not take more than 15 minutes when different couples of couples begin to appear, with their repeated teams of photographers, that practically force us to leave, putting ourselves in front of us and our cameras without even asking us for permission, so seeing this, we choose to go to the Westminster Bridge which is another point from which we really want to take pictures.
Big Ben views
Westminster Bridge
This is another of the busiest areas for tourists, so as in the rest of the points we have visited this morning, if you can come early, we are sure you will not regret it.
Westminster Bridge
And after this tour, in which at the end we are almost two hours enjoying as children of this area of London with an incredible sky, when they spend 10 in the morning, we take the Circle Line again to go to the Notting Hill stop Gate from where we will start the tour we had planned for today, enjoying the Notting Hill neighborhood and the Portobello Market.
Notting Hill Gate
The itinerary through the Notting Hill neighborhood start on Uxbridge Street and its colorful streets, then continue on Ladbroke Grove, one of the charming streets of the neighborhood.
A good option to know the history and not miss anything about the neighborhood is to book this free tour of Notting Hill Free! With guide in Spanish.
Uxbridge Street
Details of the Notting Hill neighborhood in London
From here we arrive at Lancaster Road that we travel until we reach the Portobello Market in the Notting Hill neighborhood, where we begin to tour one of the best markets in London.
Notting Hill neighborhood in London
Route through the Notting Hill neighborhood in London
This is the route we follow in the Notting Hill neighborhood in London, where we stay and where we will also visit in tourist and well-known Portobello Market.
In the Ladbroke Grove area, we find barios small food villages of different nationalities, which we have to say whet our appetite, although we control it hoping to find somewhere to sit, since in these places you have to eat standing up and the truth is that right now what we want is to sit and enjoy after a table with a good coffee.
Food stalls in the Portobello Market
And for that, nothing better than resorting to our usual TripAdvisor, where we find one of the most recommended Italian restaurants in London.
More practical information to prepare your trip to London
- 100 things to see and do in London
- The 10 best tours and excursions in London
- 20 essential places to visit in London
- The best free tours in London for free
- London guide in 6 days
- The 5 best viewpoints in London
- The 5 best museums in London
In this case we opted for Portobello Garden Café, one of the most recommended places in the area, which in addition to a spectacular meal, has a charming establishment, very well decorated, in which it makes you want to stay days.
After reviewing the letter several times, in the end we decided on some antipasti for two, a parmigiana and a lasagna, more soda and beer and two express for 40.95 pounds.
Eating at Portobello Garden Café
The experience has been perfect, so we can only recommend it. In addition, as we said, the place has a lot of charm and the product and attention, very good.
And so, when it is almost 1 noon and just eating, already fully adapted to British time, we begin to prepare to go out again to tour the Portobello Market, when we see that the sky is completely covered and the rain has appeared. This is London. Change the weather in a matter of minutes, so you have to adapt to it if you don't want to get wet or go cold.
And that we do, this time staying in the restaurant with a couple of extra coffees until when it is practically 1:30 p.m., we return to the streets of Portobello, ready to continue touring the Portobello Market in the Notting Hill neighborhood, and delight with the stands full of charm.
Portobello Market Stores
Streets of the Portobello Market
The Portobello Market owes its name to the street where Portobello Road is located, with more than 2 kilometers linking the Notting Hill neighborhood with Ladbroke Grove. In addition to all the shops there are, hundreds of antiques, handicrafts, souvenirs and various items stand on the street on Saturdays, making this one of the most visited markets in London.
Portobello Road
Portobello Market
Without a doubt we recommend you come on a Saturday, as it is the most lively day and in which you can also see the Portobello Market in full boil, since both you can see the stands mounted on the streets and the shops that also remain open during the week.
Portobello Market
Portobello Market in the Notting Hill Neighborhood
And so we get three in the afternoon when we reach the end of the Portobello Market, ending today's visit to Notting Hill neighborhood, one of the markets that we like most in London and one of the places where we will get lost with much more time and tranquility the next time we come to the city, we hope it will be soon.
Portobello Market
At this moment it is time to take the subway again to Embarkment, from where we will go to Trafalgar Square, another of the best known and most tourist areas of the city, which we do not want to miss on a day like today, after spending the morning in the Notting Hill neighborhood.
Corners full of charm in London
As soon as we get to Trafalgar Square, it does not give us practically time to take two steps when it starts to rain again, so after taking some photos, we decided to enter a cafeteria to have coffee and with it in our hands, plan a Little visits this afternoon, considering that the weather forecast is not too encouraging.
Trafalgar Square
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- Full London tour with tickets
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Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish in London by travelers:After coffee and seeing that the weather will continue like this for the rest of the day, we decided to make a visit that we had not planned, but that really really appeals to us, the National Gallery where we spent practically two hours enjoying great works of art, while waiting for Amaine The rain.
National Gallery
Monet National Gallery
National Gallery
But London is the way it is and it is after 5 p.m. when we leave the National Gallery and it has not stopped raining, it is more, we look at the forecast of the next few hours and it is still not very encouraging, so trying to give it a vote of confidence, we approach one of the hundreds of Pret a Manger in the city to have another couple of coffees and make time waiting for it to stop a little and the time gives us a small truce to at least meet the itinerary We had planned for today.
But after almost an hour and when it is practically 6:30 in the afternoon and the forecast is not that it improves, but that it worsens throughout the day, we decided to make a radical change of plans, since today we had pending visiting the area from Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street and we decided that it is best to leave for the hotel area, have dinner and take the opportunity to work for a while and get up a little earlier tomorrow, since the forecast is that the weather will improve a lot and thus do everything Today we have left pending.
And so, we conclude today in London, getting on our way to the Garden Court Hotel where after a few hours of work, we don't think of anything other than time and tomorrow respect us to continue touring one of the cities What to visit in Europe essential.
Day 5: London: Hyde Park, Royal Albert Hall, Brick Lane Market in London, St Dunstan in the East, St Paul's Cathedral, Hay's Galleria, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Oxford Street, Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus
