Greenwich: maritime monuments

Summer is ending before wonder | wander | women are ready, so we're looking back on sunny memories instead. We visited a friend at Greenwich and had a lovely stroll around the riverfront.

The area known as Maritime Greenwich is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the home of British naval exploration. Greenwich is famous for its maritime history especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it has been a port and trading town since the days of the Anglo-Saxons.

The Royal Naval College

The Royal Naval College was founded in 1873, created to train sailors and officers for Britain's ever-growing Royal Navy. It offered apprenticeships, higher education, and time served aboard working ships to its students. 

University graduates and their families from the University of Greenwich

In 1998 the College moved to the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, and many of the Royal College buildings were taken over by the University of Greenwich.

The Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark is one of the last and fastest of the British tea clippers that was running between Great Britain and China in the days of the sailing trade. It's named after a witch in a famous ballad, comparing her running speed with the speed of the ship.

We were amazed not only to see that the ship on the famous Scotch whisky was real, but that she was still part of the London docks and available to visit. The Cutty Sark is now a museum ship, with deck and rigging tours, a cafe and shop, and views across the river.

The Trafalgar Tavern has been an inn, a meeting place for politicians, a home for aged merchant seamen and a hospital. Most importantly it was a pub frequented not only by British Navy staff but by famous writers and artists. Charles Dickens, William Thackeray and Wilkie Collins all drank here.

Trafalgar Tavern balcony with busts of Lord Nelson

It was a little gateway into the Age of Sail. We wandered around chatting, taking pictures and eating ice cream. A nice sunny day with a dash of history and beautiful architecture is exactly what a British summer is all about.