Sights in Plymouth
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Mayflower Steps
The Mayflower Steps mark the final UK departure point of the Pilgrim Fathers - the band of settlers who founded New England's first permanent colony at Plymouth (Massachusetts) in 1620. Having left Southampton and been forced into Dartmouth because of an unseaworthy ship, they finally left Plymouth (England) on board the Mayflower. The rest, in this case the founding of America, is history.
The steps themselves are small and although they look old, they aren't the original ones (you have to expect a bit of a rebuild over the last 400 years). The surrounding plaques help you navigate Plymouth's past - they mark the departure of the first emigrant ships to New Zealand, Capt…
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Robert Lenkiewicz murals
Seen by some as brilliant, by others as downright disturbing, the huge murals you'll see dotted about the Barbican are the work of the late, representational painter Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002). The son of Jewish refugees from Germany and Poland, this brooding, eccentric philosopher was a fixture of the district for decades and has been described by some as a modern-day Rembrandt.
Lenkiewicz developed a special bond with alcoholics, drug addicts and homeless people, often offering them a meal and a bed for the night. Exploring themes of death and obsession, he also achieved notoriety in the mid-1980s when he embalmed the body of a local tramp. Check out the biggest, and…
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Plymouth Gin Distillery
This is the oldest producer of gin in the world – they've been making it here since 1793. The Royal Navy ferried it round the world in countless officers' messes and the brand was specified in the first recorded recipe for a dry martini in the 1930s. Tours wind past the stills and take in a tutored tasting before depositing you in the heavily beamed medieval bar for a free tipple. Between Easter and October, there are extra tours at 10.30am and 4.30pm.
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Plymouth Mayflower
Runs through Plymouth's nautical heritage, providing the background to the Pilgrim Fathers' trip via interactive gizmos and multisensory displays.
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National Marine Aquarium
The sharks here swim in coral seas that teem with moray eels and vividly coloured fish – there's even a loggerhead turtle called Snorkel who was rescued from a Cornish beach. Walk-through glass arches ensure huge rays glide over your head, while the immense Atlantic Reef tank reveals just what's lurking a few miles offshore.
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Smeaton's Tower
Alongside the fabled green of the Hoe, you can't miss the 70ft high, red and white candy-striped former lighthouse that is Smeaton's Tower. The whole structure used to stand on the Eddystone Reef 14 miles offshore before being moved here, brick by brick, in the 1880s. Now it provides an illuminating insight into the lives of past lighthouse keepers and (93 steps later) stunning views of the city, Dartmoor and the sea.
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Tinside Pool
The Art Deco, open-air Tinside Pool curves out from the foot of the Hoe beside the sea. For decades this 1930s lido suffered from neglect, but now it's been delicately restored in cream and light and dark blue. Its unheated salt waters aren't quite as toe-curlingly cold as you might think and a dip here, within a pebble's throw of the expanse of Plymouth Sound, is a swim to remember.
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The Barbican
To imagine how Plymouth looked before the Luftwaffe redesigned it, head east of the Hoe to the much-restored Barbican area, where Tudor houses on cobbled streets look out across a harbour filled with fishing trawlers and upmarket yachts. Many of the Tudor and Jacobean buildings have been converted into galleries, craft shops and restaurants.
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Jennycliff Beach
A little yellow ferry (10 minutes, every 30 minutes) shuttles from beside the Mayflower Steps across to the Mount Batten Peninsula. You can walk to rocky Jennycliff beach from there: get off the boat, walk west round the Napoleonic tower and stay on the coast path until the beach is signposted 15 minutes away on your right.
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City Museum & Art Gallery
As well as a diverse programme of temporary exhibits, the City Museum & Art Gallery hosts collections of local history, porcelain and naval art. The Cottonian Collection includes some significant paintings, prints and etchings by artists including Plymouth-born Joshua Reynolds.
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Merchant's House
This 17th-century building is packed with curiosities; from manacles, truncheons and a ducking stool, to a replica 19th-century school room and a Victorian pharmacy where you can try old-fashioned pill rolling.
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Tinside Lido
Downhill from the Hoe, the Tinside Lido is an outdoor saltwater pool built in classic Art Deco style; it first opened to the public in 1935.
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The Citadel
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Drake Statue
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Plymouth Hoe
Francis Drake supposedly spied the Spanish fleet from this grassy strip overlooking Plymouth Sound; the fabled bowling green on which he finished his game was probably where his statue now stands. Later the Hoe became a favoured holiday spot for the Victorian aristocracy, and the wide promenade is backed by an impressive array of multistoreyed villas and once-grand hotels.
Dominating the scene is the red-and-white-striped former lighthouse, Smeaton's Tower, which was built 14 miles offshore on the Eddystone Rocks in 1759, then moved to the Hoe in 1882. Climbing its 93 steps provides an illuminating insight into lighthouse keepers' lives and stunning views of the city, Dart…
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Barbican
To get an idea of what old Plymouth was like before the Blitz, head for the Barbican, a district of cobbled streets and Tudor and Jacobean buildings, many now converted into galleries, craft shops and restaurants.
The Pilgrim Fathers' Mayflower set sail for America from the Barbican on 16 September 1620. The Mayflower Steps mark the point of departure – track down the passenger list displayed on the side of Island House nearby. Scores of other famous voyages are also marked by plaques at the steps, including one led by Captain James Cook, who set out from the Barbican in 1768 in search of a southern continent.
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