2023 - September - Greenwich and the Thames Path

Everyone knows Greenwich. We all heard about this place in English class or when we were talking about the meridians in geography class. Since the prime meridian was established in 1884, this imaginary line has been running along here.

But what I personally didn't know is that former royal palaces and the 73-hectare Greenwich Park are also located here.

We were therefore very surprised on our trip and really excited about the great facilities that are located right on the Thames. So we took a relaxed look at them first.

Directly behind the palaces, a little further along the river, you almost automatically come across the Trafalgar Tavern. It's hard to miss because it's decorated all over with flags. We definitely recommend stopping here, it is a real attraction. Even the toilets have a high visual value and are also sparkling clean!

After this highlight, now another tip: The Thames Path runs right next to the tavern. We discovered it by chance and were tempted to walk quite a bit. It is part of the National Trail, the national English hiking network.

At this point it runs through an urban area, even if you are completely alone at times. Always along the river, you have a great view of the other bank with the many tall bank and office buildings. The hiking trail is really varied, sometimes it goes through dense vegetation, at other times (due to a construction site) you have the impression of walking along a state border protected by barbed wire. We would have liked to have pursued him longer, but at some point we had to stop.

We discovered a cable car some distance away to the right of the path. The IFS Cloud Cable Car connects Greenwich with the Docklands and was only opened in 2012 for the Summer Olympics. It offers a good view from above and you can use your Oyster card to use the train, like on other public transport. If you don't have one, you have to buy a ticket in advance at the counter.

By the way, London's O2 Arena is also right near the cable car. With its eye-catching, dome-shaped roof and many yellow struts, it is a great showpiece. Plus, you can actually climb on the roof, which is something we'd really like to do someday.

Unfortunately, because we had absolutely no time left, we had to stop our walk at this point and take the bus back to Greenwich Park. Because our actual goal was to visit the Royal Greenwich Observatory with the prime meridian.

Unfortunately we arrived a little too late to get in.

The opening time is stated until 5 p.m., but last entry is at 4:30 p.m.

So we could only view the prime meridian from the outside of the observatory. You can find this if you follow the crowd of tourists and then go through a kind of folding fence. There is always a traffic jam in the narrow alley because everyone wants to take their photo with the famous line.

What many people don't know is that there is now a corrected position of the prime meridian, which is approx. 102.5 m away in Greenwich Park.

So maybe at some point there will be a new line that we all want to follow. Until then, we can also enjoy the excellent view from up here on the hill of the Royal Observatory and look out over the city.